Virtual Purchase: Great Quality $2000 Round Diamond

Last week, I helped a friend search for a diamond.  Unfortunately, she lost her diamond from the setting, due to prongs breaking on her ring (fairly common, see my recent post about leaving rings for service).  She did have insurance on the ring, and with that reimbursement, had $2000 to spend on a new diamond.

She had an approximate .50 carat center diamond before, from a mall store.  We quickly figured out that she would get a better value shopping for a diamond online.  Some local independent jewelers may be able to come close to online pricing, but most mall jewelry chain stores cannot. 

I searched mainly on Blue Nile and Amazon.com.  I know from previous research and other loose diamond Virtual Purchases (click here for a round 1 carat virtual purchase), that these 2 sites have the best combination of selection, quality, and price.  Both have relatively intuitive search features and some customer support if you need it.

My friend wanted very nice quality (D to G color, VS1 to SI1 clarity, and Very Good to Ideal cut), but was excited to find that she could go up slightly in size even in that fine quality range.  I narrowed it down to several diamonds from each of the sites.  For all of the diamonds listed, they are GIA certified, and I liked all of the details: none had medium or higher Fluorescence, the girdles were not too thin or too thick, and I liked their relative table and depth percentages.  ANY of these diamonds would be drop-dead gorgeous.

My list of Blue Nile choices (if you click on the price, it will take you to the diamond’s detail page):

Carat:		Price:		Color:	Clarity:	Cut:	Depth %:	Table %:		Symmetry:	Polish:
0.73		$ 2,029.00		G	SI1	ID	61.2%	56%		VG	VG
0.62		$ 1,966.00		E	VS2	ID	61.3%	56%		EX	VG
0.64		$ 1,831.00		F	VS2	ID	62.6%	54%		VG	VG

The first choice represents a larger carat weight.  Both the weight and measurements are significantly larger than what she had, without sacrificing too much on quality.  The second choice is very fine quality, with the smallest carat weight of these options while staying in her price range.  The third choice is still wonderful quality, but is very slightly larger with a great price tag.

Here are my Amazon choices (again, click on the price to go to that diamond’s detail page):

Carat:		Price:		Color:	Clarity:	Cut:	Depth %:	Table %:		Symmetry:	Polish:
0.74		$ 1,920.00		G	SI1	ID	60.3%	58%		VG	VG
0.65		$ 2,015.00		D	VS2	VG	61.1%	60%		VG	G
0.62		$ 1,905.00		E	VS2	ID	61.6%	57%		EX	EX

I followed the same logic for these diamonds: 1st choice is larger but still great quality, 2nd is one of the finest qualities but still reasonable size and in her price range, and 3rd option is a wonderful balance between nice size and quality.

What I found is that Amazon’s prices are just a tiny bit better across the board.  Not by much: in this case maybe a difference of $50 to $100.  But that difference might cover the cost of setting the stone.  Blue Nile may be able to provide a little more guidance, so perhaps that is worth the additional cost. 

Ultimately, my friend chose the .62 E VS2 from Amazon (sorry, it’s sold!) for $1905, it was just an excellent value and a great balance of factors. 

Bottom line, for $2000 you could have a nice, no-apology quality 3/4 ct; a very nice, heirloom quality 2/3 carat; or very rare quality 1/2 carat.  I feel that for this purchase, she made an excellent, balanced decision.

Ever Wonder About the “2 Months Salary” Guideline? Check this out.

This may be tantamount to heresy in the jewelry industry, but I have never been a fan of De Beer’s 2 Month Salary guideline.  In case you haven’t ever heard about this, De Beers, in their ever-present marketing, delicately suggest spending the equivalent of 2 months of your salary on a diamond engagement ring.  When asked about this over the years, my response has been to spend what you think is appropriate for YOUR situation.  No two couples and circumstances are alike.  Do what you want.

So today I ran across this amazing pictorial representation of this recommendation (thanks, Woot!).  This artist has taken US Dept of Labor statistics for wages, figured out 2 month’s salary amounts, then assembled images of 9 rings in that dollar range for 20 professions (each piece of art is 8 by 10 inches).  Check it out:

"Anesthesiologist" Engagement Ring Image, Lee Gainer

Looking at the images, I find this so fascinating.  It appears that size does matter: it’s a reflection on your socio-economic status, and to some it is an indicator of how much your fiance really loves you.  This is a subtle, brilliant social commentary on when marketing and relationships intersect.  Thank you, Lee Gainer.  Check out the artist’s equally amazing installations of “the thought that counts” and “group therapy“.

"Welder" Engagement Ring Image, Lee Gainer

What do you think of the 2 months salary “rule”?  Useful guideline for engagement ring neophytes, or Evil Corporate Mandate?

Kiss My (Royal) Asscher…

…Asscher Cut, that is.  All jokes about the name aside, Asscher cuts have been making waves since the early 1900’s.  If you’re not familiar, the name refers to stunningly beautiful, modified square-cut diamonds.  They sort of speak for themselves, don’t you think?

