If you want to max the budget for stone only, then this seems not bad. The size goes beond 7.00mm:
https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds...?a_aid=myengexp (affiliate link). One thing to note is that Brian Gavin usually has promotion end of the year. So if you can wait, you can wait til then. Their promotion offer will usually extend to their standard signature line, which is where this diamond belongs too

But if you want to save some money, WhiteFlash piece itself is very good already. The hearts aren't as good as Brian Gavin's one, and the numbers aren't those I prefer too. But... the video looks promising!

I would compare that stone against these two from WhiteFlash:
https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/r...id=myengringexp (affiliate link). This will be the one I am going to get out of all. It provides the best value thus far.
https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/r...id=myengringexp (affiliate link). (There is some very very very slight bend at the tip of the hearts of 4 o'clock and 8 o'clock hearts, but that is too small to be noticed in real life. At this level of precision, this is already an excellent stone).

I do find that the stone you chosen looks more eye-clean than the others though. But in reality, unless your put your eyes right on the diamond and close proximity, you really can't see much of a difference.

I would put out these 3 diamonds for a side-by-side compairison.

You can also consider this: https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD10590. The Hearts image in the grading report looks crooked, well, sometimes we do see this sort of thing. Usually I will just take whichever looks best as standard, as simple as that. But if that concerns you, then it is best to look at other options. The reason why I am promoting Crafted by Infinity diamonds is again, they are consistent in giving out performance. John Pollard - their Director of Education told me that Hearts & Arrows is not their end game. Instead, they rely on their proprietary formula to maximize on their stone's performance to make them look consistent. I can say that their stones are very sparkly. Great stuff. And their distributor, which is High Performance Diamonds, have the best buy-back policy in the industry, or perhaps in the whole world. 80% buy-back. So you may USD 10000. Sell them back your stone, due to whatever reasons, they buy it back USD 8000. Of course, TnCs apply, and you won't actually get back 80% after factoring in shipping cost, bank charges etc... BUT, it is wayyyyyy better than any any any one in the industry. They also have very excellent upgrade policy, as long as the item your trade-in to upgrade is more expensive by USD 1. Yes, single dollar. This upgrade policy is similar to WhiteFlash's one I believe. Just that WhiteFlash buy-back policy is not as good as theirs.

And if you know the ring size, getting ring setting from them is a pretty good idea as their platinum settings are cast by the same factory that does casting for Harry Winston - Yes. that luxury brand. See.. OEM.

Check out these links for your better understanding on why CBI is different:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/thread...6/#post-4386757 (go to the links in that post).
https://www.pricescope.com/community/thread...bi-fire.242606/

About tampered with - One thing about buying stuff off the internet. Yes, this will worry some people, but I honestly don't think they will tamper any image. There is really no point to spoil their long-standing reputation.

Also, if you don't mind the slightly lower tier category, like Expert Selection and Brian Gavin Blue, then you can really maximize your budget, for instance, these pieces from WhiteFlash Expert Selection:
https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/r...id=myengringexp (affiliate link). The calculated ideal weight is actually 1.33ct though. So you might feel "cheated" a bit, but for what's worth, I don't think I actually mind too much, given that this is actually in Expert Selection category. This will be my second choice, given the fact that this is within the budget, and the size different compared to the Expert Selection below is not significant enough.

https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/r...id=myengringexp (affiliate link). The calcualted ideal weight is actually 1.39ct. You will probably feel "cheated" more lol. But diamonds at this size, usually will have more variance compared to smaller diamonds. Again, this is Expert Selection, so I won't mind at all. Just look at that size! And yea, this is VS1. Usually 78% will have thinner sparks compared to 76% lower girdle (the Expert Selection on top), but the video performance of this diamond looks excellent on itself.

