Kay Jewelers offers this 1-ctw Lab-Created Diamond Engagement Ring for $2,475. That’s a pretty good price for Kay, but James Allen, as usual, can beat it.
Plus, James Allen’s offer has two crucially important advantages: A diamond certificate from IGI and an official Cut Quality grade of “Excellent”. Here’s how to save $275 and get a better diamond.
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The Kay Jewelers offer: $2,475
This ring is Kay Jewelers item number 993134509.
You can see it live at Kay, until or unless it sells out.
James Allen offers a ring with the same or better diamond specs for $2,200
James Allen wins again, even when Kay offers a lab-created diamonds.
Lab-created diamonds are 100% the same as earth-mined. They were just created in a lab
Lab-created diamonds are exactly the same stuff as earth-created diamonds. They were just created under enormous pressure and high temperature in a lab.
Major diamond grading labs such as the IGI even grade them, same as they do with earth-created diamonds.
People who don’t know diamonds pretty well (this includes most people, since it’s a rare purchase in a lifetime) often are not comfortable with lab created diamonds. They think they might be fake or otherwise “less than.” (They’re neither.) This creates market pressure to make prices on lab created diamonds lower for the time being. And it creates opportunities for early adopters to get really good deals.
How to get the James Allen deal
Buying a diamond at James Allen takes a couple more steps than buying one from Kay. But the payoff is always immense. You save money. You get certified diamonds you can trust. And you get to see your exact diamond in great detail immediately, as you shop, via James Allen’s incredible imaging technology.
First you choose your setting (the ring itself). Then you choose a specific diamond from the inventory.
It’s easy if you know how. Here’s how to get this deal (or a very similar deal) at James Allen:
1. Select this 14K white gold setting for $950.
2. Then go to my pre-set James Allen diamond search results and select a diamond from the first 2 or 3 diamonds in the list.
(James Allen diamonds are unique, so I can’t of course send you straight to a specific diamond. It would sell out quickly.
Also, of course the inventory is always changing, so you may see slightly different prices when you search.)
The specs on the diamonds in this price compare, quickly explained
Diamond Certificate
The Kay Jewelers diamond doesn’t list any diamond certificate. Big no no. Do not buy a diamond without a certificate from GIA, IGI, or AGS.
Here’s why:
Because you have very little confidence that what’s in the specs is even accurate. Only trust a lab. The whole reason they appeared on the scene decades ago was because sellers couldn’t eliminate bias from their grading.
The James Allen diamond each has a certificate from the IGI.
Shape
Both diamonds are Round Brilliant Cut diamonds.
Carats
Each ring has a total of about 1 carat of diamonds, counting the center stone and the accent diamonds.
Both center stones are 7/8, or about 0.88 carats.
The Kay setting’s accent diamonds total about 0.125 carats. (That’s 1/8 carat.)
The James Allen setting I chose for comparison has 0.14 carats of accent diamonds. (That’s slightly more than the Kay setting has.)
So, overall, they’re about equal in carats. Very very close. The James Allen has slightly, very slightly, more in carats.
Clarity
Both diamonds competing as center stones are of VS2-Clarity.
VS2-Clarity is pretty good. But you want to be careful that you choose one which doesn’t have inclusions (flaws) highly visible.
The only way to do that is to inspect it visually. You cannot inspect a Kay diamond visually before you buy it. You can inspect any James Allen diamond visually, via their 3D imaging, right on the site.
Just check to make sure you can’t see an inclusion (flaw) near the table (top facet of the diamond).
At Kay, you’re buying blind.
At James Allen, you have a full view from every angle.
Color
The color of both diamonds is F-Color, which is nearly the best you can get. No problem.
Cut Quality
This is an alarming thing about the Kay diamond. They don’t state the Cut Quality.
Cut Quality is a grade of how well the diamond cutter did the job. Every Round Brilliant Diamond you ever buy should have a cut quality grade.
A mediocre cut quality results in a dull, lifeless diamond.
If you don’t know the cut quality, you’d better not buy it, to avoid being disappointed. (Don’t you think that if the cut quality was Excellent, or Ideal, that the merchant would boast about it? I sure do believe that. They would in my opinion!)
So, when a diamond seller doesn’t tell you the cut quality of a round brilliant, I smell something bad.
The James Allen diamond comes with an IGI certificate stating its cut quality as “Excellent”. That means something. It means you’ll love the sparkle in this diamond.
(Cut quality has everything to do with how well a diamond sparkles. They are directly correlated.)
Kay says nothing about cut quality of this diamond. James Allen has the IGI vouching for theirs. Case closed.
Advantage James Allen.
Conclusion: This Kay Jewelers diamond is not a deal I would buy. James Allen has the better deal, as shown in the numbers and screen shots on this page.
In my opinion, this Kay diamond ring is simply not a good deal. At all.
The James Allen offer wins the prize.
It’s easy to get great deals on better diamond jewelry — for less money! Here’s how:
- Scroll up to the section on “How to Get the James Allen Deals.”
- Follow the easy directions there.
- Feel 100% confident that you bought the best diamond for the money
How to search this site to save up to tens of thousands of dollars at trusted diamond retailers, vs most any Costco, Kay, Jared, or Zales ring you’re considering
Search and save. You could save enough for a new compact car. Or a honeymoon. Or several expensive dinner dates. Or that guitar you’ve been wanting.
Read this very short note on how easy it is.
