Ideal scope & emerald cut stones

[kevinraja]

I was at couple of local diamond dealers in DC looking for EC stones. I was trying to use my Idealscope to look for light return. The diamond dealers were arguing that IS doesn''t work for Fancy shape stones, Yada, Yada, Yada... Are they correct? Can someone post Ideal scope images of Emerald cut stones?

 

[oldminer]

It would work as a "comparison" tool between two emerald cuts. One might look like a better performer in the I-S than the other. Your own eyes might not be able to detect the differences without it.

There is no universal standard that you could apply with an emerald cut. In this respect, the people are somewhat correct. Used on just one diamond, not as a comparison tool, I doubt it would be effective.

Rembmer, we all know and admit that emerald cuts are not "performance" diamonds. They are less lively and they are for people who want a certain and subtle "look". They are not firely and sparkly simply because that isn''t their design. If you want more fire, sparkle and brilliancy and insist on rectangular, then look more into radiant and princess variations with brilliant type faceting arrangments.

 

[Asschman]

Kevinraja--

Are you having much luck with the DC-area jewelers? I live in DC and am looking for an e-ring as well, most likely an Asscher. Basically, though, I am only using the local places to show my girlfriend what kind of stones are out there. I am leaning strongly toward getting a stone from Whiteflash since they have an excellent inventory. I am curious as to what you have found in your search though, particularly if you have seen any places with reasonably priced platinum mountings.

 

[kevinraja]

Asschman,
I disagree with you on your WF comment. WF don''t have stones in-house. They bring in stones which you like. Anyway, I have been to Charleston Alexandar and WashingtonDiamond so far. As far as CA, they have a one of the biggest inventories. You can go to their website, they have listed all the diamonds they have in-house. I spoke to Cassy and Dianne there. They are good, but I won''t call them Great. It is better you go to their website and look at their diamonds before you step in. I like their prices when compared to any other stone in DC. I heard that they also negotiate prices. They also have a sarin machine to crunch numbers. As far as WashingtonDiamond, I just mentioned that I need to look at emerald cut stones. He showed me two stones, one was very deep, and the other had a huge table. He never mentioned about them being deep or wide. He was promoting them as very good stones, He was basically lying, which I didn''t like. IMO, CA is a place to stop by, even if you don''t intend to buy there, atleast you can take a look at their inventory and educate yourself.

 

[Asschman]

Understood that internet vendors such as Whiteflash don''t generally house the stones they offer on their websites in-house. That doesn''t generally bother me since I am not planning on flying to Houston to see their stones. According to multiple accounts from people who have dealt with them, Whiteflash will have their respected in-house appraiser Brian look over the stones before they then send it to an appraiser of your choice to have it run through the typical gauntlet of tests. Cindy from Gem Labs of New England has done this with them before, and I imagine they could send it to David Atlas in Philly. After you get those results you can make your decision to purchase the stone.

I did check out Charleston Alexander''s website out, but their per carat Asscher prices were in most cases $1000 or more than the stones offered on Whiteflash. And they had about 3 stones.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Kevin,

I have found IS helpful with Princess and Asscher cuts. I think Dave has the right of is as a ''comparison'' tool between two EC.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 1/7/2005 1:14:30 PM
Author: Asschman
Understood that internet vendors such as Whiteflash don''t generally house the stones they offer on their websites in-house. That doesn''t generally bother me since I am not planning on flying to Houston to see their stones. According to multiple accounts from people who have dealt with them, Whiteflash will have their respected in-house appraiser Brian look over the stones before they then send it to an appraiser of your choice to have it run through the typical gauntlet of tests. Cindy from Gem Labs of New England has done this with them before, and I imagine they could send it to David Atlas in Philly. After you get those results you can make your decision to purchase the stone.

Actually, we have a rather large inventory, while still listing the same “virtual” diamonds many other vendors subscribe to.

To clarify…

In-House: You can easily tell which are in-house and which are not by doing a search on the site. If a diamond appears as “in stock ready to ship” it’s an ACA or Expert Selection stone living in our vault. (currently over 600 pieces). We know every detail on these. Note that this is revolving stock: We take down sold stats and put up replacement stats on a daily basis...An advantage to this is that we may have items on-site not yet appearing in the database which we can recommend.

Not In-House: If a diamond indicates “contact us for availability” it is not on-site. We list the available stats, and our weighted system is used to rate quality based on all available info in the search listing. An important point Asschman mentioned is that we do not sell an off-site stone without bringing it in to analyze and inspect it for the customer. If it’s advertised as something it’s not we will definitely find out – we do not drop-ship sight-unseen (be wary of this). Keep in mind that with off-site stones many vendors have access to the database. If you are serious about one it’s advisable to put a hold on it, or another buyer could purchase it through another vendor.

The perils of “not-in-house” are the reasons such a thing as Expert Selection exists. They’re in the vault and have been tested, so we know every detail, and we control their destiny (they cannot be sold out from under us). Of course, we still would like to have people as customers even if we need to bring something in and look at it for them.

 

[kevinraja]

I am novice, what do I know

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

What you look for is red at the edges = larger looking stone, and an even patterning of dark and leakage - obviously the more red the better.

 

[kevinraja]

Gary,
when you mean "red at the edges", I think you mean red along the edges. This is what I saw. Don''t focus on the red, brown or rose colors, since I don''t remember them exactly. Focus on white on the four corners. Is it normal to see 4 triangles of white like this in EC?

 

[belle]

it is common to see white in the corners, but ideally, you would want red........

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

that is what I meant

That would be a great stone.
As you rolled it while looking thru the IS - the stone would have flashed red and black - with the white coming more as the stone is turned - that would show great light return and strong contrast.

The corners will always leak except in a square asscher style.