5 Carat Diamond Ring – Shopping Tips And Price Guide

The decision to purchase a 5 carat diamond ring is not one made lightly. For most people, beginning the search can seem even more daunting given the astronomical stakes involved.

So, how do you determine what makes an exceptional diamond and what drives your decision making in such an important purchase?

If you are looking for answers to these questions, you are at the right place!

In this write up, I’m going to reveal the critical factors to buying a 5ct diamond ring and show you how to shop with complete confidence.

When it comes to buying high quality and large sized diamonds, you definitely need to work with trustworthy vendors with exemplary sales policies. We highly recommend beginning your search at White Flash, Brian Gavin and James Allen.

First, How Much is a 5 Carat Diamond Ring Going to Cost?

Even if you are one of the super-rich, I’m sure budget is still a primary factor for you to work with. As a matter of fact, I frequently get questions like: “How much does a five carat engagement ring cost?” or “My budget for my 20^th anniversary gift is around $xxx,000. Is it sufficient to get a five ct ring at this price point?”

Well, it really depends. This is because many different factors (cut, color and clarity ratings) come into play when determining the price of a diamond. At such a large carat size, the slightest difference between clarity or color ratings will significantly impact the cost of a 5 ct diamond.

In general, you can expect to pay upwards of $100,000 for a well cut diamond in the lower color and clarity ranges. If you are looking at top end specifications (e.g. D/IF), you can expect the cost of a 5ct diamond to be upwards of $500,000.

Let’s take a look at a couple of real-life examples and you’ll see what I mean…

This 5.50 carat, D color, flawless diamond costs a whopping $609,033!

For people who have more than half a million of spare cash lying around, a D/FL diamond would probably constitute the “perfect” stone for you. However, if your budget isn’t that lavish, fret not. It is possible to get a 5 carat diamond at a fraction of that price if you are smart about the 4Cs.

A perfectly cut 5.388 ct J color VS2 clarity diamond priced at only $117,999.

This stunning 5 carat J VS2 hearts and arrows diamond from Brian Gavin is cut to the best possible standards. As you can see, the price difference between the D/IF diamond is enormous. This is because color and clarity ratings have an exponential pricing effect on large sized diamonds.

With that, let’s move onto the next section about the guidelines to buying 5ct diamonds…

Shopping Guideline #1 – Cut is KING

If you had been shopping around, you will probably hear sales pitches that claim higher clarity and color ratings translate into more “beautiful” diamonds.

Don’t fall for it. This is actually a marketing trick employed by jewelers to make you spend more.

Let me show you why it’s a bad idea to blindly believe such claims.

In the example above, you can see an E color IF clarity diamond with mediocre cut quality even though it was graded as a GIA triple excellent diamond. While this may come as a surprise to you, the truth is this diamond comes from the bottom of the GIA 3EX barrel.

The diamond has terrible cut proportions (excessively steep pavilion angles and low crown angles) which causes significant light leakage. On top of that, the diamond has poor optical symmetry which negatively affects scintillation and contrast (messy arrows).

Simply put, stay away and save yourself half a million dollars from this train wreck.

In sharp contrast, the super ideal cut diamond below is as good as it gets in terms of cut quality. The balance of fire and brightness displayed by this diamond (check out the video in the listing) is phenomenal.

Compared to the E/IF diamond, this option is more affordable and offers better value!

By placing cut quality as a priority, the lower color/clarity diamond will have better sparkle and life. The benefits are 2 fold; having better cut quality will enable the diamond to mask body color and inclusions too.

At the end of the day, cut determines the beauty and performance of a diamond. This makes it a more practical buy than placing the emphasis on a high color/clarity diamond with lousy cut quality.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with buying a high color/clarity diamond but you shouldn’t do so at the expense of compromising cut quality. If you are willing to pay the excessive premium for a high color/clarity, doesn’t it make sense to ensure the diamond has the best possible cut qualities as well? White Flash is a vendor who offers a good selection of 5 carat diamonds with the highest cut quality. I highly recommend you start browsing there first!

Shopping Tip #2 – Shop at a Reliable Online Vendor

Before you call me crazy or wonder who would ever consider buying a big ticket item online, let me get tell you something straight up. Going online is the way to go if you care about getting the best quality for your money.

You see, times have changed and technology has enabled e-commerce features to be better than ever before.

First of all, going online enables you to cherry pick the best possible diamond out in the market. No brick and mortar store would ever hold a sizable selection of 5ct loose diamonds in their inventory because it ties up an insane amount of capital. And trust me, you are going to need the volume in order to weed out the majority of poorly cut diamonds.

Secondly, you are going to get a far more detailed analysis of the diamond than you ever would from a typical local store. Online vendors offer magnified videos and tangible cut data for you to perform analysis. You don’t get such detailed information at 99.99% of brick and mortar stores.

