Tacori is a jewelry designer which specializes in creating intricate and delicate-looking engagement ring designs in platinum and gold. Nice Ice was an authorized retailer for Tacori Bridal when we had our retail store.
Thus we have a lot of experience in selecting diamonds to be set in Tacori Bridal designs. In this particular instance, we're going to help Sandi select a diamond for the Tacori Dantela style #2623RDLG from Whiteflash and Brilliant Earth.
This post is an expansion on the previous post Ideal Cut Diamonds Quest 1.30 - 1.50 carats which was more general in nature. Each Tacori setting is designed to accommodate a center stone that falls within a specific range of outside diameter.
Generally speaking, Tacori will offer most of their setting styles to accommodate different sizes of center stones. This is eluded to within the structure of their style number in the last two letters. It is also something that must be taken into account when comparing prices for Tacori engagement rings.
Style 2623RDLG Tacori Dantela.[/caption]
In this particular instance, the actual style of the Tacori Dantela is #2623RDLG; the #2623 indicates the actual ring design; the “RD” which follows 2623 indicates that the ring is designed to accommodate a Round Brilliant Cut Diamond.
The “LG” indicates that it is the Large version of the ring which in this instance is designed to accommodate round brilliant cut diamonds with an outside diameter between 6.9 – 7.8 mm which is roughly between 1.20 – 2.00 carats and will be indicated under the “measurements” section of most diamond grading reports.
Note that this setting is also available to accommodate round brilliant cut diamonds which are smaller than 1.20 carats and with diamonds pavé set down the sides of the ring shank as Tacori style #2623RDSMP with the RD referring to Round, the SM referring to a smaller range of outside diameter and the “P” indicating Pavé.
You might be beginning to see why it is imperative that you consult an authorized Tacori retailer before ordering a Tacori setting online because all of the variances and subtle nuances within the style numbers used by Tacori make perfect sense to a Tacori dealer, but can present a nightmare in terms of comparison shopping and ordering a setting which is actually designed to hold a diamond of the specific carat weight which you own or intend to purchase.
On that note, we are not currently an authorized retailer for Tacori. We can not assist you with determining which specific style of Tacori ring you need to order, nor can I provide you with pricing… I am however quite happy to assist you with finding a diamond to fit a specific style of Tacori ring once you obtain that information from an authorized Tacori dealer.
With that in mind, let’s go diamond shopping for options that will fit nicely within the Tacori Dantela style #2623RDLG which as stated is designed to accommodate round brilliant cut diamonds with an outside diameter between 6.9 – 7.8 mm. The first thing to recognize is that this range of outside diameter represents a pretty broad range of carat weight, between 1.20 – 2.00 carats.
The reason why this is possible is that each Tacori bridal ring is created to accommodate the specific center stone which is shipped to Tacori to be set, thus you will need to ship your diamond to Tacori for the ring to be built, this process usually takes 4 – 6 weeks depending on seasonal demand and the number of orders which precede yours.
Tacori bridal generally uses a diamond clarity of VS-2 and an average color of “G” in their standard production, it is possible to pay more to have Tacori use a higher clarity and color grade of diamond in your ring. However, they will not usually lower the diamond quality to accommodate diamonds of lower clarity or warmer colors.
Since I generally like to match up the color of the center diamond to that of the accent diamonds, we will be looking for diamonds that are “G” color and considering diamonds within the range of SI-1 to VS-1 in clarity since this will generally require magnification to locate the inclusions.
Brian Gavin Signature round diamond reviews:
So the first diamond that caught my attention is this 1.267 carat, G color, SI-1 clarity Signature Hearts & Arrows Diamond from Brian Gavin which is graded by the AGS Laboratory with an overall cut rating of AGS Ideal 0 on the Platinum Light Performance grading platform.
According to the AGSL the outside diameter of the diamond measures 6.95 – 6.96 mm so it falls within the lower spectrum of the range designated by Tacori for the Dantela 2623RDLG, so it’s a perfect fit. If you take a look at the clarity photograph provided by BGD on their diamond details page, you’ll be able to locate the inclusions within the center region of the table facet rather easily.
In that case, the diamond will be easy for you to identify. The diamond is inscribed on the girdle edge with the number from the corresponding AGS diamond grading report and the BGD logo, but I also like to be able to identify a diamond by the inclusions.