Royal Asscher 3-Stone Ring

What is an Asscher Cut and what makes it special? 

Asscher cuts have a wonderfully rich history.  The Asscher brothers were diamond cutters in Amsterdam around the turn of the 19th century.  Their cutting house became quite known for their skill and precision.  In 1902, Joseph Asscher developed a variation of the classic emerald cut.  This new cut was square, versus the rectangular emerald cut, with proportionally larger blocked corners, forming an almost octagonal outline.  The bottom was scissor-cut with symmetrical parallel facets, ending in a single central point, instead of the standard keel-line of the emerald cut.  The symmetry of this new style, combined with the greater depth of the stone, resulted in such radiant brilliance that people were really dazzled.  The design was patented, and a number of Asschers were cut and set into the Art Deco style of the times until World War II. 

Platinum Art Deco Ring with Asscher Cuts, $32,000 Retail

A bit of Asscher history:

If the Asscher name sounds familiar, you might be interested to know that in 1907, Joseph Asscher cut the Cullinan, a 3106 carat rough diamond.  The largest cut diamonds from the Cullinan are part of the Crown Jewels of Britain.  Diamond cutting at the time was totally done by hand, and the first cut made had to be accurate to split the crystal atoms correctly, or the world’s largest diamond would become the world’s most expensive pile of diamond dust.  Legend has it that ol’ Asscher struck the first blow to cleave the stone (successfully, obviously), then promptly passed out.  (The family refutes that, but I’m sticking with it.)

A Note About Size and Quality of Asscher Cuts

Color can concentrate in the corner facets of this cut, plus you can see inclusions through the clear step facets, so I recommend going a little higher quality with this cut: G or higher color, VS2 or higher clarity (click here for a diamond quality overview).  If you are in love with an Asscher cut, you should know that they face up quite small for their carat weight due to their depth relative to their diameter.  If you have a modest budget, or you prefer a diamond under 1 carat, you really should see a mounted stone and try it on for size.  A “halo” mounting, one with diamonds micro-paved around the center stone, will add a lot of volume without the same expense of going with a much larger carat weight Asscher center stone.

 

Danhov ME2 Pave Diamond Mounting for Asscher Cut

 

Modern Asscher Cuts

Sometime in the late 1990’s, coinciding with renewed interest in estate-looking mountings and platinum designs (plus mentions in Sex and the City and celebrity wearers like Kate Hudson), consumers rediscovered the Asscher cut.  In 2001, Edward and Joop Asscher updated the design slightly, adding more facets and a slightly larger table to increase brilliance.  Now you can purchase authorized Asschers from Royal Asscher.  

Other diamonds are cut into a similar style.  They may not all have the actual “Asscher Signature”, but there are a lot of gorgeous modified-square brilliants out there, in some equally stunning mountings.  

Here is a beautiful 1 carat Asscher cut from Blue Nile, it’s a great balance of color/clarity for this cut (you can choose a mounting from their selection):

Blue Nile 1.01ct Asscher Cut, G color, VS1 clarity, $4677 Retail

Here’s an Asscher mounting to maximize bling:

Pave Split-Shank Setting for Asscher Cut

Lest you think I am only about $30,000+ totally beautiful yet unattainable Asscher Cut rings (see my fav-or-ite Asscher ring here), here is a relatively affordable .77 ct Asscher Cut  in a pave split-shank mounting by one of my all-time-favorite jewelry designers, Mark Patterson:

.77 ct Asscher Cut Diamond in Micro Pave Mark Patterson Setting, $8225 Retail

If you are into simple elegance, maybe a solitaire is in order:

Blue Nile Trellis Solitaire Setting with Asscher Cut Center

With their clean outline and sophisticated brilliance, Asscher Cuts manage to be very modern and very classic at the same time.

Virtual Purchase: 3-Stone Diamond Ring

What:  For this Virtual Purchase, I am focusing on a ring with 3 round diamonds: a center diamond that is larger, with proportionally smaller round diamonds on the sides, in white gold or platinum in several total weights (adding all the carat weights of the stones together, abbreviated as TW):  1/2 ct TW, 1 ct TW, and 2 ct TW.  I didn’t look at total carat weights less than 1/2 carat–spread across 3 stones, the individual carat weights are just too small, you are better off putting your whole budget into one diamond.

A little background on the design and significance:  3-stone rings have actually been around for a long time, they just didn’t have a name and specific jewelry category until De Beers decided to brand them a few years ago.  Some other jewelry items that people didn’t know they needed before De Beers told them they did are engagement rings (the 1948 campaign “A Diamond Is Forever” that lauched the modern-day concept of a diamond engagement ring), right-hand rings, “Journey” jewelry, anniversary bands.  I do think the 3-stone ring is beautiful and enduring.  The 3 stones represent your past, present, and future.  With this symbolism, a 3-stone could be presented as an engagement ring, or for a significant anniversary. 

