Need Advice

[So Cal Guy]

Hello Pricescope members! This is my first post, and I just want to say thank you for all the information you have provided here. I have no idea where I would be without the advice on this forum. I had no idea that purchasing a diamond would be so difficult, complicated, and stressful. I recently purchased a diamond and just wanted to get your thoughts before I go forward with having the setting created. I purchased a diamond with the following specs:

Carat: 2.01
Color: E
Clarify: VS2
Cut/Polish/Symmetry: Ex Ex Ex
Girdle: Medium to slightly thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None

Depth: 60.8%
Table: 59%
Crown: 33.5 degrees
Pavilion: 41.0 degrees
Measurements 8.11 x 8.15 x 4.94 mm

I originally placed a 1.85 Blue Nile signature ideal diamond on hold because it promised to be a super ideal cut diamond with great light return. But I decided to go with the slightly larger diamond (with slightly less quality) for a marginal difference in price because I know my girlfriend would like a 2 carat even though the 1.85 would be practically the same size.

I went and got the diamond appraised by Patrick Davis. As a side note, for anyone in the LA area, I highly recommend Patrick Davis. He should be a gemology professor. He answered all my questions and made sure I saw the diamond under his microscope and other scopes available. I apparently got an amazing deal on the diamond, but there were several concerns raised from the appraisal. First, the color was an "E+" meaning it was almost an F. Second, he noticed some light leakage without the use of a scope. He said that while the cut would qualify as "excellent" under the GIA, it certainly wasn''t a hearts & arrows cut. This coupled with the fact that the diamond has a 59% table percentage (I wanted 58% or less) has troubled me since the appraisal.

My question is whether you think I should with the higher quality 1.85 or a slightly lower quality 2.01? Or would the difference in quality be so marginal as not to be worth it or make any noticeable difference? I''m such a newbie when it comes to diamonds so I just wanted to get the forum''s input on whether I made a good purchase. Oh, the 2.01 has an HCA score of 1.5 while the 1.85 one has a score of 0.4. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Also, Maytal Hannah will be making the setting, and I''ll be sure to post pictures when I get the completed ring sometime in late December. She is a joy to work with, and her personality is just as impressive as her beautiful work.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

OH, what a lucky girl....a 2 ct. stone in a Maytal setting! How perfect!

Well, girls on PS are very picky about wanting a top cut. But girls who aren't probably wouldn't know the difference. On another thread, the guy bought two stones for his gf to choose from, and she chose the slightly larger stone with the poorer cut. When you look at the stone, is it gorgeous? Stop thinking about the numbers and just look at the stone. Will your gf be happier to say her ring is 2 cts. as opposed to having a hearts and arrows at 1.85?

What kind of grading report did it have? I just wondered since it sounds like the color was borderline. Do you have pictures of the stone? I'd love to see it.

I might prefer this one over one that scores .4 on the HCA, though.

 

[So Cal Guy]

Thank you so much Diamondseeker! I will try to take some pictures tonight when I get home, if I can do so without the girlfriend seeing. But I only have a regular digital camera so hopefully the pictures will come out. The diamond came with a GIA report, and the appraiser verified that the report was accurate although the color was borderline.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Great, I am glad it is GIA. I wanted to add that I very seriously doubt any of us could see the difference between a 58 and 59% table, seriously. I think you need to look at the stone in different lighting to make sure the leakage doesn''t cause a problem. If your camera has a macro setting (often a little tulip icon), that allows the best close-up photos.

 

[singular]

Looks like a solid choice. How did it look in person? Are you happy with the performance in real life or are you getting hung up on numbers.

If it sparkles enough to your satisfaction then I would vote for the 2.01ct since your gf has shown a preference for a 2ct stone. Even though there may not be a visual difference, there is certainly a difference when she is asked the specs.

 

[So Cal Guy]

The other problem is that I haven''t looked at too many diamonds so it''s hard to say. It looks pretty good to me, but that''s probably not saying much. It didn''t blow me away in terms of sparkle, but that also is because I''m not sure what to compare it to. I can tell that there aren''t any hearts & arrows, but it is still a brilliant stone from what I can tell. I doubt my girlfriend could tell the difference either. She cares about quality, but I think as long the GIA cert said E and excellent cut, it wouldn''t matter that it''s not hearts & arrows. I''ll try to take pictures and post them up tomorrow morning. Thanks so much for the help!

 

[So Cal Guy]

I wasn''t able to get any pictures last night, but Patrick Davis took some photos when he did the appraisal. I''ll post those as soon as I get them from him. Given my work schedule, I haven''t been able to view the diamond in sunlight yet. What is the best way to test the sparkle of a diamond? Can I get a good sense of that indoors using interior lighting or should I go outside in the sunlight to get an accurate idea of how much it sparkles? Thanks again everyone.

 

[So Cal Guy]

I forgot that James Allen (where I bought the diamond from) had a magnified picture of the diamond on their website. I don''t know if this helps, but here it is. Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[JulieN]

Date: 11/19/2007 5:27:11 PM
Author:So Cal Guy
Hello Pricescope members! This is my first post, and I just want to say thank you for all the information you have provided here. I have no idea where I would be without the advice on this forum. I had no idea that purchasing a diamond would be so difficult, complicated, and stressful. I recently purchased a diamond and just wanted to get your thoughts before I go forward with having the setting created. I purchased a diamond with the following specs:

Carat: 2.01
Color: E
Clarify: VS2
Cut/Polish/Symmetry: Ex Ex Ex
Girdle: Medium to slightly thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None

Depth: 60.8%
Table: 59%
Crown: 33.5 degrees
Pavilion: 41.0 degrees
Measurements 8.11 x 8.15 x 4.94 mm

I originally placed a 1.85 Blue Nile signature ideal diamond on hold because it promised to be a super ideal cut diamond with great light return. But I decided to go with the slightly larger diamond (with slightly less quality) for a marginal difference in price because I know my girlfriend would like a 2 carat even though the 1.85 would be practically the same size.

I went and got the diamond appraised by Patrick Davis. As a side note, for anyone in the LA area, I highly recommend Patrick Davis. He should be a gemology professor. He answered all my questions and made sure I saw the diamond under his microscope and other scopes available. I apparently got an amazing deal on the diamond, but there were several concerns raised from the appraisal. First, the color was an ''E+'' meaning it was almost an F. Second, he noticed some light leakage without the use of a scope. He said that while the cut would qualify as ''excellent'' under the GIA, it certainly wasn''t a hearts & arrows cut. This coupled with the fact that the diamond has a 59% table percentage (I wanted 58% or less) has troubled me since the appraisal.

My question is whether you think I should with the higher quality 1.85 or a slightly lower quality 2.01? Or would the difference in quality be so marginal as not to be worth it or make any noticeable difference? I''m such a newbie when it comes to diamonds so I just wanted to get the forum''s input on whether I made a good purchase. Oh, the 2.01 has an HCA score of 1.5 while the 1.85 one has a score of 0.4. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Also, Maytal Hannah will be making the setting, and I''ll be sure to post pictures when I get the completed ring sometime in late December. She is a joy to work with, and her personality is just as impressive as her beautiful work.

Post the Ideal Scope picture. It doesn''t look like a very leaky stone to me.

 

[So Cal Guy]

Thanks JulieN. I don''t have an Idealscope image unfortunately. But it makes me feel better that it doesn''t appear that leaky from your point of view.