Does BGD offer a Military Discount on Engagement Rings?

“My son is active military serving overseas, he wants to propose marriage to his girlfriend when he comes home on leave in a few months. I’ve been tasked with trying to find the perfect diamond, which frankly is a bit overwhelming to me because I know nothing about them. But I’ve been trying to educate myself about diamonds on the internet, and I’ve noticed the name Brian Gavin being referenced time and time again by people who seem to be a lot more knowledgeable about diamonds than I am. On that note, I don’t really know how to interpret an ASET, Ideal Scope or Hearts and Arrows photograph, but I like that BGD provides them. Could you help me pick the best diamond available for around $6K and tell me whether Brian Gavin offers a military discount for engagement rings?”

Brian Gavin thanks you for your military service!

First and foremost, we thank your son for his service to his country. What a great mom you are to take on this project of shopping for an engagement ring online! Buying an engagement ring can be a nerve-racking experience when buying one for your own use. I can’t imagine what it is like to be tasked with all of that responsibility for another person. I’m really happy that you found our web site, because Brian Gavin Signature Hearts & Arrows diamonds truly are stunning! I know that your son and soon-to-be fiancé will be thrilled beyond imagination.

Brian Gavin does offer a military discount for active members of our armed forces. I will apply the discount to your order as soon as we decide which diamond best suits your preferences for carat weight, color, and clarity. The cut quality is in the bag so-to-speak, all of our Brian Gavin Signature hearts and arrows diamonds are cut to the best range of proportions and exhibit the highest level of optical precision. This ensures that whatever diamond you purchase from us, it will exhibit the highest volume of light return and incredible sparkle.

Best diamond engagement ring for $6000:

I always find myself a bit stuck when somebody asks me to recommend the best diamond available for 6000, or any other price range for that matter, because we all have a different idea of the best of something would be.

From my perspective, any Brian Gavin Signature diamond fulfills the “best diamond” criteria simply because of the spectacular light performance created by the incredible cut quality. The light performance of the diamond is guaranteed, thus it simply comes down to determining what combination of carat weight, color, and clarity appeals to your personal sense of balance. Or more correctly in this instance, to your sons preferences for what the characteristics of the diamond should be.

So let’s talk a bit more about that, and I’ll publish this response as a blog post, which you can then forward to your son for further consideration. We’ve worked with a lot of military personnel serving overseas with great success! The clarity photographs, video, and reflector scope images provided on our diamond details pages make it pretty easy to get a good idea of what the diamond will look like in real life.

How to combine the Diamond 4C’s for best value:

Assuming that your son wants the diamond to be eye clean, we should work with options that are SI-1 in clarity, or higher. The majority of SI-1 clarity diamonds offered by Brian Gavin Diamonds are eye clean from a distance of 9 – 12 inches, but it might be possible to see an inclusion or two if the diamond is scrutinized carefully from a distance of 2 – 4 inches. Thus if he doesn’t want to be able to see anything within the diamond from a top-down perspective, he might want to consider a clarity grade of VS-2 or higher. We can provide detailed insight about the inclusions on any diamond in our inventory, since they are all sitting here in our vault and all we have to do is pull then and take a look.

Diamonds are graded for color by viewing them from a side-profile under the controlled light of a diamond grading light, while they are sitting upside down on the table facet in a room which is otherwise pitch dark. While this makes it possible to discern between the subtle differences between each diamond color grade, it is not really an accurate representation of how diamonds look in the real world when being viewed set in a ring.

I find that most people are absolutely thrilled with diamonds in the G-H-I color range, and that this provides great value. Diamonds which are G-H-I-color are considered to be “near colorless” which means that they basically face-up white. If somebody prefers diamonds which are icier / cooler in appearance, then they should focus on options which are D-E-F color, but obviously this is going to cost more. And if they prefer warmer tones, then options in the J-K-L-color range provide great value and will enable them to purchase a diamond which is larger in carat weight, or a higher clarity grade if that is desired.

With this in mind, if your son wants to play it perfectly safe and ride the middle ground, then I’d suggest we look for options that are VS-2 in clarity, and G-H-I color within our current inventory of Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds. Additional savings can be obtained by considering diamonds which exhibit blue fluorescence, which can also serve to improve our perception of diamond color.

Regardless of which Brian Gavin Signature diamond is selected on behalf of your son, we will apply the available military discount to the transaction when the order is being processed; and as always, his satisfaction is guaranteed under the provisions of our satisfaction guarantee.