Q&A: Looking for Radiant Cut for YG Setting

Thank you very much for helping so many on the web with the topic of diamonds and e-rings. I have probably spent around 30 hours online and 5 hours in stores researching different diamonds and settings for my fiance to be. I have narrowed it down to Radiant cuts, in the 1.8 to 2.2 ct range, JK color minimum (will be set in yellow gold), SI2 clarity minimum as long as eye clean, and square cut with a L/D ratio of 0.95 to 1.05 or so, which it seems is the point at which it starts “appearing” to be rectangular to the naked eye. I have also been targeting table and depth of ~65%.

Budget is $20k but includes setting, which may be up to $4k depending upon vendor (looking for channel set with 3 stone rounds). My problem is, I can’t translate the magnified photos on James Allen and GOG, etc. sites into actual eye clarity. All the inclusions have started looking bad. This is the closest I have found, but it seems to have extra carats in exchange for some cloudiness: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/2.32-carat-i-color-si2-clarity-sku-196466?a_aid=dmnd1357

What are your thoughts on the eye cleanliness there? Will the facets properly hide it? If not, any other ideas?

Thanks for any help

It will be a yellow gold channel setting with round or princess cuts in the channel, and ideally would also have two round sidestones in a 3-stone manner. This is what I’m targeting: http://www.shaneco.com/Jewelry-Catalog/Design-Your-Own/Rings/Engagement-Rings/Product-Detail.aspx?Metal=Yellow-Gold&ST=Channel-Set%20or%20Three-Stone&Engagement-Ring-Type=Single-Ring&X=41054669

Thanks for any ideas. It seems there just isn’t a great inventory of radiants to browse through, except for on BN, which I know the pros and mostly cons of.

Looks like the inventory grew a little, but not sure if it was due to your colleague or not. It seems that if I look for sizes slightly lower than 2 ct, closer to 1.8, there are a lot more available right now in the square radiants.

However, this clarity rating is seeming to be very borderline on the VS2/SI1 range. For instance, the following two both look to have inclusions that would be barely visible, but are different ratings?:
SI1 – https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/2.01-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-201749?a_aid=dmnd1357
VS2 – https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/radiant-cut/1.96-carat-g-color-vs2-clarity-sku-198468?a_aid=dmnd1357

I’m glad I’m not a gemologist, I would double guess every stone I graded. I really appreciate all of your help on this Mike.

Thanks Mike! I think I have a winner then. That is actually how I originally saw them from the imagery as well, but when I saw the higher grading on the G VS2 I figured I was crazy.

I really appreciate this. Ordering today, she’ll find out in a couple weeks…

Everything went well. Received the ring last Thursday from JA, proposed Saturday (no hiccups, we’ve been together for 5 years), and she loves it. As for the center stone, it really is stunning. She pays a lot of attention to detail, and after seeing the GIA cert with the small cloud in the middle, she spent at least 10 minutes actively trying to reflect it under different lighting to find it, and can’t. The brilliance itself is incredible with this radiant– much better than most of the ones I looked at in the LA jewelry district. Your help in finding an eye clean one and JA’s providing the imagery and 40x views made this whole thing possible. Thank you very much. We haven’t taken any of those “ring photos” yet, but I included a poor quality phone picture in case you’re curious, but it obviously doesn’t do it justice.

Thanks again.