Bottom line: You can get the same or better quality diamond ring for $3,600 less at the famed diamond retailer, James Allen.
You can even get a better diamond ring for $15,300 less at James Allen. Oh yes, you can. I’ll prove it now in hard facts, figures, and images.
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The Costco offer: $24,999.99
GIA certificate
This is 100% expected and necessary. A GIA diamond grading report means you can trust the quality grades you see in the image just above.
Shape
It’s a Round Brilliant Cut, the most classic and most popular cut of diamond for an engagement ring. It’s the cut which produces the greatest amount of spark, fire, and brilliance.
Carats
It’s a solitaire 2.5-carat diamond.
Clarity
It’s of VS2 Clarity.
That’s not necessarily bad. However, it might depend on where the inclusions (flaws) are located.
If many of the inclusions (flaws) are easily visible through the top of the diamond, that’s not ideal. It might be a reason to examine the diamond with your own eyes, if possible. (That’s not possible, based on this info from Costco.)
Unfortunately, you also can’t examine high resolution 3D images of a Costco diamond, from every angle (as you can examine such at James Allen). But you can see a rudimentary diagram of this Costco diamond in its GIA diamond grading report.
Here’s how to see the diagram, made by a gemologist:
You simply plug the GIA diamond grading report number (2131162154, as you can see on the Costco product page) into the GIA Report Check web page. I’ve done that for you at this GIA report check page.
This is what you’ll see on that specific, particular diamond:
My sense in looking at that? I’m concerned. Here’s why: Most of the inclusions (flaws) seem to be visible through the “table” (the “table is that center top 8-sided facet). It’s hard to tell how deep they are. But hey, it’s just a diamond. They’re within millimeters of the top. And after all, a diamond is essentially transparent. So, it’s likely that these flaws may be quite visible from the top of the diamond.
If most of the flaws were more located toward the outside, like those three off to the left? That would be more likely acceptable.
It’s possible that in the right lighting conditions, the sparkle and brilliance of a round brilliant cut could overwhelm these flaws. In other words, all the sparkles could blind you by kind of covering them up.
But that’s only under the right lighting conditions. Personally I’d be very leery of buying this particular diamond.
Let’s continue our examination.
And also note that, later on in this article, when you build a diamond ring like this from James Allen …
- You’ll have dozens of diamonds to choose from.
- You can examine each diamond at James Allen via their 3D high resolution imagery right on the product page. From every angle.
- So, at James Allen, you can find a diamond that does not have flaws visible from the top.
But now, let’s continue this short examination and get to the endgame — showing you that you can get the same quality diamond on an engagement ring at James Allen, for $3,600 less.
Color
The color is “I”.
Notice that Costco calls that (technically correctly) as “near colorless”. But also notice that “I” is 3 color grades into the “near colorless” class.
Not a big deal. That ring’s color will be fine. But, on such a big diamond, personally I would prefer to stay at least with color H or higher.
So, I feel even less excited about buying this particular diamond. And more excited about looking for one in James Allen’s inventory of over a hundred thousand diamonds. (Using JA’s filters, that’s incredibly easy, you’ll see.)
Cut Quality
This diamond is rated at Excellent cut quality by the GIA.
So this one quality could just possibly be the saving grace of this diamond. Why?
Because cut Quality is a score, from a gemologist, that grades how well proportioned, how symmetrical too, the diamond is.
And, the best cut quality maximizes the amount of sparkle and brilliance. So this diamond is sure to be shooting fireworks (with decent lighting) up through the top of the diamond.
That might be enough to overwhelm, and make mostly invisible, the slightly-lacking color of “I” and the concerning location of those inclusions (flaws) which we saw in the GIA diagram under “Clarity”, above.
James Allen’s offer for a diamond ring with better specs: $21,400
Every spec on this James Allen ring is the same except for one — the clarity.
And look at the clarity score. It’s better. It’s VVS2.
Even better, on the particular diamond I chose, I was able to examine real, 3D, high resolution images of the diamond. So I could confirm to my satisfaction that there are no flaws easily visible from the top of the diamond.
(You can choose your own diamond from James Allen too. It’s so easy with their website. I’ll show you exactly how a little further down in this article.)
Two easy steps to get this James Allen offer
- Select this Platinum setting at James Allen for $900. (It’s SKU 17043P).
- Go to James Allen’s diamond search page. Then set your diamond search sliders / filters as shown
Want it for $15,300 less than Costco’s offer? Choose Lab-Created, which are 100% identical to Earth-Created.
Lab-created diamonds are 100% real authentic diamonds
Lab-created diamonds are 100% real diamonds. Graded by the GIA, IGI, and AGS. There’s literally no difference, except in origin. They’re not at all fake.
People are hesitant about choosing lab created diamonds. But the truth is: they are 100% the same as earth-created diamonds, except in their origin.
Dramatic price differences are due to interesting market factors
The interesting factors are: the traditional earth-mining diamond companies have (everyone knows, and it’s well documented) basically artificially kept the price of diamonds high. They have done this by gradually meting out diamond supply at a rate far enough below demand so that prices stay high.
But companies that make diamonds in labs? They can bypass the old suppliers. Obviously they have their own interests in not flooding the market with diamonds.
Also, market demand for lab created diamonds is lower than market demand for earth created diamonds. It’s a function of education. And culturation. People en masse still aren’t used to the idea of lab created diamonds. That allows people who understand them, who know that they’re 100% real and exactly the same, to enjoy some incredible bargains on them.
James Allen’s offer of a lab created diamond that’s a higher quality, and much lower price, than Costco’s in this article
I’ll put the same setting together with a slightly better graded lab-created diamond. Look at this incredible price.
How to find a same or similar lab-created diamond at James Allen, to get a better diamond than the $25,000 Costco offer for $9,700.
To get this (or a similar) lab-created diamond from James Allen, simply go to the James Allen diamond search page and set your sliders as in the image below. (And remember to click the Lab-Created button at the top.)
Conclusion
In my opinion, the $25K diamond ring at Costco isn’t really worth it. Here’s why:
- Many of the inclusions (flaws) are probably visible from the top of the diamond.
- It’s $3,600 more expensive than a same quality or better ring with an earth-created diamond at James Allen.
- It’s a stunning $15,300 more than a better ring with a lab-created diamond at James Allen.
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.