Brian Gavin Blue does not have any your size, but they have plenty of 1 carat diamonds. These diamonds are not being sold as Hearts & Arrows, but given the skill of BGD's cutters, it is highly likely that most of them will be Hearts & Arrows. The main selling point of Brian Gavin Blue will be the fluorescence. You will see the glowing blue under UV. Although some say fluorescence will bring milky appearance, but rest assure that BGD assures that these diamonds are not the case. And at the same time, provide the best value.

WhiteFlash, HPD (CBI) has free shipping to Malaysia. No tax. You only need to pay the wire amount.
Brian Gavin does not offer free shipping, but you can ask for it, but since your amount is high, I am not sure whether they can provide it for free or not. Again, no harm asking!

Transfer using MoneyMatch - https://transfer.moneymatch.co, their rates are certainly better than banks, but I am not sure if compare to other remittance house. Should be pretty similar though. Your transfer will need to be split into two days, as maximum one time is RM 30,000. If you are first time user, use my referral code REF_ACOO for RM 30 off. For subsequent transfers, I think I have some other vouchers but with lower value. Ask me for it and see if they are still valid if you are using MoneyMatch. They are pretty familiar with all these super ideal sellers already as most people are using their service to wire the money over. So your money is in good hands.

That's all I can share. It has been quite a long reply. Good luck.

Hi all,

I have been following very closely on this thread since last month, been reading and also did some enquiry over here.

From my searching and also googling, I stumbled upon 2 types of certification, the widely known will be the GIA, another is the the IGI certified. Addition to that, I did some further looking, IGI certified diamond seems to be priced cheaper in comparison to GIA? Some speculate its man-made diamond, its fake and etc.

Would appreciatie you thoughts and advice on the above query. If theres some form of certification(ie:IGI) it can be accepted? Thanks in advance on the advice and really appreciate it.

GIA has its own pros and cons, just like any other labs, but it is still the world's most recognized lab. As simple as that.

IGI is priced higher? I believe those diamonds you saw belongs to a "branded" line. As far as my memory serves me well, I rmb previously Love & Co signature line is using IGI, Diamonds and Platinum's Estrella is using IGI, Suen's Love Diamonds is using IGI. All these are considered stones that are being marketed as top-tier stones hence you have the "feeling" of being more expensive. They are sent to be graded by IGI probably because they are slightly cheaper than GIA (I could be wrong).

GIA being sold in brick-and-mortar are mostly non-branded stones. Of course, they are some, like Le Lumiere (can be found in Tomei, My Diamond. Gold Heart -> Under same roof).

Personally, I will buy a decently cut GIA stone compared to a branded cut IGI stone because at the end of the day, it is still a 57-facet round brilliant diamond. Is a matter of who has the better 4Cs, proportions, and precision.

On man-made diamonds. IGI and GIA both grades lab grown diamonds. But their report will be a different type. So if you see the standard report, it will be natural

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: May 6 2019, 02:00 AM

Thank you for the informative explanation. Really appreciate it.

As mentioned, on man-made diamond(lab made diamond ), how can one identify if it’s belongs to that category as a standard report will shows natural?

U also mentioned the report in both bodies will be different, would it be IGI reports the diamond to be e colour but GIA will categories it differently?

Currently confused on the different report bodies, as my searching of diamond has reach a road block. Pls advice and really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

The report will state it as "Lab Grown" instead of "Natural".

IGI report will be yellow in colour for that, while GIA report will be in grey.
Refer here: https://igi.org/lab_grown.html, https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/synthetic-diamond-report/

For natural, IGI report will be in blue, while GIA report will be in brown.
Refer here: https://igi.org/diamond.html, https://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/diamond-grading-report/

As for difference in report. Yes, there is a possibility that they will be a different. For example, GIA can grade the stone as E, but IGI can grade the stone as D. Of course, things can go vice-versa. There are not enough stones to statistically show which lab is better or how different they are, but in general, people will prefer GIA more because of its reputation.

