What should a 1.5 carat diamond cost

Going online enables you to scrutinize diamond details with magnified videos and access huge inventories. These are stuff that you will never be able to do easily in a local jewelry store. I challenge you to visit your local jeweler and make a request to see all their available 1. Let me know in the comments below if you have any success with finding a diamond with the exact requirements you are looking for i.

I am going to bet you will have a hard time doing so. More importantly, the odds of the store having a well cut diamond available are heavily stacked against you. When it comes to buying diamonds, you need to be selective of the vendors to work with.

White Flash , Blue Nile and James Allen are awesome vendors I recommend because of their exemplary service standards and diamond selections. There are many reasons why I advocate going online instead of shopping at a physical store. However, the 2 most important factors that matters most are better diamond selections and the amount of tangible information available on the diamond.

But when I go shopping, I like the idea of having more options to select from instead of being forced to make a purchase decision based on limited choices. Online vendors are able to list a huge inventory of diamonds and this will allow you to cherry pick the best diamond based on your specifications. With any given specifications e.

Online retailers like James Allen and Blue Nile allow you to browse through hundreds of 1. Check them out for yourself today! The second point may sound a little counter-intuitive especially to first time shoppers. Well, let me pose the question back to you.

How do you know whether a diamond is well cut for light performance sparkle and what are the things you need to look out for when assessing a diamond? Video technology has enabled interaction with diamonds under magnification anddetail scrutiny!

By using tangible data indicated by yellow arrow , it eliminates any guesswork when you are shopping for a diamond.

And they make it really easy for you to perform indepth analysis with videos and cut data. Diamond prices jump exponentially at every half-carat and full carat level. For most people, buying a 1. In order to get a better idea of real-life appearances, check out the visual comparisons of a 1. In terms of face-up size, a 1. For example, this 1. Before I end this write up, I want to show you some beautiful ring designs that will complement a 1. Hopefully, this will offer some inspiration and alleviate frustrations for people who need help finding their dream ring.

What I love about the setting is that they use the best melees and spare no expense when it comes to craftsmanship quality. Made of platinum, this 3-stone engagement ring is very elegant looking and offers the symbolism of past, present and future with your loved one. I picked out this James Allen setting because of its gorgeous appearance and good value for money.

The thing I love about halo rings is that they give more bang for your buck. In essence, the placement of melee diamonds around the center stone helps create an illusion of a larger looking diamond. To browse through more ring designs, check out the following links. If you have questions or run into problems in picking out a diamond, feel free to reach out to me via email. I am from Singapore too and had been looking for a proposal ring for my girlfriend. When I was at Meyson, I was introduced to their signature line of ideal cuts and they were priced significantly lower than other local stores.

The diamonds were beautiful and I am tempted to make a purchase there. Thanks for your kind words. Their diamonds are cut pretty well and are pretty much consistent in quality.

In fact, I had examined more than 6 stones of different sizes when I dropped by for a visit in the mall. Instead, they are graded by Sigma International Gemology an unknown lab with operations in Singapore.

Yep, sellers love to toot their own horn and you should take it with a pinch of salt. You see, if their entire inventory is graded by the same lab SIG , I would buy their reasoning that they choose to work with a local grading lab. However, they carry stock with GIA certification as well. Why is this so? This way, you get what you paid for. Nothing less. If you are like most people who are faced with the dilemma of finding a great gift or contemplating a proposal during the festive season, this 1.

Brian Gavin is well known in the industry for his high quality diamonds that are cut to extreme precision and vetted by the man himself. When we talk about round diamonds , most people are actually familiar with the phenomenon of hearts and arrows that are displayed when the stone is seen with a special viewer. What most people do not know is that different diamonds might display different hearts patterning even though they are all graded as triple excellent GIA or triple 0 AGS.

AGS triple ideal 0s may not always show the same standard of optical symmetry. If you are interested, click here for a more detailed guide to comparing hearts and arrows diamonds and the things you need to look out for. With an E color, this stone has one of the best colors on the grading scale. For a large 1. One of the other things I love about this stone is the VS2 clarity grade it has.

It allows you to have a completely eyeclean stone without having to pay a larger premium for higher clarity grades like VVS or IF. From the technical data of the red saturated Idealscope and ASET images, it indicates immense light return and a diamond that is ready to burst into fireworks under different lighting.

Refer to these reference charts to do your own comparisons. In the next column of information below, you can see the relationships between the individual facets from the Sarin report. Basically, a Sarin scan uses light to precisely map the positioning and alignment of the different facets. A smaller deviation in the numbers means that the diamond is cut to stricter tolerances. For example, the measurement of 8 different crown angles across the diamond yields values between Likewise, the measurements of the pavilion angles and diameter also show super strict tolerances in which this diamond is crafted to.

If you are looking for a nice sized diamond with optimum light performance, this is a stone I will highly recommend you to consider. Click here to see more information about the diamond and to browse other similar listings. I would like to commend you for an excellent article you posted online.

I am looking for a diamond ring for my Mrs to celebrate our 10th year anniversary but the prices here in Singapore are ridiculous. As I was pouring through all the online forums, I was already pretty set on BlueNile until I chanced upon your article.

On a separate note, I also came across the software called the Holloway Cut Advisor. Well, wish me luck on my journey. Thanks to you, I have 2 other online diamond places to look at. You mentioned you are considering a pair of 1 TCW earrings and this got me worried. I hope you understand that total carat weight means the sum of individual smaller diamonds which make up that piece of jewelry.

