Q: What are my options for a $4000 diamond ring at James Allen? I’m eying a $1200 setting, so that leaves me with $2800 for the diamond itself. Is there anything you would recommend at that price?
A: Hi, yes, there are options available around that price. I can definitely find you a beautiful showstopper around the 0.70 Ct mark.
I’ll run through the steps I use to find just such a diamond at James Allen.
This one-click-search button has all the parameters I use for a search like this:
These are the settings it automatically enters in:
Running this search today returns just over 30 diamonds to choose from. From here I like to sort the results by carat weight, high to low, and scan down the list and see which one looks striking and bright.
There are several here which look good. I’m quite partial to having a clear, crisp arrow pattern, but I also look for overall brightness.
As I scroll down this one catches my eye as potentially having the best contrast and brightness. It is possible to compare stones in this manner at James Allen as they only list diamonds which a James Allen photographer has captured under a precisely controlled environment.
The stone which stands out is one which returns light very efficiently as it faces up nice and bright, even brighter than the F color diamonds around it.
A closer look at that stone shows me that it is 100% eye-clean: there are no noticeable inclusions.
Though the exact depth of this stone is not shown (one must request the GIA grading report via the chat to get the exact depth) I know that it is within the ideal range for round brilliants because of the search parameters I started with. Having also entered in the ideal table sizes (important for maximum fire) I know that this stone will be one of the best in this price range. This system of using ideal parameters followed by visual scanning has served me well when searching for a diamond which would potentially qualify as an AGS ideal.
Efficient light return reduces apparent color.
Rotating the stone to its side also shows us how much real color the stone has. I do this because I always wonder if its color grade is right in the middle of G, is closer to H, or is closer to F. And it looks good.
🢂 See an example here of an IGI graded diamond that has been issued with a color grade of G, which one could easily expect to be similar in color to the one above, but clearly has an ugly green hue that becomes all too apparent when rotated.
This is one of the reasons I make sure to only include GIA/AGS graded stones when choosing natural diamonds, as IGI color grades issued for natural diamonds don’t always match up on the GIA/AGS color scale.
Recommended stone