Thirdly, you get better consumer protection and sales policies with online vendors. Go ahead and compare sales policies (i.e. money back guarantees) against the online vendors I’m going to list below. Going back to the first point, 5 carat diamonds aren’t usually found in a store’s inventory.

If the local store does offer to bring one in for you, there are going to be substantial shipping fees incurred (non-refundable). In this scenario, aren’t you are better off heading to an online vendor in the first place since it lowers your risks and costs.

Of course, you don’t have to take my words for it.

I challenge you to visit your local jeweler to make an inquiry for a 5 carat diamond ring. Let me know via the comment section if you can even find one that fits your specifications (i.e. G color, VS2 clarity with GIA excellent cut grading etc…).

So, Where is the Best Place to Buy Five Carat Round Diamonds?

When it comes to round brilliant diamonds, nobody cuts them to better standards than White Flash and Brian Gavin. Besides impeccable cut quality, both these vendors offer indepth videos and cut analysis data like the ASET, Idealscope and hearts & arrows images.

Click here to visit the listing and check out the wealth of information provided.

Comprehensive technical data are provided for analysis and enable you to determine cut quality.

Due to the demand and nature of 5ct sized diamonds, inventory can be somewhat limited even with online vendors. BlueNile and James Allen are other reliable vendors that can offer up more options for your consideration.

Where is the Best Place to Buy Five Carat Fancy Shape Diamonds?

Buying a fancy shaped diamond isn’t as straightforward as buying a round diamond. Also, different vendors specialize in different product lines and it depends on the diamond shape you are looking for.

The bottomline is, you NEED videos/photographs in order to know exactly what you are buying. Tangible cut data in the form of ASET images or GCAL reports would also be very useful.

From experience, the best vendors for fancy shapes like cushion, heart, oval, radiant, marquise, heart and pear are Blue Nile and James Allen.

This stone will create a stunning 5 carat oval diamond ring without breaking the bank.

This beautiful stonewill create the perfect 5 carat cushion cut diamond ring!

If you are in the market for a princess, emerald or Asscher shape diamond, I recommend you begin your search at Blue Nile and James Allen. They usually have a good inventory of well cut diamonds in these shapes.

This elegant 5 carat emerald cut diamond from Blue Nile displays top notch performance.

This optical brilliance analysis is extracted from the accompanying GCAL report.

Is Your Dream Ring Over Budget? Consider These Tips…

Understandably, the cost of a 5 carat engagement ring may be out of reach to people with budget constraints. However, there are ring setting designs that can enable you to achieve similar visual effects of a large looking diamond ring.

The halo design is one of the best ways to enhance the visual appearance of a diamond ring. In essence, the halo design surrounds the center diamond with a perimeter of melee diamonds. When seen from typical viewing distances, this creates the illusion of a single large looking diamond.

Brian Gavin’s halo settings are crafted with fantastic quality and precision.

Using the additional width created by the halo (i.e. assuming each melee adds a diameter of 1.5mm on each side of the crown), you can create the illusion of a 5ct round diamond (11mm * 11mm) by using a 2.5 ct sized diamond (8mm * 8mm) as the center stone.

With a smaller sized center stone, you can reduce the price of the diamond ring significantly. Using the above configuration as an example, the estimate cost of a completed diamond ring will be roughly $55,000 ($4,850 setting + $50,000 G/VS2 diamond).

For the best halo engagement ring designs, I recommend vendors like Brian Gavin and White Flash because of their quality craftsmanship. Unlike other jewelers, Brian Gavin and White Flash utilize melees with the highest cut quality standards and this gives their rings the extra sparkle.

3 Stone Ring Design to Achieve a Total Weight of 5 Carats

One alternative method to achieve a 5 carat diamond ring without breaking the bank is to utilize a 3-stone ring design. With some simple math, you can get the desired total weight by adding up the weight of the 3 stones.

The three-stone white gold setting from White Flash is expertly crafted and well-priced.

Let me explain further by using an example. If you go with a 3 stone ring that compromises of two 1.5ct diamonds and a 2ct center diamond, you will achieve a total carat weight of five carats (1.5 carat*2 + 2 carat).

Click here to view the individual diamonds in a side-by-side comparison.

With this configuration of diamonds, the total cost of the completed ring would be in the region of $70,000. Compared to the cost of a solitaire 5 carat G/VS2 diamond ($200,000), this could be a viable option to pursue to keep prices down.

To browse more 3-stone engagement ring designs, you can check out the respective sections at White Flash, Brian Gavin and James Allen.

So, there you have it. I’ve shared the tips that I personally use to ensure getting the best diamond possible for any given budget. Hopefully, this write up has given you a deeper insight to purchasing a 5 ct diamond ring.

If you have any questions or need help in picking out a diamond, feel free to get in touch via email or simply leave a comment below.