One thing to note is that this is a diamond grading report, and things can change even if you resubmit the stone to the same lab. Meaning, today you submit the stone, got it back as D colour VS1 clarity, next time you submit again, it might come back differently, maybe became D colour VVS2 clarity. This is because grading is done by humans, not machines, every time you submit a stone, it will be very dependent on who is the grader. And even if the same grader grades the stone, one day can be this, the other day can be that. Confuse? Just imagine you go to McDonald's, but different people who prepare the food may come out differently, experience it before? Even the same person can make it differently at other times... This is diamond grading. That's why it is a grading report, not a certificate, if you want to be strict about it.

Of course, sometimes may also because the wearer damage the stone, causing it to lose its grade.

In fact, it is explicitly stated in the grading report that: "The results documented in this report refer only to the diamond described, and were obtained using the techniques and equipment available to GIA at the time of examination. This report is not a guarantee or valuation. For additional information and important limitations and disclaimers, please see GIA.edu/terms or call +1 800 421 7250 or +1 760 603 4500. ©2018 Gemological Institute of America, Inc."


So, if you ask me, I will just take whatever that is stated in the current GIA report as the final. For IGI, I will also just take it as final. And at the same time, understanding that both labs can have some different.

For AGS (another lab) and GIA, it is understandable there can be a one grade difference between one to another, and there is no saying which one is better than which, as things can go either way. Of course, we can use a small amount of stones to do some statistics:
https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamond-gra...arity-and-color

So, as you can see, there is a 75% chance that AGS and GIA will come out the same, and there is 1 time the colour is stricter on the AGS side, while there is 3 times the colour is stricter on the GIA side - so? simple conclusion, GIA is stricter in terms of colour, but you have a 75% chance that the colour can be the same too.

As for clarity, 38% of the times they are the same. 9 times AGS is stricter, and 1 time GIA is stricter. So? Conclusion, AGS is stricter in terms of clarity.

Of course, these are limited amount of stones and we cannot conclude a final call as well. So, again, I will just buy the stone from reputable lab, like AGS or GIA. In fact, I don't think I mind IGI at all, but usually, as you mentioned, those are stones that are "more expensive" in brick-and-mortar stores. So no point doing so. I can easily get stones that are better in performance at cheaper price on the internet.


Attached thumbnail(s)

http://allyoursjewels.com/ gave me few options, not really interesting though
1) https://www.igi.org/viewpdf.php?r=365931785
2) https://www.igi.org/viewpdf.php?r=361998742
3) https://www.igi.org/viewpdf.php?r=365931783
4) https://www.igi.org/viewpdf.php?r=332890172

While I found online, which is 170 USD cheaper compare to the 1st diamond
https://www.igi.org/viewpdf.php?r=361988546

Any suggestion?

I think the one you found on brilliant earth is this: https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds...detail/7578555/, which honestly look nice. The steep pavilion pair with a shallow crown seems complementary of each other. However, this I have to highlight that 40.4 pavilion angle won't make it into GIA Triple Excellent. Their minimum for pavilion is 40.6 if not mistaken. But if you can look pass that, I think this diamond is worth considering.

Have you try other websites?

Yes, it is from brilliantearth. Then what about this 40.8?
https://www.brilliantearth.com/lab-diamonds...detail/7728257/

What other websites do you recommend for lab diamond?

Not bad.

Hmmm.. You can try August Vintage: https://august-vintage-inc.myshopify.com/co...-grown-diamonds

See what he has in-stores for you.

The guy I think the name is Rhino, he used to put tonnes of diamond videos on YouTube for Good Old Gold. One of the famous ones. Perhaps you can use his service to source for you.

Good luck!

And here you go:

My Crafted by Infinity Experience -> https://www.myengagementringexperience.com/...experience.html

Enjoy! PM if you have any questions.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: May 7 2019, 11:33 AM

Hi all, would like to request your kind advice on the following diamond as shared below. I’m planning to get a diamond size with 0.7-0.8 carat, color at least f, clarity at least VS1 or VS2. My budget is ard RM15k, is it plausible with such specs?
https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds...069/?build=ring

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds...028/?build=ring

And last one should I consider emerald cut diamond, it looks very classy but I worry the size will be compromise due to the shape. As solitaire usually give the presence of a size although its only 0.8.

https://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds...003/?build=ring

Your advice is greatly appreciated and thank you.