Classic 3-Stone Round Diamond Ring from Costco.com

Where:  I looked for 3-stone rings anywhere I could find them at major retailers online:  Blue Nile, Costco.com, Amazon.com, Diamond.com, plus some others in the table below.  I had kind of a hard time finding very many already mounted options in my target quality range of G-H color, SI1-SI2 clarity, especially in 1/2 ct TW.

Here are the results of my research in table format and my picks for best quality/value/style highlighted, with more specific notes down below (if you need a 4 C’s diamond quality refresher, click here).  You can click on the retailer name to go directly to the ring featured:

1/2 carat TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Jewelrycentral.com	14kt w and y	H-I	I1	Not spec	$    595.00		Best value for H/I1 quality, I1 clarity not great
Ice.com	14kt w and y	G	I1	Not spec	$    795.00		I1 clarity not great, there are better quality options
Classicjewelry.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 1,014.00	$    861.90	My pick for H/SI2 quality. Good value with 15% off
Amazon.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Very Good	$    999.00	$    699.00	Was $699, best quality, but now not on sale
Blue Nile	18kt w	I	SI2	Not Spec	$ 1,200.00		Beautiful ring, price not great even with 18kt mtg
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$    795.00		Not competitive on price, especially for I1

 

1 ct TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Jewelrycentral.com	18kt w	H-I	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,200.00		Nice design, best everyday price
Mondera	Platinum	G-H	VS1-VS2	Not spec	$ 3,500.00		Nice style, higher quality
Blue Nile	18kt w	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,450.00		Beautiful ring, good reviews on site
Amazon.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Very Good	$ 2,999.00	$ 1,609.99	Was 30% off of $2299, terrible price w/o sale
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$ 1,995.00		Lowest price option, but I1 lower quality
Costco.com	14kt w	I	VS2	Very Good	$ 2,499.00		Absolutely beautiful mounting, great value
Classicjewelry.com	14kt w and y	H	SI2	Not spec	$ 2,547.00	$ 2,164.95	My pick for H/SI2 quality, good value with 15% off

 

2 ct TW 3-Stone Diamond Ring:
Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Price after discount:	Comments:
Diamond.com	14kt w and y	H	I1	Not Spec	$ 5,495.00		Low price but it’s lower I1 clarity and 14kt
Costco.com	Platinum	I	VS2	VG	$ 7,499.00		Absolutely gorgeous, great value for quality
Costco.com	Platinum	I	VS2	VG	$ 8,499.99	$ 7,999.99	Good sale offer, fancy vintage-style setting

 

My favorite 1 ct TW 3-Stone Ring from Costco.com

Jewelrycentral.com:  This company comes up high in google search results, so I checked them out.  Prong basket settings for their 3-stone rings.  Not crazy about I1, better quality is out there for good value.  No specifics on the break-down of carat weight.

Ice.com:  Not totally sure about this site, I would have to order something from them to be able to completely endorse.  Ok value on a G/I1 clarity. 

Classicjewelry.com:  New site discovery for me, they say they are a NYC manufacturer in business for 25 years.  They have the usual 30 day return policy and a customer service 877#. They also have live chat and list their address on the site, which is a pretty good sign (some no-name sites you can barely find an “about us”). Can enter email for coupon code for 15% off anything over $500 http://www.classicjewelry.com/diamonds/jewelry/coupon.php . 

Amazon.com:  Sigh.  Amazon jewelry buyers, please read this and listen up: your price messaging is terrible.  This item was 30% off of $999 for Valentine’s Day, but not marked anywhere obvious on the detail page, I had to go through entire check-out to get final price.  The sale prices for the 1/2 ct and 1 ct TW rings were amazing, but the regular prices are NOT competitive, and that is usually where Amazon wins (price).  I like this style, with the square-edge clean band and stylish baskets.  Site navigation for this category is pretty good: from Jewelry category page, 3-stone left nav category takes you to page where the rings are grouped by mounting type/diamond quality and you can choose your carat total weight. 

Blue Nile:  Beautiful ring, probably worth buying if you want the 18kt mounting, but I think their prices should come down a bit in this economy (if they want to survive).  Great site navigation as usual, 3-stone rings have their own category in left nav.  Could build your own from their loose diamond collection if you want.  Carat TWs from .25 ct TW to 3.63 ct TW.  No break-down of carat weights of center vs. sides, which surprised me from this company.

Diamond.com:  Arrgghh!  This is a jewelry-specific site, but navigating is terrible: no 3-stone category and the refinements are not useful (how about refining by carat TW, maybe?).  I had to wade through pages of totally random rings to find the 3-stones.  Also, I don’t like that they don’t offer qualities higher than I1 for mounted rings: at I1 clarity you can see the inclusions, and unless your budget is really tight, SI2 is a better bet. 

