Diamonds 101
Diamonds…continued

When purchasing a diamond, the worst thing you can do is walk into a jewelry store and pick something they have on display.

First, you need to do your research.

Then, find a good vendor. A good jeweler will be honest with you and try their very best to find the best diamond for YOU. They will not try to push more expensive diamonds nor will they pressure you to buy. In fact, a good jeweler will call in diamonds for you if they do not have something you’re looking for in their stock.

Another important thing is their trade-up policy. Try to go with a vendor with a lifetime trade-up policy. While I’m very sentimental and I could never trade up my e-ring, some women are more than happy to do so. Some people may not have the money for a nice e-ring when they get engaged so they may upgrade for an anniversary later on.

Whatever the reason, the point is that good vendors will allow you to trade in your diamond for 100% of the initial purchase price. If you think about it, they will not do this unless they believe in their product – if they sell a sh*tty diamond now, and the person comes back years later to trade it in, it’s the jeweler’s loss.

When viewing diamonds, look at them under various types of lighting. The lights in jewelry stores are deceptive! What may look great in the store may be a dud in normal lighting.

Once you find a diamond, make sure it is certified by a lab such as GIA or AGS (EGL tends to go soft with their grading so they’re not always recommended). If it is not certified, take it to a reputable appraiser to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to look online! Online vendors usually have a lot lower prices because they don’t have to deal with the overhead costs as regular jewelry stores. There are some very reputable online vendors out there with impeccable reviews, fair prices, and great customer service. (Another plus is that if the online vendor operates from a different state, you may not need to pay sales tax.)

Whiteflash is based in Houston and they specialize in ACA, or A Cut Above diamonds, which are cut especially for them to their specifications. They also recently started carrying X-Factors, which is supposed to be a great (and some say better) alternative to princess cuts.

Good Old Gold is based in Long Island and they’re known to find some of the best diamonds out there while providing tons of documentation on each diamond they sell. They also carry a great selection of Square Hearts & Arrows, which has the performance of a round in a square shape.

Another great option is James Allen, which is based in Frederick, MD. James Allen’s website carries actual pictures of their diamonds with zoom options, so you can see exactly what you’re getting.

J purchased my diamond from Engagement Rings Direct (ERD), which is an online vendor whose office is located at the diamond district here in NY. We are very lucky to be in NY, because more than 75% of the diamonds sold in the US go through the NYC diamond district at one point or another. In other words, ERD has a great pool of resources.

ERD’s office is actually in the same building as the GIA’s NYC branch. They can just look at the GIA database of diamonds and run downstairs if they see something they like. In my online research, I could not find one bad review about them – people raved about their eye for well-cut diamonds, very fair prices, and honesty.

If you have any questions about diamonds at all, feel free to ask! I’d love to help anyone out!

Please read my previous post, Diamonds 101, if you haven’t already done so.

Let’s talk about diamond shapes.

The round brilliant is the most popular shape for good reason: it faces up large, and no other shape can perform as well in terms of brilliance, fire, and scintillation. Rounds are also easiest to predict in terms of performance when you only have its specs, so it is a safe bet if you’re thinking about purchasing your diamond online.

Other shapes are categorized as “fancy cuts”:

(image taken from Excel Diamonds)

The second most popular shape these days is the princess cut. Due to the popularity of princess cuts, their performance is also becoming easier to predict based on just specs and numbers. The princess is probably the most brilliant fancy shape; however, the downside is that they look very small for their carat weight (a 1ct round will look much larger than a 1ct princess).

If you want something that will look the largest for their carat weight, go for the pear or marquise. A 1ct pear or marquise can look as large as a 1.2ct round.

Asschers and emeralds are step cuts (as opposed to brilliant cuts), meaning they are not cut for brilliance (they don’t sparkle as much). However, that isn’t to say that they do not sparkle at all; rather, they tend to give off large, broad flashes of light. Beautifully-cut asschers and emeralds can be breath-taking: when you stare down on a well-cut asscher, it can look as if you’re looking down into a pool of clear water. Asscher cuts are really gaining in popularity these days; however, there are two cons to them: (1)they face up very very small for their weight (perhaps the most so out of all diamond shapes), and (2)they show color a lot easier than brilliant cuts so you ultimately have to pay more to get something that looks the same size/color as say, a round.

The cushion cut is also starting to become popular. As you can see from the picture above, it is shaped like a cushion. There are sooooo many different types of cushions out there: old miner’s, cushion modified brilliant, cushion brilliant, etc. Even within those, they can be cut differently with different faceting patterns. However like princesses and asschers, cushion cuts face up very small for their
weight.

