DON’T BUY A DIAMOND SOLITAIRE THAT’S PRE-SET

Pre-Set:

Already set. Already in the mounting. Already under prongs…

DON’T BUY IT!

That is, if you’re serious about buying a decent quality of diamond, or want to find the best diamond for the best price…

The only way to buy a single diamond engagement ring:

Is to buy it LOOSE!

Buy the diamond, and then buy the mounting…

Because there are a billion diamond solitaires in the jewelry stores across the country… All preset into thin, Tiffany-style mountings. It’s the go-to ring when you want to get engaged (sometimes a.s.a.p.) and have no idea what style she’d like.

The classic is a classic!

A preset ring makes things quick and easy. Painless. No worries. Pick one you like and you’re done… Many people shop this way. After all, the ring is already made, finished, you can see the final product, try it on…

It makes shopping fast and simple.

But chances are, that diamond is not certified, has no cut info, nothing about polish, nor symmetry, and certainly nothing about fluorescence. You won’t even know the condition either.

Diamonds sold like this often have little specifications listed. You may see what the color and clarity is (and usually that’s graded in-house, and might be grade bumped), but really, what’s the cut?

The cut is the most important 4C!

The cut is what makes a diamond sparkle.

And you can tell right off the bat if a store has no clue about cut, because they’ll respond by saying “The cut is round“, or “brilliant cut“, or “princess cut“…

Those are shapes, cutting styles, NOT AN ACTUAL CUT GRADE!

Cut grades are “Excellent“, “Very Good“, “Good“, “Fair“, “Poor“…

Looking at this diamond info doesn’t tell you anything about the way the diamond is proportioned. You’d have no idea if it’s deep, lumpy, shallow… It’s buying blind.

A mounted diamond hides many things:

A prong could be covering up a huge flaw, a chip, a crack…

Mounted diamonds also mask color. It makes it harder to judge. It could be a yellow stone. The mounting can also darken diamonds and make them look dull, lifeless, and even smaller in size.

This is why I always say:

Buy it LOOSE first!

That way you can magnify the diamond. View it from all sides and angles. See the inclusions, compare them to the diamond plot on a diamond report (I recommend GIA).

Doing so is crucial!

When you buy a loose diamond (buy from James Allen), you can see the actual diamond you’re buying. Magnified (20x), and spin the diamond around. It’s beautiful.

With most stores, you can’t do this (some jewelry stores don’t even carry a microscope). And most stores online don’t show you the real image of the real diamond… They show you only a sample photo (like the solitaires shown above). Those are not the real stones you’d be getting… If you saw the real stones, you probably wouldn’t want them!

James Allen shows you the real diamond, the real certificate, all the information possible about their diamonds.

CARAT, CLARITY, COLOR, CUT, POL, SYM, FLUOR	PRICE	VIEW
.70, VS2, E, EX, EX, EX, NONE	$3,130	VIEW

(Price good at the time of this post)

So pick a diamond loose…

And then, and only then, have it set into the mounting of your choice (solitaire mounting, pave mounting, halo mountings). This is the only way to know exactly what you’re buying, and what the true quality is.

Plus, you’ll save money at the same time!

Compare prices, you’ll see.

If a diamond is pre-set; FORGET IT!

Check out these incredible loose diamonds here at James Allen.

Cheers! :)