Next, we jump up quite a bit to this 1.517 carat, G color, VS-2 Signature Hearts & Arrows Diamond from Brian Gavin which measures 7.36 – 7.40 mm in outside diameter and will fit nicely in the Tacori Dantela #2623RDLG. Here again, the majority of inclusions are located in the center region of the table facet and are readily visible using the magnification tool on the diamond details page
However, they are slightly smaller than those contained within the SI-1 clarity option referenced above. This diamond is also graded by the AGS Laboratory as having an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal 0 on the Platinum Light Performance grading platform.
Jumping up a little bit in clarity, we have a 1.558 carat, G color, VS-1 clarity diamond from the Brian Gavin Blue collection which exhibits medium blue fluorescence. The diamond is also graded by the AGS Laboratory on the Platinum Light Performance grading platform with an overall cut rating of AGS Ideal 0.
This diamond has an outside diameter of 7.45 – 7.49 mm and will fit nicely within the design tolerance specified by Tacori for the Dantela #2623RDLG. The medium blue fluorescence will pretty much only be visible when the diamond is subjected to black light and then the fluorescent molecules within the diamond will be activated by the ultraviolet light and the diamond will glow a medium neon blue color about the same color as the blue links which appear on this page.
The Effect of Medium Blue Fluorescence in Diamonds:
Medium blue fluorescence within a diamond is primarily nothing more than an identifying characteristic and has very little effect upon the color grade of the diamond, whereas strong blue or very strong blue fluorescence would have the effect of slightly bumping up the color grade of the diamond.
For more information refer to this article on medium blue fluorescence vs strong blue fluorescence in diamonds. Here again, the primary inclusions are located within the center region of the table facet, but they are smaller in size and thus more difficult to locate as is indicative of the VS-1 clarity grade.
Quite often people tell me that they would prefer to find a diamond with inclusions located along the edge of the diamond instead of within the center region of the table facet… My thinking is exactly the opposite and this is because diamonds tend to either contain small, rather insignificant inclusions such as small feathers and diamond crystals in the center of the table facet; or they contain larger inclusions such as feathers or smaller stacks of feathers along the girdle edge of the diamond… if you’re going to have a small fracture within your diamond, would you rather it be located in the center of the diamond or along the outer edge where it is more likely to be struck and might possibly spread?
Uh yea, that’s what I thought… Interesting way to look at it, don’t you think? Sure the inclusions might be easier for you to detect when they are located within the center of the diamond, but from my perspective, this just makes it easier for you to use the inclusions to assist with the identification of your diamond. The only factor to consider is the relative visibility of the inclusions and they become less visible as the clarity of the diamond increases…
But if you’re going to stick to your guns and you don’t want to be able to locate any substantial inclusions within the center region of the table facet, then this 1.743 carat, G color, VS-1 clarity Signature Hearts & Arrows Diamond from Brian Gavin is the ticket because the primary inclusions consist of small diamond crystals and groups of pinpoint size diamond crystals called “clouds” that appear to be located within the kite-shaped bezel main facets as indicated in the nine o’clock and ten o’clock positions of the diamond as indicated on the upper plotting diagram of the lab report.
The diamond is graded by the AGS Laboratory as having an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal 0 on the Platinum Light Performance grading platform and has an outside diameter of 7.71 – 7.74 mm so it falls within the higher end of the range that the Tacori Dantela #2623RDLG is designed to accommodate.
The following edit/addition is added to the article in response to the comment asked by Sandi regarding current options that might be available…
This 1.274 carat, G color, VS-2 from the Brian Gavin Signature Collection of Hearts and Arrows diamonds was added to their web site yesterday and is a viable option. There are a few inclusions indicated on the plotting diagram of the lab report within the table facet, but they are located off to the edge of the table facet and are diamond crystals which might be translucent, we’ll have to check when BGD posts the clarity photograph and other images, the diamond is in the midst of being processed and listed on the web site.
This 1.380 carat, F color, VS-1 from the Brian Gavin Signature Collection of Hearts and Arrows diamonds certainly fits the bill, everything provided on the diamond details page looks spot-on! There is a tiny cloud of pinpoint size diamond crystals indicated within the table facet. However, in my experience, such inclusions are quite difficult to locate even with magnification and thus it is worth consideration.
I did not find anything within the inventory of James Allen today that made my heart skip a beat.