This post has been edited by haru20: May 8 2019, 02:24 PM

Currently eyeing on this. Requested scope image, still waiting for it

The stones have listed are SI1s stones. Are you asking whether you should go for those?

As for Emerald? Their performance is not as good as round, so I won't really suggest it.

Rmb that carat weight does not mean the size will be bigger. A badly cut diamond can actually look smaller than better cut diamonds.

How about buying shy of 0.7ct? You can get higher colour, higher clarity, and at the same time, close enough to a 0.7ct, and most importantly, close to your budget.:
https://www.hpdiamonds.com/en-us/diamonddetail/HPD10354


This post has been edited by kambingkoh: May 8 2019, 03:37 PM

Thanks [QUOTE]kambingkoh for ur advice.

As I’m choosing for my proposal ring, went to wah Chan, I stumbled upon a 0.8 carat ring, that size seem ideal, but the price isn’t ><

Therefore, with my searching I’m using the carat size as a base to find one online. Would appreciate any recommendation that would have a good cut but yet wouldn’t look too small.

I have attached the GIA number for the 0.8 carat Ring I saw in wah Chan. (5196396230)

Thanks in advance for any advice or suggestion given

This post has been edited by haru20: May 8 2019, 07:37 PM

The proportions look nice. But it is a 2015 stone... wonder why it is still there.

Anyway, proportions is one thing, as the numbers are just an average number based on measurement from various angles, it cannot be used to determine how good the cut is. Did you manage to see the "Arrows" on the diamond?

Also, what is the price the quoted you?

As for small or not, it is really not up to me to say, it is really up to each individual preference and budget.

Anyway, this looks pretty decent: https://enchanteddiamonds.com/diamonds/view/R81-803476731?

And I know this stone's supplier (coincidentally). The supplier rated this stone's Hearts & Arrows at 90% accuracy. For the colour, clarity, and size, I think it is worthy for consideration.

I won't mind the Faint fluorescence because it has negligible effect on a stone's appearance. And it can also help to reduce the stone price a little.

So where can you get this stone?
1. Memory Jewellery - RM18,116.00 (Negotiable, they do ring setting too)
2. Tailored Jewel - RM19,109.01 (Should be negotiable, they do ring setting too)
3. Enchanted Diamonds - RM 16,961.67 (After converting USD to MYR, they do ring setting too, but I won't recommend do it overseas for resizing purpose)
4. ZCOVA - They can possibly price match the cheapest on the list on top (They do ring setting too)
.
.
.
5. Me - I can even get it for you if you trust me, you will get the stone in raw parcel paper. I can possibly get it for you for RM 15,800. And at the same time, I am still earning some profit. But then, you have to think about it. I don't provide any extra service, so most people won't be comfortable about it. And you can only verify the stone at the jeweler because I don't have any girdle viewer for you to see. So this is the risk.

Anyway, these are your options. And I find that this stone seems to be value for money and not too shabby.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: May 8 2019, 08:42 PM

The price quote is RM25800 including setting, I think its under their solitaire club range. Didnt manage to check much on the arrows but I can assure the sparkle is very good, Its clean and it sparkles in any lights, however no discount can be given ><

The stone u recon seems good, the few option quoted I presume is not inclusive the ring setting just purely the stone yea?

Im open to any option/avenue (including getting form u) to purchase the stone, but would weigh which best suits my option of getting the ring check/setting and etc.

I have a few question on the stone:
As shared, on paper its sound good, but im unable to verify physically, in comparison to the stone from Wah Chan, is it similar? in terms of sparkle, size ?
(P.s: Im trying to benchmark something that I have look, sorry if im asking anything stupid, its my first time buying a diamond)

Your kind advice and suggestion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Wah Chan is filtering out based on proportions, you know. Those numbers on The GIA report. They claim to be Hearts and Arrows too, which I think it will exhibit some sort of Hearts and Arrows pattern in this case here. How good it is, is rather subjective as grading labs do not grade Hearts and Arrows precision.

