Newbie brillant cut question

[cszjrh]

Help!!!!!!!!!!!!

I''m struggling with London based gem providers who don''t seem to share this group''s view that cut is important at all (!?!?)

The guy I was speaking to last night was telling me that colour is by far the most important C, and that anything with a certified symettery of better than good is fine. After reading this site I''m certainly not convinced I agree with him!

(he also couldn''t explain to me why to D, VS1s appeared so different...)

I''m looking for a round brilliant which has to be relatively small (0.7-0.9ct) to fit into a very modern design of ring I''ve got in mind.

I''ve viewed a few diamonds now but as none of the jewellers seem willing to offer me detailed information on the proportions of the diamonds its becoming very hit and miss.

The best diamond I''ve seen so far is:

Shape: Brilliant
Weight: 0.81ct
Clarity: VS1
Fluorescemce: nil
Colour: D
Measurements: 5.97 - 6.04 x 3.71 mm
Proportions: "Very good"
Girdle: Medium 3% faceted
Culet: Pointed
Table Width: 57%
CR Height: 15.0%
Pav. Height: 44%
Finish: Very good

Which compared to the others I''ve seen is much more lively / firey. However, I''ve put the details into the Holloway Cut Adviser which states it''s:

Light Return: Good
Fire: Fair
Scintillation: Fair
Spread or diameter for weight: Very Good

Could somebody on here give me an opinion of the diamond? A .gem file I could load into Gem Advisor would be great!!

Thanks in advance,

John

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

You may like to contact Paul from Antwerp - he has posted on the topic about cut grades which is pinned at the top. he may supply a local jeweller in London.

UK is very very slow with new diamond technology.

 

[Lord Summerisle]

Certainly is....

One jeweller told me...

"Yes there are the 4c's colour, cut, clarity and carat.

Cut is important... you can have round or princess..."

That left me chortling...

One thing i noticed was that there arent many diamonds listed on UK sites that have anything other than GIA or BGS certs.... if at all... in the end I went and bought from the US.

Even with 41% import duty... twas still cheaper than the UK. and could get the kind of cut info i wanted.

The Diamond i got was a .308, cost ~£600 ex tax, ~£800 after... iv got the ring in platinum for about £200... so all told.. about £1000 got me the perfect ring. (just waiting for it to arrive in the post ATM.) plus add about £100 for an appraisal and postage.

For a comparision... Cooldiamonds.com - london based - quote for same size and quality diamond + similar ring design = £1593.

about the one you've seen... sounds ok... but if you consider buying over in the US... alot more info is open to you.

how about this one for starters... (sorry to others... i have whiteflash bookmarked so gives me a handy quick comparison) http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-1131792.htm

a .728ct D VS1
depth 60.9
Table 54%
Crown 34.8°
pav. 40.8°
5.85-5.86X3.56 - so just a tennie bit smaller that the one you listed, but gets an
Light Return Excellent
Fire Excellent
Scintillation Excellent
Spread Very Good
1.4 HCA score

its listed for $4385 which i reckon would come out at about £3300 after tax and its a Ideal cut (H&A to boot.)

or still ideal, but not H&A is http://www.whiteflash.com/round_ideal_cut/Round-Ideal-Cut-cut-diamond-1054299.htm

0.78ct E VS1
depth 61.3
Table 56%
Crown 34.9°
pav. 40.9°
5.91-6.00X3.65 - so just a tennie bit smaller that the one you listed, but gets an
Light Return Excellent
Fire Very Good
Scintillation Very Good
Spread Very Good
Total Visual Performance 1.8 - Excellent

for $3999 which i reckon would be about £3000


There are going to be some on here who will say you can quite easily drop down to f/g/h/i in colour without a prob and down to SI1 in clarity. but i can well understand wanting to go higher... i felt i didnt want to go below G in colour, and VS2... and i just ended up going with my inital find of the F VVS1.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/11/2005 4:9:31 AM
Author:cszjrh

(he also couldn''t explain to me why to D, VS1s appeared so different...)

Could somebody on here give me an opinion of the diamond? A .gem file I could load into Gem Advisor would be great!!

The Gem Adviser can produce a nice picture, but cannot tell you more than the data you plug in. To obtain a relevant GA model you would need a 3D scan (Sarin or other) of the diamond.

Now, the GA could generate a simulation of an IdealScope image. But why not get the real deal ? Besides, the Iscope would make the need for high tech (and imprecise) measurements redundant. Comes at about $30 too.

It seems quite reasonable that the difference not explained by the jeweler has something to do with the other C that he would not talk about. ''Bet it''s the cut

Is the ring going to be custom made ? If so, perhaps one of the diamonds listed online could fit the bill. I could not know what the local price is, but AGS0 and H&A listed around here come around $5k. Did the jeweler show you some otehr color grades then D ?

 

[Lord Summerisle]

oh and using the pricescope vendor search above...

D-G IF-VS2 .7-.95 AGS0 search came up with plenty ...

price range $2888-5100 all have a HCA score below 2, ex,ex,ex,vg

 

[cszjrh]

Wow! Thanks for all the feedback!

Garry - I presume you mean Paul-Antwerp? Do you have an email address or should I just mail him via: www.venusbyinfinity.com

Lord Summerisle - 41% import duty?!? I had assumed 17.5% VAT, plus local taxes. Is this not the case? Did you find somewhere in London where you could view H&A diamonds?

Ana - Had certainly considered getting an Idealscope and checking diamonnds myself. The problem is with the poor info. being provided to me be local jewellers here I''d struggle to create a showlist of stones to examine with it. Re: "the other C" - that''s definitely what I thought too, but was too polite to point it out to the jeweller

Re: the ring - yes, am going for a custom made: Similar to: http://www.titaniumera.com/uk/order/gaia.html but in platinum. Re: other colours - yes, I saw a couple of E''s and F''s. In each case the diamond has less sparkle - but I guess that could just have been because they were a poorer cut.
Local price for the diamond above was 2184GBP.

Any further advice greatfully received!

Thanks again,

John

 

[Lord Summerisle]

yep

Its broken down into...

2.5% import duty on goods over £20 with
17% on the import of precious stones then
17.5% VAT on that.

which comes out at about 40-41% import duty in total.

No i didnt find anyone in London - but then i didnt try - being based north in Manchester. - A) nobody up here had heard of em... b) didnt care, but wanted to sell me a ''very nice I I1 - best there is as it has 66 facets''

 

[cszjrh]

No i didnt find anyone in London - but then i didnt try - being based north in Manchester.

Sorry - obviously been living down here for too long! Bloody Londoners think London in the centre of the world, and me being a defected northerner too....

John