mother''''s day upgrade...

[skimmy]

i am working on an upgrade/setting change for my mom and don't know too much about round diamonds. i've read most of the tutorial on good old gold's website (GREAT resource btw) and was wondering if there are guidelines for rounds similar to strmrdr's for asschers.

this is what she currently has...
color I
clarity VS1
fluorescence none

some sort of sarin report to follow...

the ring is yellow gold with the 6 prongs in white gold and the center stone is surrounded by 42 baguettes in a swirl pattern. the baguettes were appraised as 0.025carats, H/I color and VS2 clarity.

i'm wondering if the center is an OK keeper or if it would be more worthwhile to trade everything (setting and all) for a better center stone. any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[skimmy]

AGS symmetry
weight 1.513 crt
diameter 7.5 mm VG
total depth 4.31 mm 57.4%
pavilion depth 3.11 mm 41.4% VG
pavilion angle 40.5 (40.0 - 40.9) 0 VG
crown height 0.93 mm 12.4% G
crown angle 31.4 (28.9 - 32.1) 4 M
table size 59.7% 2 VG
culet 4% large 3 VG
girdle min 1.5% medium 0
girdle max 3.5% thick 3
girdle avg 2.1% sl. thick 0 VG
proportion grade 4 medium

thanks in advance!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 4/18/2005 10:39:44 AM
Author:skimmy


i''m wondering if the center is an OK keeper or if it would be more worthwhile to trade everything (setting and all) for a better center stone. any help would be greatly appreciated!

the stone is not even close to an "ideal cut" if that''s what you ''re looking for. is the stone out of the setting?

 

[Mara]

hmm definitely not an 'ideal' cut by regular standards, but does it look good to the eye? the numbers are actually pretty nice for a BIC which means it may look larger than a standard 1.5c...look at the diameter..normally 1.5c stones are about 7.4 or 7.45mm and this is a bit larger.

anyhow, if you like the stone (or she likes it), i'd keep it, it doesn't look like a 'dog'...but what are your plans for the whole new setting/ring ?aka putting sidestones next to an unusual stone like that may be hard to match.

here are MY own RB ideal parameters, they are more strict than AGS's 0 grading as it stands now:

table: 54-57
depth: 60.2-61.5
crown angle: 34.5-34.9
pav angle: 40.5-40.8
culet: none or v.small
fluor: none, negligible, faint, medium
girdle: thin to slightly thick but ideally thin-med or just medium

avoid thick girdles, too deep stones (aka 63%)...

so as you can see your mom's diamond's numbers are far from my own anal ideal numbers...BUT I used to have a BIC stone with a 61% table and a 56.9% depth with okay angles and that is why I prefer more precise and ideal numbers now, I like the look better BUT my old stone was not a dog either.

so it's really a preference...stick with what she has now which is probably a decent stone, but not ideal...or do the whole shebang. what do you prefer? does she love her stone? is this a secret venture or a family project?

good luck!

 

[Mara]

wanted to also add i ran it through the HCA with the sarin numbers and it got a 2.1 G EX EX EX which is pretty darn good for a BIC non-ideal stone, though it did say that the large 4% for the culet meant that it may be visible down the center of the diamond (does it look like there's a small dark hole in the middle of her diamond if you look face down? that's the culet)...normally a culet would be under 1% to be considered v.small etc.

so if the culet was not 4% I would say to keep it but with that culet being so big, that would bother me...but then again maybe it's not noticeable??

 

[skimmy]

well we bought the stone before any of us knew anything about diamonds...so she thinks that it''s not a great stone. we kinda knew that it wouldn''t be any where near ideal.

i don''t think i can see the culet...i can definitely see it when i loupe it though. does a large culet affect performance in any way? or price?

nope not a secret project...i just want her to love it!

 

[skimmy]

i''m torn between three options...

1) to keep the original stone and re-set it with 2 side pears
2) to trade-in everything and upgrade the stone and then re-set with 2 side pears
or
3) trade-in everything and get a 3-stone oval.

obviously the difference between 2 and 3 are mere preferences but i''m at a roadblock with 1 and 2.

does that make sense?

 

[Mara]

so i guess the real question is, why would you want to keep the stone vs upgrade it? if she is not super attached to it, doesn''t think it''s well cut....why would you keep it? on the same token, why upgrade it?

seems like you need to figure out the most basic of questions first and then begin your search! you will find amazing RB''s out there, as well as great ovals, but you need to figure out the basic Q first...what to do?!?

Kaleigh''s ring is a huge RB center (3c I think?) with 2 pear sidestones, it''s absolutely stunning! I am not really a 3 oval person, but I''m sure that would be lovely too...just a different look. Is one look ''more'' your mother?

good luck!

 

[Mara]

here is kaleigh''s ring...