What is HCA, Sarin, and Ideal Scope? No Clue...

[kavala14]

What are these tools (Sarin, HCA and Ideal Scope) and what do they do? Can I use one of these in the stores when I go pick up my diamond on saturday? Where I can get one or all of these? And will these give me great info as to how good the diamond or brilliance of the diamond is?
Thanks
Kavala14

 

[denverappraiser]

kavala14,

Sarin machines are rather expensive and I don't recommend you buy one for a one time purchase. HCA is a free online cut advisory with a link at the top of the page called "cut advisor". Ideal-scope is a fairly cheap little tool that you can buy from David Atas at www.gemappraisers.com and is easy to carry around. There a couple of different varieties but I'm sure he will be happy to discuss the differences with you.

Good luck with your appointment on Saturday,

Neil Beaty, G.G.
www.gemlab.us

 

[chrono]

I am not an expert but I will explain as best as I can. I'm sure the other more experienced PS members will correct me if I am wrong. I am still learning about diamonds.

Sarin: A Sarin machine runs a report once it has scanned the diamond. This report includes detailed information such as crown and pavilon height/angle and other information on the cut of the diamond which helps the consumer decide if this stone will be a great, good or poor performer.
GIA certs do not prove such detailed information so a Sarin report is usually requested. This information is included in all AGS certs.

HCA: A mathematical tool devised by Gary Holloway which when used correctly will weed out 99% of badly cut diamonds. To use this, just plug in the numbers from the Sarin report and it will spit out an analysis of the cut. A person still needs to look at the stone to make a final decision but the HCA helps weed out poor performers. Generally, a 1.0 to 2.0 is recommended but a 3.0 might be acceptable to others depending upon price and your tolerance. Also, just because some stones score lower doesn't mean that it is a badly cut stone. I think a 60-60 diamond does not score well on the HCA. Oh, and the HCA is only for round cut diamonds.

Idealscope: I'm not sure who invented this but this tool is very inexpensive at $25 to $30 and is easy for the consumer to use. Looking through it will show if there is a lot of light leakage in the stone. The more red and black colours you see, the better the stone will reflect light back through the top of the diamond back to your eye, hence a better performing stone.

 

[denverappraiser]

Oops. I didn't answer the question about what a Sarin is beyond saying that they are expensive.

Sarin is a brand of tool used to measure diamonds. They measure an assortment of the physical attributes of a diamond. They actually make several products and they have competitors but the reports generated tend to be called Sarin reports without regard how they were generated. Some, but not all, of the Sarin data is included on the AGS DQD report. The AGS DQR and all of the GIA reports contain only the basic dimensions.

The AGS cut system is regularly used when discussing Sarin results but there are quite a few other choices available. The AGS system is used because it is the easiest to understand although AGS doesn’t approve of this practice unless the stone is graded by an AGS jeweler.

It's fairly common for customers to request a Sarin report prior to buying a stone. Most dealers don't have the machine so they get the reports from someone who does and this will accompany the stone through to the final customer along with the appropriate grading report. When the information on any of the various reports is uncomplimentary to the stone, that reports seem to get misplaced. This is the reason you see lots of Sarin reports that identify stones as a 0 but precious few with a cut grade below 2 or 3. Interestingly, there lots of stones that have no paperwork of any kind. Perhaps it's a coincidence.

Neil Beaty GG,
www.gemlab.us