Ideal cut VS Heart & Arrows.

[secluded]

Does Heart & Arrows cut imply the stone is an ideal cut.
A stone with ideal cut will not mean that it will be Heat & Arrow.

Is that right folks. For a person who is on a small budget, what should I look for? Ideal cut or Heart & Arrows cut to maximize that light return, brilliant shine and all that.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Hello Secluded,

You may have seen this already, but HERE is information on standards for hearts and arrows.

As yet there is no universally endorsed grading standard for H&A stones. You would hope that any stone marketed as H&A would need to be ideal, but then again I've seen diamonds with poor physical symmetry, splits, yaw and extreme angle variance marketed as hearts and arrows.

The casual consumer may not be able to decipher or identify the poor qualities listed above from a H&A photo. For this reason a vendor may choose to provide a guarantee of quality, along with a sample image which is representative of every H&A stone produced. If no guarantee, try to acquire an actual H&A image and the regulars here will gladly comment on it for you.

Best,

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

H&A''s does not guarantee optimum brilliance and fire.

 

[valeria101]

Date: 11/17/2004 32:49 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
H&A''s does not guarantee optimum brilliance and fire.

Or the other way around... you can get a brilliant piece that does not have the facet alignment or proportions needed to create the image of harts and arrows. There seems to be a higher premium on the H&A pattern (it''s more famous, obviously, than the somewhat comlicated technicals caled "ideal proportions" and "light return").

So... you may find that diamonds with no H&A but idea proportions are a better buy. Those may be sold with EGL or AGS certs or Sarin (so HCA scores are feasible) but no H&A images, or with an IdealScope image proving light return. As far as I know, the bargain price of the bunch belongs to EGL certified rounds that get just the right proportions. Those are usually not marketed for "ideal proportions" at all - but you can still get an idea of potential cut quality using the HCA and call the stones in.

Just my 0.2, of course

 

[secluded]

"brilliant" look - that is what I am after. Thank you all for educated me. I am ready to shop.