Costco.com:  Really lovely mountings, different from the rest of the offerings here.  For someone who wants classic, but with a little twist.  For the higher clarity and relatively large center at .40, I think the 1 carat TW version is an excellent value.

Mondera.com:  I had to look really hard on site to find 3-stones.  Nice style and quality, but could only find a 1 ct TW option.  Not as extensive a selection as I thought this jewelry-specific site would have.

I Heart Valentine’s Day Heart Pendants

Heart pendants are one of those polarizing jewelry items: people either love them or they don’t.  I think they can be wonderful–good heart design does not have to be an oxymoron.  If they are done well, hearts can be beautiful and very romantic.   You are wearing a tangible symbol: someone loves you!

There are a lot of hearts out there.  For my edited list below, I had a few criteria I looked at carefully.  Graceful design.  Quality of execution (as far as I can tell online).  Integration of the pendant with the chain.  Value. 

Find yourself (or your gift recipient) in the descriptions below and see if cupid’s arrow makes its mark.

Purist: You value good design and want something enduring. 

You can’t beat Tiffany.  Elsa Peretti created THE iconic design, and it’s a good value in sterling silver, and possibly gold.  How else can you give the little blue box (and probably get a nice smooch) for $165?

Tiffany Small Heart Pendant, $165 Retail

Another nice Tiffany design, I like the rose gold with the silver:

Tiffany Double Heart Pendant w/Rose Gold, $675 Retail

 

Classic: You like simple, tailored designs and want something brilliant, but tasteful; sparkly, but not overwhelming. 

Lovely little piece from Blue Nile, it’s definitely a nod to Tiffany, but a good value:  

Blue Nile 1/4 ct Curved Heart Pendant, $420 Retail

Very sweet piece, love the pearl, and it’s a steal at $55:

Blue Nile Heart Lariat w/ Freshwater Pearl, $55 Retail

This should lay right in the hollow of the neck, like a little kiss:

Blue Nile Infinity Heart Pendant, $420 Retail

Sporty:  You want good design, but you don’t want it to get in the way of your active lifestyle.

This is clean and simple, I like the way it floats on the snake chain:

Platinum Diamond Heart Slide, $900 Retail

I like the bezel setting for these diamonds–no prongs to catch on anything, and it’s a clean look:

C. Gonshor Diamond Heart Pendant, $2895 Retail

 

 Downtown:  You’re a little bit rock and roll, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t a romantic:

I’m a big fan of this designer.  This is kind of spendy, but I bet it’s pretty substantial, and beautifully executed.  Very organic:

Wendy Brandes "Diana" Pendant, $5500 Retail

Inspired by the Illusionist, ingenous twisting mechanism allows it to go from heart to oval (PS, I think this is the one I would buy if I had my choice, I love the mechanics plus it’s got over 1 carat in diamond weight):

Wendy Brandes 18kt Sophie Pendant, $7500 Retail

Romantic: You are inspired by vintage designs and can’t get enough of delicate scrollwork:

Very pretty estate-looking design in white gold:

14kt White Gold Diamond Heart Pendant, $610 Retail

Romantic, yet kind of contemporary at the same time:

14kt White Gold Diamond Scroll Pendant, $1850 Retail

Bold:  You don’t mind making a statement with your jewelry, and you’ve never met a diamond that is too big. 

This is one of my favorites, love the puffed shape and the way the chain slides through, and the diamonds look like they are set nice and tight:

14kt YG Diamond 1.0 ct. Pave Heart, $1361 Retail

A heart that is not really a heart, big look for the $$:

14kt White Gold and Diamond Heart Pendant, $1149 Retail

Classic, gorgeous, CANNOT GO WRONG (other carat weight sizes available):

Blue Nile Platinum 2 Carat Diamond Heart Pendant, $3400 Retail

And the ultimate heart necklace, a one-of-a-kind by the design house Tacori (sorry the image is not so impressive, if you click through you can see it in all it’s gorgeousness):

Tacori Platinum and 18kt Pink Diamond Necklace, $145,000 Retail

 

Internet Diamond Price List and Index

I have compiled a table of diamond prices.  I researched the diamond prices for common sizes and quality combinations of GIA or AGS certified diamonds from leading diamond websites, including Blue Nile, Amazon.com, Union Diamond, Abazias, Mondera.com, Adiamor, and others.  This list is an up-to-date price that you should pay for each respective carat size, color and clarity.  If you pay close to the prices shown below, you can rest assured you are getting an excellent value for that size/quality of diamond.

Why does this exist?  This list is intended to reduce the complexity of the diamond listings you will find online.  Many listings will show almost identical diamonds with large price variances due to the different vendors those companies buy from and their pricing algorithms.  This price list shows a rational, logical approach that tries to distill the information in a transparent way. 

