Buying Diamond Earrings for my wife...

Macchina

Macchina

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So I want to get my wife an awesome present coming up (birth of our first child) and she has hinted at diamond earrings in the past. I started looking on BlueNile and other recommended sites but ended up on Amazon and I think the best value can be had there. I'm getting lost in information, but one thing that keeps coming up is:

"Cut is far more important than either color or clarity".

I'm looking only at round cut diamonds around 1/2 carat TW. I'm trying to stick with H or I color for the value and near-colorless quality. For about $600-700 I can pick between sets with "very good" cut, H color, and SI2 clarity for about the same price as an "Ideal Cut" I3 (visible flaw) with H color. Would it be worth it sacrifice the Clarity from SI2 to I3 just to get the "Ideal Cut" diamond?

Any advice or help would be great!
 
IMO an better rating in cut and color trumps inclusions. Those inclusions just affirm it is in fact a genuine natural diamond. Especially when buying online. Maybe try your local Macy's as they run great sales and put lots of adds out, they can also educate you on buying too. Sometimes looking at the actual stone is best.


-Xander
 
Macy's is very expensive when it comes to diamonds, even with their sale prices. It is better to visit a diamond merchant, than the big shops. Here in the Bay Area, Shane & Company is famous for excellent value on diamonds.

Yes, cut is important since that largely determines the "fire" or the light refraction that women are so fond of. With the same color and clarity, a round diamond will sparkle the most.
 
I3 means 3 large, visible to the naked eye inclusions.

Cut can matter, but many heirloom stones and antique cuts can be very beautiful stones.

If you have SI1, that is a small inclusion that is very hard to see with the naked eye, and will impact the cost but not so much the beauty of the stone.

I would go for the best combination of clarity and then color as most stones you will find at a quality jewelry store will be a well-cut stone.

In my experience, you can get some killer deals at Sam's Club - Killer enough to warrant buying the membership ($45 for annual pass) - I have purchased rings and tennis bracelets for my wife at Sam's and the quality is high and the markup is MUCH lower than a dedicated jewelry store.

Jewelry stores are almost as bad as used car lots.

best

mqqn
 
Id find a local jeweler, or art-design student and get something made. Even if its not super custom, you can often get stuff at less of a mark-up than a big-box jeweler that is more personal. Trying to compare cut and color is going to tell you less than just seeing the rock. Not sure about your budget, but some places can laser etch the stones, could be cool to get them done with an important date.

Also rough means little, it doesn't matter until its cut because you may end up with a dud. A good jeweler will cut the best out of a rock, a production line goes for volume.
 
If you don't know jewels, you had better know and trust your jeweler. Stay away from the internet re buying diamonds.

Most will tell you of the For C's - cut, color, clarity, and carat. A diamonds value truly depends on all four. Sacrifice in carat weight before the other Cs. Me, I'd look for smaller VS2 or S1 stones vs. SI2 and get smaller stones if that's what it took.

The fifth C is confidence - confidence in your ability to get what you pay for when shopping on your own or confidence in the trust you place in your jeweler.

It may well be cheaper to buy the stones unmounted and then have them mounted. For our 10th anniversary more than 20 years ago, I spent a bundle on buying a diamond from a diamond dealer for my wife. Took us about six months after that to find the mounting she wanted. Came out much cheaper that way. Also my wife got what she really wanted vs going to a chain jewelry store and being held hostage by their inventories of mounted stones.
 
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I'm going to pose another answer. First everything you mentioned is on track and on point. It's hard to make that judgement without having a gander at the diamond. Eg is the inclusion on the diamond table or will it be hidden by a prong.

The other thing to consider is going for a bigger lab grown diamond. Since they are real cured diamonds that aren't naturally formed they have the exact same qualities, weight and hardness, from a natural diamond and be conflict free. You can probbie get a big ass 1.5ct for less than your original price put into a precious metal setting of your choice.

I keep a loupe in my house don't ask why and my wife has picked out a few pieces. It'd be impossible for me to not think the synthetic piece was a near flawless diamond at 10x yet alone the naked eye.

Something like studs really standout when they are bigger and will highlight your wife's outfits etc... Just some food for thought.
 
We've bought from an e-tailer called Blue Nile. Products (diamonds ) come with certs and the ones I had checked we're as advertised and the prices were very good. As others have said, buy quality not quantity (size).
Costco has consistently quality diamonds at very good prices.
 
This isn't a wedding or engagement ring. But even with this in mind, the entire diamond industry is artifically inflated through a couple of consortiums based in Africa, Belgium/Amsterdam and NYC and LA. But that aside here is some info on lab diamonds. I have some experience as my uncle is a broker and having played around his store on inventory days I can tell you that anyone who says they can tell the cultured ones from the natural stone with a loupe is lying.

http://www.diamondnexus.com/round-cut-studs-screw-back-basket-set.html
 
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Don't buy lab created or enhanced for gem stones. If you are going to buy your lady precious stones, buy natural.
 
Here's a great article pay attention to the last element size and sparkle. How a diamond is ideally cut greatly effects it's brilliance and you can't see inclusions, feathers or other Imperfections unless they are on top of the diamonds table.

I've spent a few hours with my uncles wholesaler who gets direct from Israel who gets their stuff from Europe when I was shopping for my wife's wedding ring.

In any case for earrings you really want to see it up front with that sparkle if you are going natural. No one is going to go up to your wife and be nose to nose to evaluate it. One can't tell a diamonds color gradient unless they stick it next to a cz for reference.

It's why I say go for the cultured. They are identical in composition and look fantastic.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR2010070203990_2.html
 
And you should really evaluate that "sparkle" in natural light.

But, seriously, its your wife. Buy the real thing if you are going to buy her diamonds. Natural diamonds. Especially considering the event you are commemorating. Would you want her buying you a knock-off of one of your a grail knives (about which you've hinted in the past) to commemorate the birth of your first child?
 
^ completely inaccurate comparison. Current lab diamonds are indistinguishable in hardness and composition from mined.

I've looked at both under a microscope and was provided a clinic on diamonds. Which are stockpiled in vaults around the world in order for people like my uncle and his wholesaler to mark up their cost to the customer by 30% to 40% on average. Diamond ls like titanium isn't rare.

So if someone's wife happens to be pragmatic and would enjoy a larger pair of studs I'm suggesting it's a 100% legitimate option. Not to destroy romanticism I wouldn't pick up one for a wedding ring. But for studs which is a normal thing that most ppl don't blink at. I think cultured diamonds are great! If debeers didn't laser etch their product these days no expert could tell the difference between the two because they're identical in every way.
 
Diamonds are a bit of a long running con in my opinion. Nothing wrong with people liking the look, but its not like the flaws of a natural product are the goal in this case. Trying to get a near flawless natural product when a perfect synthetic is right there makes no sense. If the character came from flaws like other stones, opal for example, then it would stand that you want the natural product.

At the end of the day the big jewelers see most guys as a source of easy cash. You wouldn't buy a knife from a guy who treats you the way most big jewelers do, so why let them?

Having a kid means a lot of your funds are going to have a new pull on them, so why not spend smart, get something memorable, and use the remainder for the kid's college fund, or whatever.
 
cchu518 said:
Not to destroy romanticism I wouldn't pick up one for a wedding ring.
Click to expand...
Think about what you posted there then consider that he's giving diamonds to his wife to commemorate the birth of their first child. Perhaps you would, but I'd not buy lab created stones for such an occassion. To each his own.
 
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