June 2010
Great Deals - June 2010 Archive Page
June 30: Today’s recommended Princess cut diamond will continue the move up the ladder in size and price.
Today’s diamond will be a 2.21 carat, I color, SI1 clarity, Premium cut Princess cut diamond. this diamond sells for $13,160.
To go through the rigamarole the ratio is 1.02 making it nearly perfect, along with great other proportions and internals marks that are invisible to the naked eye and naked under the loupe as well. This diamond is priced great because of the Premium cut and the SI1 clarity, despite the large size and the physical beauty of the diamond.
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| 2.21 Carat I-SI1 Premium cut Princess Diamond magnified |
This diamond is a great buy at $13,160.
June 29: Today’s Princess cut diamond will be a little bit bigger and more expensive, climbing up the Princess ladder..
Today’s diamond recommendation is for a 1.75 carat Princess cut diamond that is G color and SI1 clarity. This diamond sells for $12,050.
Despite this diamond being a Premium cut rather than Ideal, it’s length to width ratio is still a whopping 1.01 to 1. As well, despite being rated at SI1 clarity, all the internal clouds and needles are along the edge. In a Princess cut it is very difficult to see internal flaws because of the way the facets are cut – when they are along the edge they are even more invisible.
So, today’s recommended great value diamond is this 1.75 carat, G color, SI1 clarity, Premium cut Princess diamond, selling for $12,050.
June 28: Another benefit to the Princess cut diamond, besides for the beauty of the cut, is that the way the cut is designed covers up many, if not most, of the diamonds internal flaws. They simply cannot be seen because of the shape and cut of the facets. That means that you can save even more money because you can go with a lower clarity rating and not be giving up on any of the actual visible beauty of the diamond.
So today’s recommended diamond is a 1.61 carat, G color, SI1 clarity Ideal cut Princess diamond. This diamond sells for $10,320.
This diamond has great proportions, including a great l to w ratio of 1.01, and its flaws are invisible, making this price practically a steal for this beautiful of a diamond.
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| 1.61 Carat G-SI1 Ideal cut Princess Diamond magnified |
June 27: Today’s recommended diamond is a Princess cut diamond with Premium cut proportions.
The diamond is a 1.50 carat diamond, with G color and SI1 clarity Premium cut Princess cut diamond. This diamond sells for $8,670.
The length to width ratio is 1.03 (to 1) and the diamond is internally very nice with the minor flaws practically invisible.
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| 1.50 Carat G-SI1 Premium cut Princess Diamond magnified |
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June 24: Back to normal today, after yesterday’s digression into earrings..
Today’s recommended diamond is this 1.81 carat, I color, SI1 clarity Ideal cut Round diamond. This diamond sells for $12,150.
This diamond has great proportions and will be very sparkly and brilliant, based on the depth and angles. It has all the internal flaws commensurate with a rating of SI1, but for the most part the flaws are around the edges.
This is a large diamond, at a great price, with flaws that will not be seen. This is today’s recommended diamond.
June 23: Today I am in the mood for something a little different. I am going to recommend earrings instead of a loose diamond. And I am going to recommend a few different styles of earrings.
Style #1: This 14k white gold Diamond Dangle Earrings that sell for $950. These earrings sport a trendy design but retain a vintage feel. They contain diamond that total 0.36 carats.
Style #2: This 14K White Gold Raindrop Dangle Earrings selling for $1250 . The diamonds on this set total 0.55 carat and sport a contemporary and elegant design, with the vintage feel.
Style #3: This 14K White Gold Freshwater Cultured Pearl and Diamond Earrings 
selling for $325.
These earrings will make an amazing gift for your wife, or girlfriend/fiancee, for any occasion.
June 22: Today’s recommended diamond is going to be a diamond above the 1.50 carat price marker. I never really saw the point in buying a diamond that was just over the price bracket marker. Meaning, why buy a diamond that is 1.53 carat? You are paying a higher price per carat just for a few points in the diamond – you might as well buy a 1.48 carat diamond and save the $500. However, buying a diamond higher up in the bracket is fine.
So today’s diamond is a 1.70 carat diamond with H color and SI1 clarity. The diamond sells for $10,800.
This diamond is large, as it weighs in at 1.70 carat, yet is relatively cheap at sub-11k prices. The reason for the lower price is because it is rated at SI1 clarity. For SI1 clarity, this diamond is really great. It just has a few internal flaws, and most of them are around the edge of the stone, with a couple crystals appearaing at the edge of the facets on the Table. So you are getting a large stone that is very clean to the eye at a ridiculously low price.