I will research and update these prices each month.  I will also compare the diamond prices to previous month’s prices and will report on the relative changes through the Internet Diamond Price Index.  Because this is the first month, January 2009, the idazzle.com Index is 100.

idazzle.com Internet Diamond Price List
January, 2009
Competitive prices for each Size, Color and Quality combination
All are Very Good or Ideal Cut
idazzle.com Diamond Price Index (IDCX) =									100
		*Index is compared to diamond prices in Januaray, 2009
	0.25 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2		0.75 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2
	D	655	549	523	509		D	7,004	4,256	3,162	2,350
	E	641	537	513	505		E	5,148	4,225	3,370	2,228
	F	632	524	509	499		F	4,563	4,201	3,138	2,203
	G	627	518	507	495		G	3,977	3,389	2,843	2,140
	H	605	`	489	475		H	3,964	2,946	2,297	1,868
	I	588	486	475	462		I	n/a	2,762	2,281	1,673
	J	566	468	458	445		J	2,518	2,218	1,455	1,339
	0.33 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2		1.00 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2
	D	1,130	873	663	515		D	18,101	11,846	7,787	5,610
	E	1,112	758	588	465		E	12,223	11,318	6,767	4,606
	F	1,059	751	578	449		F	11,792	9,656	6,632	4,387
	G	874	672	568	435		G	8,219	7,965	5,689	4,313
	H	826	659	544	430		H	7,360	6,800	4,830	4,224
	I	780	651	442	355		I	6,170	5,610	4,339	3,566
	J	n/a	n/a	n/a	379		J	4,540	3,942	3,553	3,123
	0.50 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2		1.50 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2
	D	3,048	2,290	1,466	1,107		D	43,232	28,461	18,996	11,028
	E	2,663	2,213	1,376	1,102		E	32,097	27,624	18,751	10,363
	F	2,424	1,870	1,321	998		F	24,706	22,256	14,853	10,270
	G	2,073	1,673	1,180	975		G	19,825	18,310	12,705	9,248
	H	1,972	1,446	1,134	955		H	13,357	11,619	10,832	8,136
	I	1,625	1,173	1,033	751		I	12,211	10,955	8,955	7,379
	J	n/a	937	702	594		J	9,751	9,531	7,239	6,293
	0.60 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2		2.00 ct	IF	VVS1-VVS2	VS1 – VS2	SI1 – SI2
	D	3,958	2,981	2,031	1,567		D	85,205	55,171	34,726	18,478
	E	3,056	2,549	2,018	1,370		E	60,534	51,693	33,090	18,250
	F	2,984	2,264	1,884	1,298		F	44,708	43,280	31,467	18,192
	G	2,479	2,235	1,729	1,250		G	32,394	30,433	22,881	15,604
	H	2,382	1,985	1,263	1,005		H	31,719	29,617	19,333	14,963
	I	2,350	1,978	1,172	997		I	23,874	20,033	14,488	13,845
	J	n/a	1,654	1,023	950		J	n/a	16,809	12,566	11,548
	Copywrite idazzle.com LLC 2008
	www.idazzle.com

Designer Spotlight: Mark Patterson

Mark Patterson creates beautiful jewelry in colored gems and diamonds.  I worked with his designs for a number of years when I was with a couple of independent jewelers.  The first designs I fell in love with were mostly colored gemstones that were used with varying intensities and pave-set into designs that showed off the amazing graduation of color.  His wife, Josette, is a sculptor and you can really see that sensibility in the designs:

Mark Patterson Sapphire and Diamond Intensity Ring, app $4520 Retail

When I was a buyer of engagement rings, I was thrilled to find out that Mark was doing engagement ring and wedding band designs.  His engagement rings are mostly timeless designs with a slight twist that makes them special.  He uses pave diamonds and beautiful metal work to highlight the center stone without overpowering it.  Of his classic designs, I especially like the knife-edge setting, which is simple but sculptural:

Platinum Knife Edge Setting, app $3790 Retail

The split-shank design is comfortable, impressive and does a great job of emphasizing the center stone.  Shown here with pave diamonds, but also available plain:

Platinum Diamond Split Shank Setting, app $4050 Retail

While his engagement rings are simply gorgeous, you can tell that color is still his first love.  His newer collection, Samba, plays with the varying shades of colored gemstones in a very modern style that is still classic enough for fine jewelry:

Samba Ruby and Pink Sapphire Bracelet, app $9670 retail

His new 9 two 5 collection features large cabochon gemstones set into a mix of sterling and gold.  It is also pretty affordable.  I especially love the interesting combinations of colors, like this:

Kashmir Cabochon Rings, starting at $630

All of Mark Patterson’s designs are beautifully rendered.  You can find a retailer in your area by visiting his website, or call their studio at 866-221-6593.

