Q&A: Looking for a Round Diamond for a Platinum Solitaire Setting With a C$6k – $7k Budget

Unfortunately, strong and medium fluorescence is a kiss of death on such a high color grade. For G+ diamonds, only none or faint fluorescence is acceptable. I wouldn’t go with either of them.

Do you want to make me some recommendations?

Fluorescence can be seen in UV light (it has a bright blue glow). However, when too strong and on particular color grades, it can sap the brilliance from the stone and make it look milky/hazy/oily in various lighting conditions (restaurants, outside, …). That’s why diamonds with fluorescence are often cheaper than their non-fluorescence equivalents – they are much less beautiful and brilliant.

Regarding the color grade you originally opted for, G is a bit more than what’s necessary to have a beautiful solitaire ring. You can easily go with an I or even J color and it would look identical. This way you can either save some money or get a larger diamond.

Something like this would look fantastic in a PT ring:
Blue Nile LD13324229
It has a perfect cut and in this case, medium fluorescence is a bit of a bonus that will make the diamond look whiter.

Were the diamonds you saw in person certified by the GIA lab? It’s important to know whether we’re comparing apples to apples. Non-GIA’s I color can be anywhere from a J to K/L/M. Based on our experience, expertise and most importantly, the feedback we receive from our readers, I color looks absolutely colorless/white in a platinum ring, be it solitaire or pave.

As for the clarity grade, I always search in the SI-IF range and pick the best/largest eye-clean option I find. Sometimes it’s an eye-clean SI stone, sometimes a VS or VVS is a better value simply because there was nothing lower that would look good (most SI diamonds are not eye-clean). And VS2 clarity is not that high on the scale.

Medium fluorescence on H and lower color grades is a bit of a bonus, it helps the diamond look whiter.

That’s great news! I double-checked and that 1.00ct I VS2 is still the best diamond I can recommend, everything else I found was significantly pricier with the same quality.