Be sure to go to James Allen to get this great valued stone before someone else does!
June 21: Today’s recommended stone is also going to be in the range of just under 1.50 carat. Keeping it below the price bracket change means you get a stone just a few points smaller, but save a few hundred dollars. As soon as you jump into each new category of a price bracket, the price per carat changes. the difference between two identical stones, with the only difference of one being a 1.51 carat diamond and the second being a 1.48 carat diamond will be a few hundred dollars.
Today’s diamond is another round brilliant diamond. This one is 1.45 carat, G color, VS2 clarity. The diamond sells for $11,350.
There is not much to say about this diamond. It is a beautiful diamond and getting this diamond rated at VS2 with just under the new price bracket makes this diamond a great buy. Just a touch larger, a touch clearer (even though you would never be able to tell the difference), and this diamond would cost at least $500 more.
June 20: Happy Father’s Day to all you dads out there. Here are a couple of Father’s Day Gifts I spotted and liked:
We’ve got this great 14k men’s onyx ring selling for $500 at Mondera:
Another great gift for dad would be a powerful set of cuff links. This set of sterling silver with black onyx cuff links sells for $205 at Mondera:
(use coupon code “dad10″ to get a 10% discount off any purchase of Men’s Jewelry at Mondera.com)
And if dad isn’t into the rings or cuff links scenes, he might really like one of these Men’s Watches at Blue Nile.
And now, on to today’s diamond.
For today’s recommended diamond I chose a diamond in a larger category than what we have been looking at recently. I looked at diamonds under 1.50 carat, but in the range close to 1.50. I wanted to keep it under the price jump of the 1.50 carat category, but close to that size.
The diamond I chose to recommend as today’s great value diamond is this 1.45 carat diamond, with G color, and VS2 clarity. This diamond sells for $11,350.
This diamond is a beauty of a diamond with great proportions and a brilliant appearance. Very minor flaws that are covered up by the facets – even knowing where they were after seeing their locations on the certificate and I still could not see them under the loupe!
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| 1.45 Carat G-VS2 Ideal cut Round Diamond magnified |
June 17: Continuing to increase in the price level, but still staying in the lower budget level, we are close to hitting our top of the low budget. Once we get to about $5500, it is no longer, in my book, considered low budget. We will for sure be able to find great value diamonds in every price category, by knowing what to look for in each parameters, knowing where we can go with a slightly lower rating without compromising the appearance that is important to us, and by doing so we can find great value in every category and price level of diamond that we approach, but that is not the same as low budget. Right now we are looking for great value and low budget.
So, today’s recommended great value low-budget diamond is a 1.06 carat, I color, SI1 clarity, Premium cut Round diamond. This diamond sells for $4,790.
The proportions on this diamond are great – as close to “Ideal” as one can get without being “Ideal”. And, the internal flaws are practically invisible as they consist of just a few natural indents that are all located along the edges of the diamond.
This is a great buy for a low budget diamond, considering it is above a carat, has no flaws that will be detectable, and has a great price for such a nice diamond.
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| 1.06 Carat I-SI1 Premium cut Round Diamond magnified |
And here is the diamond’s certificate:
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Go to James Allen to buy this great value diamond before someone else does!
June 16: After yesterday’s involvement with stones at the SI2 rating, I decided I wanted to look at some more in the SI1 and SI2 range. Diamonds in this range can be really great buys, but you have to look at a lot of diamonds to find one that is clean enough, or I should say that is “dirty” in places that will not be easily noticeable.
Today’s recommended great value diamond is this 1.08 carat Premium cut diamond, with J color and SI1 clarity. The diamond sells for $4150.
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| 1.08 Carat J-SI1 Premium cut Round Diamond magnified |
The details of the diamond are great, with the Table just slightly above the recommended level. It is not large enough that it will change the appearance, but just large enough to take it out of “Ideal” and put it into the “Premium” category…
So, today’s recommended great value diamond is this 1.08 carat Premium cut diamond, with J color and SI1 clarity selling for $4150.
June 15: Today we are going to go with another low budget diamond with the minimum weight being 1 carat. Today’s diamond is really the end of this category. We cannot get the diamond any cheaper without getting into either a level of clarity that I personally consider unacceptable, or without going lower than 1 carat.
Today’s diamond is in the SI2 level of clarity. SI2 is really tricky. SI diamonds are kind of borderline in their clarity, and some will be eye clean and some will not. SI2 is already a bit lower, and therefore cheaper, and most of the time the flaws will be easily seen under a loupe and frequently enough it will be dirty enough that the naked eye will see it as well.
