Hello! Hoping you could help me. I love a light, light champagne hue (these all have faint brown from the GIA cert). I dislike yellow a lot. I plan to set as a plain solitaire in yellow gold with no other diamonds on band. I have been told the 2.08 is best but it looks so dark- would love your thoughts!
1) https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.08-carat-l-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-8502127
2) https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.07-carat-l-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-9809056
3) https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.00-carat-l-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-7540712
Thank you in advance
I would go with the 2.23 L VS1. I don’t show the L/M colors in my price curves, but I do have them processed in my backend. Running a custom search, the 2.23 L VS1 is the one I found and would have recommended given your criteria.
The 2.23 L VS1 has GIA EX/AGS 0 Ideal proportions and shows the arrows well. The 2.28 M VVS2 does not have as nice optical symmetry (the higher pavilion angle causes the angles to fade out, similar to the brown 2.07 and 2.00 L VVS1’s). Both of the M’s show a lot more color and have medium fluorescence with some strain. The L is by far the better choice, especially since they’re the same price.
If you’re OK with yellow, then I would prefer the 2.23 L VS1 over the brown 2.00 L VVS1. Again, it has better proportions and larger size, so I think it’s a nicer diamond that fits your criteria.
The other potential option I saw the the 2.03 K VS1 below. It’s just outside of your budget and smaller. However, it has a larger table and is shallower, which 1) increases the brilliance (white light reflection to help reduce the color perception) and 2) results in a slightly larger than average spread for a 2ct at 8.15×8.18mm. It also has GIA EX/AGS 0 Ideal proportions, so might be worth considering.
Shape,Carat,Color,Clarity,Cut,Price (USD),Affiliate Link
Round,2.03,K,VS1,Excellent,11260,https://www.diamondscreener.com/ja/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.03-carat-k-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-10116672
Thank you!!!! Srly your help has been awesome!!! I ordered and I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂
Hi Joe, I got the 2.23 L VS1 and I am in love. It’s so much whiter than I thought and very bright. Thank you so much!!! It was so clutch to order one online and have it be the one after looking so much in person in town and it not going well. Really appreciate you!!!!
No, the 2.08 L VVS1 is the worst of the bunch. It has the same issue that affects so many of the brown CVD lab diamonds – it shows a ton of fuzzy strain that make the diamond look hazy. That’s what all of those faint lines you see are. It’s what’s noted as internal graining on the grading report, although the severity of this strain is not accounted for in the clarity grade.
The 2.07 L VVS1 also shows some strain, but not nearly as bad as the 2.08 L VVS1. Both of these diamonds also have medium fluorescence, which I tend to avoid with such strain to avoid a hazy diamond.
So of these, I’d go with the 2.00 L VVS1. No need to spend more on the others. You’ve already identified the only three brown 2ct diamonds ~10k they have, so that’d be the one.
Thank you so much and for such a fast reply! I had no idea about the internal graining but it made total sense once you called it out.
I thought I wanted a faint brown because I have a very light champagne moissanite that I love and when went to a jewelry store in town they only had a U-V cushion when I asked to see stones past H. The cushion was a fancy yellow as it appeared to me and I was worried I would not like the yellow at all.
That said I was able to find one store that had a K round stone (1 ct) and I thought it looked good with the yellow gold so I am guessing I could probably get away with a L-M stone with no faint brown. I also tried a C1 and C2 champagne diamond and did not like them as they were too dark and not reflective enough.
If my budget is 11k for just the stone and I want something very bright and sparkly and the bigger over 2+ the better (ideal goal at 2.25- i have big hands), do you please have any recommendations?
Would you prefer any of the ones below to the 2.00 L from the first post? Any advice you have would be appreciated.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.23-carat-l-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-9716671
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.28-carat-m-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-6211781
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/2.14-carat-m-color-vs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-7702214