As for whether the stone sparkles or not? I am sure it will, but again, if you want to look at the stone physically, then this idea is not for you. If you want physical store shopping, I would suggest you to drop by Le Lumiere at the Gardens to compare with their Hearts and Arrows. You can also visit any DeGem to view their Lazare diamonds too.

And for that price, you can get this https://black.briangavindiamonds.com/diamon...?a_aid=myengexp (affiliate link). Performance? I am pretty sure this stone will be excellent, and at the same time, providing you the best cut quality possible. In terms of sparkles, you won't be disappointed with that. This is the sort of diamond that provides you eye-clean, mind-clean, and performance guaranteed performance. So yes, I am quite confident that this diamond will be compatible to the stone you see, if not better. And as far as cut quality is concerned, Brian Gavin shows you everything. How precise it is etc. And how great the light return is. So, if I am paying that amount, I would be getting this instead.

And to maximize on budget, I would consider this: https://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/r...id=myengringexp (affiliate link). It will be approximately RM 13851.51. WhiteFlash ACA are fully-vetted by their in-house gemologist and they are guaranteed to be eye-clean at normal viewing range. And if you see the enlarged image of the diamond, you will also see it is pretty eye-clean already. So I would say this is a good stone for the budget.

On the Other Hand
You can actually contact ZCOVA to find out more options. They have extensive connection to various suppliers in the world. Imagine them as BlueNile, the largest online diamond reseller. But since BlueNile does not ship to Malaysia, ZCOVA is your best bet. One of the founder is a GIA Graduate Gemologist and he should be able to provide you a sound advice on your options available. Again, they are not holding any in-house diamonds as far as I know, but all their diamonds are based on videos and photographs from respective suppliers.

You can also contact Shannon from The Gem Tribe. Find them on Facebook or Instagram. She sources stones locally with some local suppliers and compare them side-by-side in real time. She will then let you know your options as well as any info related. She is different than others because she can actually see the diamonds herself, instead of relying on videos or photographs. So this is one of the key strength of her company. And I also like her ring settings, they look pretty nice and well crafted.

On a Side Note
Most people like colours on the higher colour scale, like D,E,F. But if you want to maximize on budget, G colour is actually pretty good. It is basically indistinguishable from a higher colour diamond when facing-up. This is because the colour of the diamodn will usually be located at the body, or the side of the diamond, and G colour itself is actually pretty white on its own. They can be more obvious if there is another higher colour diamond comparing with them side-by-side. So do think about it.

As for clarity, to me, my sweet spot is VS1. VS2 can be hit-or-miss sometimes, but usually is a hit. So yea, VS1 is my sweet spot. VS2 we can go case-by-case basis. SI1, same, case-by-case, but hitting the right one will save quiet a bit of money.

This post has been edited by kambingkoh: May 9 2019, 10:57 AM

^ From what you have been saying, seems like like BGD is the best choice in terms of diamond performance (good HnA). Are you able to judge the diamond performance just from the info provided on BGD? Ie. By looking at the IDEA/ASET scope etc? Buying a diamond in person takes this uncertainty away, unless one is able to judge from just materials online.



^ In case of any transfer risk etc, you think I can get Zcova to get a diamond I saw at BGD? So basically I deal with Zcova instead.



^ Any vouches for The Gem Tribe? I am aware that payment for the diamond is upfront before collection, and it's a new company of few months old with very few (if any) sales. Very few followings on their social media, Facebook and Instagram too.

This post has been edited by tzehan_dk: May 9 2019, 11:59 AM

Hi guys, any recommendations for diamond ring budget around 3k in johor bahru?

This post has been edited by ruipeng: May 9 2019, 02:11 PM