Fortunately, I found a couple of diamonds that are in the SI2 category but are reasonably clean and, I think, would be clean to the naked eye, based on the appearance under the Virtual Loupe.
To get the diamond to be cheap enough to be considered low budget, while still remaining over 1 carat, I had to go down to SI2 in the clarity, but also to a cut level rating of “Good” rather than “Premium” or “Ideal”.
A “Good” rating is the most commonly rated diamond sold in the United States. The proportions are slightly off, usually with a larger Table than Ideal or a Depth slightly larger than Ideal. The brilliance on these stones, while not the same as a stone rated “Ideal” or “Premium” will still be sharp and brilliant, and the diamond will be beautiful.
I found two diamonds that I considered. They are both low budget, above a carat, SI2 with Good cut rating, and both are relatively clean enough that they should be “eye clean”.
- This 1.02 carat diamond, with J color and SI2 clarity, with Good cut proportions. This diamond sells for $3,390.
- This 1.04 carat diamond, with J color and SI2 clarity, with Good cut proportions. This diamond sells for $3,110.
On diamond #1, the Table is a nice size, but the Depth is larger than ideal. This will affect the brilliance slightly, as the larger depth will mean light will have some leakage through the bottom of the diamond instead of bouncing the light back up through the top.
On diamond #2, the Depth is a nice size, but the Table is fairly large. The brilliance on this diamond will be better because the depth proportion is better. The Table itself is not really so important. The larger Table will make the diamond look a little bigger than it actually is, always a nice benefit, but will not really affect the beauty of the diamond. The affect on the diamond will be from the angles of the diamond that are altered because of the larger Table. In this diamond, the angles are all still very good and the stone will be a beautiful stone with nice brilliance.
My choice, and recommendation, for today’s low budget diamond above 1 carat, will be diamond #2, the 1.04 carat, J color, SI2 clarity, with good cut proportions. The diamond sells for $3110.
Go now to James Allen website to order today’s recommended diamond.
June 14: Today’s recommended diamond is going to be a low budget diamond, with the only requirement being that it be 1 carat or more. The buyer wants to buy a diamond over a carat for his fiancee, but does not have a lot of money to spend. His only requirement is that it be nice and be at least 1 full carat.
To start with, when looking for a low budget diamond, I would recommend getting just under a carat instead of just over a carat. The price differential is great, as the price jumps when the diamond moves into each new size bracket. When buying a 1 carat diamond, you are paying just for having hit the 1 carat size, while if you bought a 0.97 carat diamond (for example), the physical difference is imperceptible, but the price differential is substantial.
However, the customer is always right, as they say, and we are dealing with a customer who wants to buy specifically a 1 carat diamond (or greater). There are a number of reasons one might insist on the diamond being a full carat, so when a customer comes in with that concept as a priority, we have to figure out where else we can make the diamond cheaper to save him some of the money he is paying for the size.
So today’s recommended diamond is a low budget 1+ carat diamond. I chose this 1.03 carat, J color, SI1 clarity Premium cut Round diamond. This diamond sells for $3800.
The color level “J” is still considered “near colorless”, but is at the end of the range. It is borderline, and some J color stones might have a yellowish tinge to them.
As well, SI1 is also a tricky level of clarity to deal with. Most of the time a diamond with SI1 clarity, you will be able to spot its flaws using a regular diamond loupe with 10x magnification. Sometimes you will even be able to see some of the worse flaws with the naked eye, but usually not. Just picking a diamond classed as SI1 does not really tell you much about the diamond. Since the level is a tricky level, each diamond in the SI1 category will be vastly different – one might be very dirty and not one you would prefer to choose, while another might have its flaws very difficult to detect and be considered reasonably clean.
This diamond is a J color, but is really still in the category of near colorless. I compared it with many other J color stones in a similar range, and this one is white compared to how yellow most of the others were!
The SI1 rating on this stone is also very good, as the flaws are very minor and mostly around the edges of the diamond and along the lines of the facets, making them practically imperceptible.
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| 1.03 Carat J-SI1 Premium cut Round Diamond magnified |
And here is the diamond’s certificate:
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Today’s recommended diamond is a 1.03 carat, J color, SI1 clarity, Premium cut Round diamond selling for $3800.
June 13: Today’s recommended great value diamond will be for a diamond under $6500, as long as it is 1 full carat or larger.
My selection narrowed down to a few stones. I will just give you my final recommendation today, even though the other stones were very close. Maybe I will select those on other days (if they are still available).