With all fancy shapes (with maybe the exception of princesses), you need to see the actual diamond in person and compare them side-by-side. Due to the many variations within each shape, it can be difficult to predict their performance based on just specs and numbers. A fancy shape may look horrible on paper but can look great in real life, and vice versa.

Next up: some tips for when purchasing a diamond!

I’ve never been a jewelry person, but I can’t stop staring at my engagement ring! How does this little thing sparkle so much? Why are diamonds so expensive? What makes one diamond better than another?

So, per my typical fashion, I decided to do some research and share it with you…

I won’t get too in-depth with numbers, angles, etc but I will give a basic (albeit long) tutorial. This post will be the first of a three-part series.

When most people think of diamonds they think of the 4 C’s: carat, color, clarity, and cut (some men I’ve spoken to say there’s a fifth C – “cost” – but that’s another story). What most people don’t realize is that “cut” is the most important thing to consider when choosing a diamond.

Many confuse “cut” with the shape of a diamond (round, princess, oval, etc) – they are not the same thing. “Cut” refers to the way a diamond is cut from the rough (or from a larger diamond), affecting the proportions, the angles, and the overall sparkle. A well-cut diamond will look larger, hide imperfections, look whiter, and as a whole, be more brilliant. Unfortunately, the majority of diamonds on the market are NOT well-cut.

When I first started researching diamonds, I was surprised to find that one diamond can look a lot larger than another of the same weight. If they’re the same weight, shouldn’t they look the same size? Not so…take a look at the picture below (all images are from the Whiteflash website):

Let’s assume that all three diamonds are the same weight.

The diamond on the right will face up smaller (look smaller when viewed from the top) because there is too much weight on the bottom. Not only do you end up paying for size you can’t see, but the diamond will have less light return as well.

On the other hand, the diamond on the left will face up the largest of the three, but it will be lifeless because as you can see from the picture, light will leak from its sides.

There is, of course, a lot more at play here….angles, dispersion of light, etc but I won’t bore you. If you want to learn more, go to www.pricescope.com – they have a huge tutorial along with a friendly, informative forum that will answer all the questions you will ever have regarding diamonds.

Now, on to the other C’s…let’s start with “color.” A larger percentage of the population is familiar with color, and basically, diamond colors run from D (colorless) to Z (yellow/light brown). There are, of course, fancy colors like pink, blue, etc but I won’t get into that here.

Looking at this picture and the chart, it’s obvious that most people would want a colorless diamond in the D-F range. You wanna know a secret? 95% of the population have trouble seeing color in a well-cut “H” diamond. If a diamond is especially well-cut, you can even go down to “I” or even “J” and no layman would know.

Now, in my case, J was very unlucky because I’m super-color-sensitive. A while back at a Tiffany & Co, I was able to see color in an “F” diamond when no one else in the vicinity was able to. So a high color would be priority for a little freak like me. However, for most people, you can sacrifice a lot on color and save a lot of money in the process….just as long as you get a well-cut diamond!

Just for comparison, a 1.00ct, D, VS1 diamond costs between $7,000-$8,000. Compare that to a 1.00ct, H, VS1 with a range of $4,500-$5,500!

Now on to clarity. Clarity runs from the “FL” (flawless) or “IF” (internally flawless) range to the “I” (included) range:

Based on pictures like these, most people stay clear of anything below a “VVS2.” However, you have to realize that when plotting inclusions, gemologists scrutinize these diamonds under 10x, sometimes even 20x magnification.

If you are lucky, you can find a beautiful “SI1″ that is completely eye-clean (which means that you cannot see the inclusions with the naked eye). I even read about one girl who wanted a 2ct diamond on a $10,000 budget. While most jewelers laughed at her, she was patient and found a jeweler who was able to find her a 2ct diamond that was an “I1.” Although she was able to see the largest inclusion, it was positioned on a corner so the prong in her ring completely covered it.

Unless you’re really adamant about a flawless diamond (I know many Asian cultures are picky about clarity and scoff at anything below a “VVS1″), anything in the “VVS” range is overkill, IMHO. Why pay for something you can’t see? For comparison, a 1.00ct G FL diamond can cost $7,500-$9,000. Go down in clarity with a 1.00ct G SI1 and the price jumps down to $4,000 to $5,000.

To reiterate: if you are on a budget, find a well-cut diamond and you can sacrifice a lot on color and clarity. Use the extra money and invest it in your retirement fund. Put it towards your wedding or your honeymoon. Or just buy a larger diamond with it!

Next up: shapes!