Virtual Purchase: 1/2 Carat TW Round Diamond Stud Earrings

Several times a month, I am going to do a “virtual purchase” of a piece of jewelry.  I will  articulate a jewelry purchase scenario, and go through the decision-making process of what, how and where I choose to “purchase” the item.

What:  This week’s virtual purchase will be a pair of 1/2 carat tw (total weight) round diamond solitaire earrings in simple white gold mountings, with nice sparkle without overpaying for quality you can’t see.  While this is a popular size for diamond earrings, keep in mind that these will be smaller than you think–the 1/2 carat diamond total weight is spread across 2 stones, so each is 1/4 carat and the typical diameter is about 4mm each.  Click here for a neat little graphic from Blue Nile illustrating relative diamond size. 

Where: I am going to shop online at Costo.com, Blue Nile, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Diamond.com, Diamondstudsonly.com, and Union Diamond.  NOTE: unlike loose/solitaire diamonds, earring of this size won’t typically have independent diamond reports/certificates from the major grading labs.  I am only going to sites where I am reasonably confident that I would get the quality that is stated on the website.

Here are the results, click here if you need help on the diamond 4C’s terminology:

Company:	Mounting Metal:	Min Color:	Min Clarity:	Cut:	Price:	Comments
Amazon.com	18 kt	H-I	SI2	VG	$521.99	Excellent value, cryptic price messaging
Diamondstudsonly.com	14 kt	G-I	SI2	VG	$599.00	If they can deliver this quality, it’s a good option
Union Diamond	14 kt	H-I	SI1-SI2	NA	$600.00	If they can deliver this quality, it’s a good option
Blue Nile	18 kt	I	SI2	Good	$700.00	OK value, nice site, consistent quality
Costco.com	14 kt	I	VS2	Good	$799.99	Nice value for higher clarity, probably can’t see difference
Walmart.com	14 kt	I-J	I1-I2	NA	$499.00	Not comp quality, not recommended
Diamond.com	14 kt	H-I	I1	NA	$695.00	Not comp quality, not recommended

Bottom Line:  If I were purchasing for myself, I would purchase the Amazon.com pair.  They have the best quality/value ratio for the $521.99 price.  However, I don’t know how long the “sale” will last, so if they discontinue the sale price, I would recommend either the diamondstudsonly or the Union Diamond pair.  If you are really into higher clarity, the Costco pair might do it for you.  As with all jewelry purchases, it takes some research and legwork to compare, and it can get confusing for the lay person.  Not all diamond earring quality combinations are equal across different companies, as the table above shows.  Below are my notes about the specific details of the merchants and their offerings, and links to the exact pairs reviewed.

Costco.com:  Yes, their site is clunky–the refining browse structure is just awkward.  But their prices are usually very good, they tend to have nicer qualities, and are scrupulous about quality control.  They have a smaller selection than other sites, but they have a nice pair of 1/2 carat tw round diamond earrings set into classic 14kt white gold baskets, I color or better, VS2 clarity or better for $799.99.  I know from industry reputation that their cut quality is pretty good.  That price includes shipping, and the site says you can have them in 2-3 days.

Blue Nile:  Beautiful site, pretty intuitive to browse for earrings.  At Blue Nile, you can build your own pair of earrings by selecting matched pairs of diamonds and a mounting style of your choice, or you can choose from popular sizes/shapes already mounted.  The most likely pair of round diamond studs was 1/2 ct tw, I color or better, SI2 clarity or better, good cut, set into 18 kt white gold screwback settings for $700.  You can get them next day for free if you order by a certain time.  These are slightly lower clarity than the Costco pair, but at SI2 you are unlikely to see any inclusions with the eye, and you get better mountings for almost $100 less than the Costco pair.

Amazon.com:  If you click on Amazon’s Jewelry catagory, they have a “Diamond Stud Earring” heading in the left nav that takes you to this page set up with all of their pre-set diamond earring choices in popular shapes/sizes/qualities.  The round diamond stud earrings in 18k white gold basket settings with a regular friction back are H-I color, SI2 clarity or better, and very good cut (which will give you great sparkle) for $869.99 retail plus shipping, which doesn’t sound competitive with BN or Costco.  BUT, there is a sale of 40% off applied when you actually put the item in your cart and go through the purchase process until the final “submit”.  The final price is $521.99 which is an excellent value.  I don’t think shipping is free unless you are an Amazon.com Prime member.  But I find the whole pricing strategy to be odd.  These earrings have a $2380 retail, which is TOTALLY ridiculous!  Then they have their published discounted price of $869.99, which is high.  The final price of $522 is very good, but it’s not transparent and difficult to get to. 

Walmart.com:  Platinumgirl shops at Walmart for jewelry, you say?  Well, they are the largest retailer of jewelry in the US by volume, and this is a basic item, so I figure I should check it out.  The site is terrible–you can’t sort for size, quality, even shape.  I finally found a pair of 1/2 carat tw round diamonds, H-I color, I1-I2 clarity, in 14k white basket settings for $499.  These are in no way comparable to the other diamond earrings I found at other sites–I just don’t recommend an I2 for anything–and probably not pretty at all.  The Amazon.com pair is light years ahead of these and for not much more ($521 final price).

