Surprised by an oval stone.... need advice for a pending purchase

[Brian E]

Yes, it’s another, “Is this a good diamond?” thread.

I’ve lurked here for a few months, gathering as much information as I could for my pending purchase of a diamond for an engagement ring. Now it is time to ask all of you nice people for your advice and expertise.

I have been visiting a trusted local jeweler (not a mall chain store) about once a week for the past month looking at various stones. I have been looking for a well-cut oval stone between 0.8 and 0.9 carats with a D - F color (I have found I am very sensitive to yellow), VS1 - SI1 clarity.

Throughout the entire process, I have kept the AGA cut charts for oval stones in mind, realizing though that they are only meant as a guideline and that fancy shapes must be seen to be properly evaluated.

Last Friday, I had quite the surprise when my jeweler showed me a stone that was rated poorly on the AGA chart, but was by far the best looking stone I had seen (and I had viewed a few stones that were rated higher on the AGA than this one).

Anyway, I wanted to get your opinion on this. The stone is on hold, pending a final commitment from me.

GIA Report

Oval Brilliant
Measurements: 7.80 x 5.48 x 2.93 mm
Weight: 0.81 carat
Clarity: SI1
Color: D
Depth: 53.5%
Table: 51%
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted
Polish: Good
Symmetry: Good
Fluorescence: None
Price: $3650

What concerns me is the small table and shallow depth. Is it possible for a stone to rate so low on AGA (Depth 3B and Table 2B), yet still perform well? To my eyes, the stone looks great, with a very minimal (if any) bowtie effect and it is eyeclean. It also appears rather large for its carat weight. But I am not a diamond expert.

Any comments or suggestions you could offer would be great. I just want to get the best stone for my budget ($3000-4000). I am willing to pay slightly more for the personal service of a B&M. The jeweler I have been dealing with seems very knowledgeable and has been extremely helpful. He is willing to search until we find the right stone.

Thanks you very much in advance for your comments and suggestions. This is my first diamond purchase and I want to make it a good one.

Brian

 

[niceice]

Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to determine the potential of a fancy shape diamond off of the numbers which is probably why your thread has so many views and we're the first person to post a reply. We've personally selected and sold quite a few fancy shape diamonds over the years which we thought were quite impressive that only scored a 3A on David's cut grade chart... The fact is that the concept of applying a proportions grade to a fancy shape diamond without seeing the stone is kind of elusive because there are a lot of factors that come into play... If you like what you're seeing with your eyes, then that should be your first indicator that you've probably found something interesting, but we wonder, have you evaluated the performance of the diamond away from the influence of the jewelry store lights? Those things can make rock quartz perform wonderfully! We're not suggesting that the diamond you have found is good or bad, just wanting to make sure that you are evaluating the diamond under the same type of lighting that it is going to be worn under because very few of us live our days under intense halogen lighting with diochromatic filters intended to simulate the effects of sunlight... May we suggest buying the diamond "on contingency" and then sending it to David Atlas for physical evaluation? That would provide you with evaluation by an expert and confirm the AGA proportions grade for you and perhaps provide you with some additional insight...

 

[valeria101]

Yeah... why not. The AGA charts do not promiss to rate brilliance and, not surprisingly, this is what catches the eye first

As for bow-tie - it can be corrected by changes in faceting that would never enter the respective charts (such as extra or smaller facest near the problem area of the stone).

All in all, the stone could be the greatest 0.8 D-SI1 oval, but it's no bargain, as a quich serach arund here might demonstrate fast enough... Case in point: 0.82 D-SI1 oval and there are quite a few under 3k, if this matters.
And another with the measurements close to yours...