It could be two 0. Note that the cost of all the smaller diamonds does NOT equal to a 1 carat stone would cost you. They are always much cheaper than a single 1 carat diamond.

HCA advisor is a rejection tool and not a selection tool. Also, GIA does provide the crown and pavilion angles for round diamonds in their certification report. Can you please advise me between the 2? Can you advise me on how to pick between these 2 diamonds?

If you think there are some faults that I overlooked, please share them with me. I would really appreciate a fresh perspective. I think you made some good choices here. VS1 is definitely eye clean even if you can see inclusions under the loupe. For the other diamond jamesallen. Typically, ideal ranges for crown angles should be about A 1 degree angle is a lot in the world of diamonds. Of course, you will be paying a premium for these diamonds because they are cut very precisely uses up more rough stone to achieve this effect.

In the case of this diamond, it has both great optical symmetry and light performance. To show you the other end of the spectrum as an example, check out this link: jamesallen.

This diamond has nice hearts and arrows patterning. However, it is slightly leaky from the Idealscope image. For another example, click this link: jamesallen. The hearts shown are not even in size. Some are slightly smaller and there are also tears in the clefts. After thinking hard, I have re-looked my budget; a 1. This is my new strategy, get a XXX and stick with a round brilliant cut.

To make my buying decision, I would rely on IS images and the 20X virtual loupe to check the inclusions for eye-cleanliness.

Oval diamonds offer a great amount of brilliance and fire, with a unique shape to set your ring apart. The elongated shape of an oval diamond also means it has a larger table size, making it appear larger than other shapes at the same carat weight.

The princess cut is the second most popular diamond shape, after the round brilliant. Color is one of the most important factors to look for when buying diamonds, especially those in the 1. Diamonds are graded for color using the GIA scale, which runs from D the best color grade, for clear, colorless diamonds to Z heavily tinted diamonds with yellow or brown color.

The more colorless the diamond, the better the grade and the higher its value. Diamond prices can increase by a significant amount with each color grade, often without a very large difference in appearance between one diamond and another. For example, this 1. But place it beside this 1. This is because the yellow or rose gold color of the ring will help to conceal any color that can be found in the diamond.

Set in a white metal, the color of this diamond would make it look tinted. However, it would look vibrant and beautiful in a yellow or rose gold setting. A well cut diamond will help to conceal its internal, whereas a poorly cut diamond will display any yellow or brown tint more clearly. Need help choosing the right color grade? The fewer inclusions and blemishes that can be found in a diamond, the better its clarity. Diamond clarity is graded on a scale, from IF internally flawless to I3 inclusions, third degree.

An internally flawless diamond has no internal or external imperfections and will look flawless to the naked eye and when observed under magnification and bright lighting. Flawless diamonds are both extremely rare and extremely expensive. Doing so is very expensive. Instead, we recommend choosing a diamond that appears clean to your eye, with no obvious, visible inclusions or blemishes. To illustrate this difference in price, look at this 1. However, this 1.

Eye-cleanliness is particularly important in a 1. The minimum clarity of a diamond can also vary based on its shape. Some shapes, such as the cushion cut, do a great job of hiding inclusions. In general, we recommend VS2 clarity grade or better for most 1. In some cases, an SI1 diamond might also be eye-clean and a suitable choice. Tension - Platinum. Channel Set - Platinum. Channel Set - White Gold. As we explained in our guide to buying diamond jewelry online , we highly recommend buying from a trusted online vendor instead of a brick-and-mortar jewelry store.

Buying online gives you access to a larger selection of diamonds than any offline jewelry store can offer. Because of the economics of e-commerce vs. This means that you can either buy a better diamond for the same price, or spend less to get a diamond of equal quality.

We highly recommend the following sellers:. However, the price can vary greatly, both higher and lower than this range. A near-flawless 1. Up to this point, I believe you now understand what a 1. We can now proceed and take a look at some of the factors affecting a 1. You must never sacrifice the diamond cut when shopping for a 1. You want a cut that looks sparkly and full of life, not dull and lifeless. Diamond cut is all about the craftsmanship and proportions of the diamond.

It refers to how the diamond is shaped, polished and faceted to maximize brilliance and sparkle. An excellent ideal cut ensures the proportions of the diamond are exact and symmetrical, resulting in the best brilliance, balance and durability. Such a cut tenders a much better illusion of size, thus more expensive. A poor cut is not as proportional and results in lower brilliance. Such a cut appears to be smaller, thus less expensive.

Some shapes appear larger despite having the same carat weight. For example, asscher and round cuts tend to look the smallest. On the other hand, pear, emerald, oval and marquise cuts are known for appearing larger.

This is another significant element when determining the price of a 1. The clarity factor shows how much light a stone can reflect without interruptions. Flaws, blemishes and inclusions prevent a diamond from reflecting as much light. Diamonds with a clarity grade FL are the most flawless diamonds you can get. For example, a 1. Of course, flawed 1. Therefore, we recommend going for VS2 clarity for the best value, eye-clean diamond.

You can even go down to SI1 if you want to save more money. Diamonds come in a range of color grades, from bright tone through to hyaline. Gemstones that have intense colors fall in their own category and have a unique pricing method. Diamonds used in engagement rings are known to be transparent or colorless.