Diamond.com:  Surprisingly, since they are a jewelry-specific site, I find this site to be challenging.  For all the browse refinements in the left navigation, I still have to wade through a bunch of stuff to find the round solitaire 1/2 tw studs.  The closest I could come to the other contenders was this pair, at H-I color, I1 clarity for $695, in very un-appealing 14k white gold screw back settings.  I would not recommend this pair.  For the same price (or lower, in Amazon’s case), Blue Nile  and Amazon both have finer quality.

Diamondstudsonly.com:  I am giving this site a try, since it comes up at the top of Google search results.  You can sort of “build your own” by selecting diamond shape, mounting style and metal type, and diamond quality ranges.   I selected what we have been comparing: 1/2 ct tw, G-I color, SI2 clarity, very good cut in 14kt white gold basket settings for $599, with free Fed Ex 2 day shipping.  This is a good value.  Only drawback is that I’ve never ordered from them before and don’t know if they are being spot-on with their quality grading.

Union Diamond:  Since I found their selection and pricing very good on my virtual purchase of a 1 carat solitaire, I thought I would check them out for diamond studs, too.  The site is OK.  You can choose from a drop-down menu of mounting options, so I selected their 14kt white gold basket settings.  The detail page says 1/2 ct tw, H-I color, SI1-SI2 clarity for $600.  Free Fed Ex shipping is included.  If the cut is good to very good, this pair is right in the range of Diamondstudsonly.com and Amazon.com for pretty comparable quality.

Virtual Purchase: 1 Carat Round Diamond

Several times a month, I am going to do a “virtual purchase” of a piece of jewelry.  I will  articulate a jewelry purchase scenario, and go through the decision-making process of what, how and where I choose to “purchase” the item.

What:  This week I am looking for a 1.00 carat round diamond, loose.  My “customer” wants the nicest quality he can afford, but won’t go below 1.00 carat weight.  I am only going to look at diamonds with an AGS or GIA certificate so there is some confidence that I will get the diamond quality I’m expecting. 

Where: I am going to shop online at Blue Nile, Amazon.com, Diamond.com, and Union Diamond.

(The Gold Standard) Blue Nile:  I go to Blue Nile first.  I do a search for loose diamonds that can be mounted by a specific date (if you are more flexible on date, there are more results), 0.90 to 1.15 carat, Very Good Cut or better, I Color or better, SI2 Clarity or better.  There are 246 diamonds in my search result.  Now it’s time to refine.   I review this primer on diamond quality 4 Cs, so I know that cut is important.  I sort for that and find that only 2 of the 215 diamonds are Very Good Cut, the rest are Ideal or Signature Ideal.

I know that color is also important, so I sort for that next, high to low.  I decide that a D or E color, while beautiful, are much more expensive than the equally gorgeous F and G color, and that VS2 to SI1 clarity seems like a nice range.  So I check the compare boxes next to a few combinations of F and G color, VS2 and SI1 clarity, Very Good, Ideal and Signature Ideal cut, and hit the ”Compare” button at the top of the column.  It opens a new page with the diamonds listed side-by-side in a neat comparison format. 

I remove 3 diamonds right off the bat, due to medium to strong blue Fluorescence.  It doesn’t really affect beauty that much in faint to medium (and may make the diamond more attractively priced), but while it might actually help me out if I were purchasing an I or J (or lower) color, in a premium color diamond, it’s not that desirable.  The diamonds that are left range from $5300 to $8800–kind of a big price spread.  I rule out the 2 highest priced diamonds (over $8000), mainly because there is nothing significantly better about them than the others.  Wearing my Gemologist hat, I scrutinize the numbers for a while.  I ultimately choose a 1.09 ct F, SI1, Signature Ideal for $6783.  What tips me this direction is that it has a 60% depth percentage with a 56% table, so its diameter is going to appear slightly larger than the other top contender at 62% depth/55% table.  The actual diameter measurement is also slightly larger, but I know I’m not sacrificing beauty for that, because it’s a Signature Ideal cut with the certificates to show for it.  It wasn’t the cheapest, but it was right in the middle of the pack ($5300 low to $7600 high).

(The Mighty) Amazon.com: Now that I have a more precise picture of what I’m looking for, I head to Amazon.com (is there anything they don’t sell now?).  As an Amazon.com insider (see here to read more), I know that Amazon tries to be the lowest price in loose diamonds whenever they can.  At Amazon’s site, you can find their loose diamond/Create Your Own Diamond Ring selection on their Jewelry gateway page, or by clicking here. 