Today’s recommended 1+ carat diamond for under $6500 is this 1.01 Carat G-VS2 Ideal Cut Round Diamond selling for $6410.
The diamond is very nice with perfect proportions, as would be expected from an Ideal cut diamond. The defects of the diamond are limited to a couple of small wisps at the edge of the Table.
This is a great diamond and at $6410 you know it is going to get snatched up quickly for an engagement ring.
And speaking of rings, I would match this diamond with this 18k White Gold 2.0mm Art-Nouveau Pave Set Diamond Engagement Ring slling for $850. This ring adds a unique artistic look to the set.
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| 18k White Gold 2.0mm Art-Nouveau Pave Set Diamond Engagement Ring |
June 10: It is time to get back to the basics for a bit. Let’s go back to “regular” Round brilliant diamonds for a bit.
Today we will start off with the best Round diamond for under $7500.
The best Round Brilliant diamond for under $7500 for today is the 1.24 carat, H color, VS2 clarity. This diamond sells for $7350.
This diamond has some pins and needles and clouds inside, but they are very difficult to see even under the loupe, let alone to the naked eye. Even knowing where they were I had a difficult time spotting most of them.
There were some others in this range that were fairly similar, but their flaws were more easily detectable. This diamond’s flaws are extremely difficult to see, and therefore make this a great buy. Because of the VS2, this diamond is larger than most diamonds in this price range and quality level, at 1.24 carat, compared to most diamonds at this level being in the range of 1.02 to 1.08 carat.
So getting this diamond gives you, for a very similar price, a much larger diamond, with just as beautiful an appearance.
Today’s diamond is 1.24 carat, H color, VS2 clarity. Go now to James Allen to buy this diamond!
June 8: Today’s recommended great value diamond is going to be the best valued Hearts and Arrows diamond under $10,000.
I looked at a number of diamonds under 10k, and you might be suprised by my choice:
- This 1.04 carat, G color, VVS2 clarity Hearts and Arrows diamond selling for $9250.
- This 1.15 carat, H color, VVS2 clarity Hearts and Arrows diamond selling for $8620.
- This 1.15 carat, G color, VS2 clarity Hearts and Arrows diamond selling for $7960.
- This 1.16 carat, H color, VS1 clarity Hearts and Arrows diamond selling for $7700.
While the first two diamonds are both under 10k and should really qualify, they are not great value buys. They are great diamonds and great prices, but not really the great value I am looking for. They are each $1000-$1500 more expensive than the other diamonds only for the better clarity rating, and despite being more than 10 points smaller in size.
The VVS2 rating is great, but does not really make for great value. You can go with the cheaper diamonds in #3 and #4 and still have an eye clean diamond, that is larger, while saving $1000+ in the process!
Today’s recommended great value diamond purchase for under $10,000 is going to be diamond #4 – The 1.16 carat, H color, VS1 clarity Hearts and Arrows Ideal cut diamond selling for $7700. This diamond is nice, eye clean, and is a great value purchase!
Go now to James Allen to buy this great value diamond!
(addendum to recommendation: The other diamonds considered are also great diamonds and worthwhile purchases, each in its own category)
June 7: Today I looked for the best True Hearts, a.k.a. Hearts and Arrows, diamond for under $12000.
I narrowed down the search to two stones:
- This 1.15 carat, F color, VS1 clarity diamond selling for $10,870.
- This 1.21 carat, G color, VVS2 clarity diamond selling for $11,440.
Both diamonds are beautiful Hearts and Arrows diamonds, but my recommendation is the greater value buy is diamond #2. They are basically very similar diamonds with the proportions all very close to each other. Therefore, the winning feature in diamond #2 is that it is larger. The color and clarity are all at levels that will not make a difference to the eye, so in this case I would go with the larger diamond.
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| 1.21 Carat G-VVS2 Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut Diamond magnified |
The True Hearts image:
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| 1.21 Carat G-VVS2 Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut Diamond TrueHearts Image Magnified |
And here is the diamond’s AGS certificate:
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| The best value True Hearts diamond for under $12k is this 1.21 carat, G color, VVS2 clarity selling for $11,440.
June 6: While searching for a “Hearts and Arrows” stone for someone who sent me an email, I came across a number of really nice, and great value, diamonds in the Hearts and Arrows category. Here is the best value True Hearts (a.k.a. Hearts and Arrows) diamond for under $15,000. The diamond is a 1.54 carat diamond, with G color and VS2 clarity, selling for $14,400. It is certified as True Hearts by AGS.
The True Hearts image:
And here is the diamond’s AGS certificate:
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