I adjust the sliders to find diamonds in the same quality range I used for Blue Nile, with a price cap of $10,000.  I figure out (through trial and error) that Amazon’s slider is not as sensitive as Blue Nile’s so I have to move the slider up to 1.25 ct in order to get diamonds over 1.00.  I get 631 results.  Their compare feature does not have the same level of detail as BN’s–there are no measurements or girdle thickness, you have to click through to the detail page for each stone to find out those details.

I found a great 1.08 F, SI1 ”Ideal” cut (meaning that the table and depth percentages fit into the Ideal range), that looked like a great value at $5775.  But closer inspection revealed that it said “Very Good” under the Polish and Symmetry comments, so it’s not technically the same as the Signature Cut Ideal from Blue Nile.  But if you weren’t so picky about that, it would be a great value.  Since the G, VS2 combination was $1000 more, I stuck with the F, SI1 quality combination.  The final diamond at Amazon that is most comparable to the BN diamond is a 1.07 ct F, SI1, Ideal cut for $6610.  I like the 55% table/61% depth combination, and it’s diameter is 6.6 mm, similar to the BN diameter of 6.7 mm.  If I wanted about the same factors, but was willing to go down in size slightly to 1.00 ct exactly, Amazon had a nice diamond for $5940, but the diameter is slightly smaller at 6.46 mm.   

(Disappointing) Diamond.com:  I couldn’t find a great comp at Diamond.com.  The closest I could find was a 1.03 ct, F, SI1, Ideal cut for $5908.  It is not as large, and had medium blue Fluorescence, which I rejected at the other companies.  The selection was dismal, maybe 4 diamonds that were even close.

(The Darkhorse Surprise) Union Diamond: Union Diamond seems to come up a lot in search engines, so I checked them out, too.  Closest comparable diamond: a very nice 1.06 ct, F, SI1, AGS-certified Ideal cut for $6435.  If it is as nice as the website says, it’s one of the best values I came across, especially if the company could verify if the AGS certificate identifies the diamond as a “000″ Ideal (Ideal proportions, Polish and Symmetry).  The only drawback is that I’m not as familiar with the company, so I can’t give a full endorsement without ordering something.

Final Diamond Virtual Purchase:the 1.07 ct F, SI1, Ideal from Amazon.com.  While any of my top three diamonds (my top pick from BN, Amazon.com and Union) would have been incredibly brilliant, I like the value proposition of the price in the middle ($6435 from Union Diamond, $6610 from Amazon, $6783 from BN), PLUS the safety/reputation of Amazon.com.  If I get some personal experience with Union, or hear from someone who has, then I might go with that option.

Bottom Line:  With certified diamonds, you can–in theory–easily compare all the factors online and then buy something that should be a beautiful diamond.  The reality is that it’s pretty confusing trying to sort through literally hundreds, even thousands of similar diamonds that all have tiny differences that seem to affect value significantly.  It’s important to remember that although it seems like there are so many details to consider, at some point it’s splitting hairs–if you are staying in a quality range of Very Good Cut, I color, SI2 and better, you will end up with a gem with plenty of sparkle.  I chose an Ideal, F color, SI1 as a gorgeous diamond quality with an excellent value proposition.  A lot of people think that a G, VS2 combination is an ideal engagement ring, but most of those diamonds were $1000 or more for that quality combo, and I prefer the higher color–you can’t see the difference in clarity at all from VS2 to SI1.

Of course, if you go to a reputable jeweler in your area, you could compare several qualities and see for yourself if there is a difference worth paying for.

Cellini Asscher Cut Diamond Ring

Santa, I think you forgot this…

Regards,

platinumgirl

PS: I have been VERY good this year

Updated 4/9/2009:  Considering how much traffic this page gets (a LOT), I thought I should get some more information about these rings. 

I spoke to Danielle at the Cellini store in the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in NYC (Cellini also has a store at 509 Madison Ave).  She said that the images of the rings are representative of what they can do with a diamond from their inventory or your own diamond.  OK, maybe not just ANY stone, the mountings work best with the shapes shown, a square Emerald cut or Oval.  Also, the center stone should be at least 3 carats, in order for the mounting to be proportionate.  It might just be too much metal with a stone smaller than 3 carats (see my post about Asscher cut diamonds here, there are some nice pave settings for diamonds smaller than 3 carats).  The retail for the setting is around $9500 in platinum.  A 3 carat Asscher or Oval shape around G color, VS2 clarity (my choice for best quality combination) will run around $35,000.  Cellini would be happy to help you find the right diamond, of course.  For what it’s worth, Danielle said that as beautiful as the photo is, the rings are really much prettier in person, she recommends trying one on if you’re ever in NYC.  

If you like this style, but you’re interested in a different shape of center diamond, you can check out their Spring 2008 catalog, there is another version on the cover of this catalog that could work for a Cushion or other shape center.  Click here to download.

Here’s a link to Cellini’s website, or call the very lovely Danielle at 212-751-9824.