shape
carat
color
clarity

2 Diamonds - Beyond D/FL/XXX

OK so you're paying a LOT of money for this and neither option is that well cut.
Are you absolutely set on working with this broker? They don't really seem to be looking out for you in this transaction (which would annoy me were I the one paying).
Please go to Whiteflash and get that D IF that rockysalamander posted instead - once you've set the FL, it'll be IF anyway and the WF one will be sparkly AF which is mostly the point of a diamond. I assume from your comment above that you're looking to spend around $200k, at least with WF you'd have a super ideal, a great upgrade policy and some change from the $200k too.

No, I am not set on working with this broker. And I agree with your sentiments regarding Diamond 2 (Diamond 1 is still to be determined based on ASET and IS images) and the broker.

Another item I should disclose - this diamond is for a single earring, for myself (male).

I will contact Whiteflash as they have received a lot of positive recommendations by forum members.
 
The ASET appears to show that it will an AGS Ideal grade for light performance and AGS 0 cut grade, so that is not too bad. CA is a little too high for the PA (35.5 CA can work sometimes with a 40.6 PA). The deviations between minimum and maximum for CA and PA are not that bad. I would be concerned if there was a big difference between minimum and maximum.

It’s a fair way away from a super ideal from WF, BGD, HPD, VC or GOG though. But it does have “AGS ideal optics” (to use a phrase I have heard many times on Rhino’s videos).

Thank you for the analysis! I passed on Diamond 2.
 
What is your timetable? Maybe you could contact High performance Diamonds, Whiteflash or Brian Gavin about having a super ideal cut from rough?

No rush at all, so I'm going to contact the recommended PS vendors and restart the search.

That one is a hard no for me-- diamond 2, no

Concur!

Do you want to black out your name on the appraisal? I posted a pic once with my name and phone number accidentally on it! Admin deleted quickly.

That's not my name. Can an admin remove the appraisal in Post #18 for me? Sorry in advance for the inconvenience.
 
That's not my name. Can an admin remove the appraisal in Post #18 for me? Sorry in advance for the inconvenience.
You'll have to click on the Report Concern button on the post :)
 
No, I am not set on working with this broker. And I agree with your sentiments regarding Diamond 2 (Diamond 1 is still to be determined based on ASET and IS images) and the broker.

Another item I should disclose - this diamond is for a single earring, for myself (male).

I will contact Whiteflash as they have received a lot of positive recommendations by forum members.
Excellent! How are you planning to set it? Simple stud or something more elaborate? Let’s be honest tho, a honking 3+ stud is pretty much of a statement on its own :mrgreen2:
Definitely D FL still or would you consider widening your criteria to give yourself a bigger pool of options? I would note that FL/IF are only flawless at a certain magnification (10x) and may have inclusions you can see at 30x just fyi.
My personal view is if it doesn’t impair light performance and I cannot see it, I’m not fussed by the clarity grade. But I’m not the wearer for this stone. You have to be mind clean about it.
There is certainly a value in D FL/IF independent of cut quality which is why you see D FL/IF not necessarily being cut for the best light return. And there’s another value in maximum light return - cut is usually the most prized quality for PSers, often over colour and clarity (a budget has to give somewhere) since it’s the major factor in how sparkly a diamond is. So you’ll probably get a few queries on the colour and clarity choice just to confirm you’re not assuming colour and clarity are the only determinants of quality.
 
Last edited:
Excellent! How are you planning to set it? Simple stud or something more elaborate? Let’s be honest tho, a honking 3+ stud is pretty much of a statement on its own :mrgreen2:
Definitely D FL still or would you consider widening your criteria to give yourself a bigger pool of options? I would note that FL/IF are only flawless at a certain magnification (10x) and may have inclusions you can see at 30x just fyi.
My personal view is if it doesn’t impair light performance and I cannot see it, I’m not fussed by the clarity grade. But I’m not the wearer for this stone. You have to be mind clean about it.
There is certainly a value in D FL/IF independent of cut quality which is why you see D FL/IF not necessarily being cut for the best light return. And there’s another value in maximum light return - cut is usually the most prized quality for PSers, often over colour and clarity (a budget has to give somewhere) since it’s the major factor in how sparkly a diamond is. So you’ll probably get a few queries on the colour and clarity choice just to confirm you’re not assuming colour and clarity are the only determinants of quality.

The setting will depend on the size of the diamond as I am a bit concerned about drooping, but a 4-prong low-profile setting sounds about right (as you can see I'm a setting novice too).

"Mind clean" - that is definitely my new favorite phrase!
 
You will definitely need a jumbo back to avoid drooping. Jumbo backs are great for giving an earlobe lift!
 

I wouldn’t trust that amount of money with a custom cut. Note that they don’t guarantee excellent symmetry or polish. If money is no object to OP then I’m sure a close to “perfect” diamond is out there somewhere: however I feel there always needs to be an order of priorities and getting the size and cut just right is going to make much more of an impact than the color and clarity. OP knowing that your earring with not be flawless are you willing to bend on that one? Please let us know what you think of your personal 4 C’s.
 
You do realize we are going to need ear photos when you are done, right? :appl::dance::clap:
 
It's not intrusive at all. I'm a diamond novice, and the only way I know how to judge a diamond is by the highest standards on the GIA report. This is a huge purchase and I just want to buy the most "perfect" diamond I can find (at a good price, of course).

I've been told to scale down my criteria because "no one can tell". But I'll know that my diamond is imperfect, and honestly it's just my own personal feeling that I want to preserve. I hope my explanation helps.


Believe me, we get it.
 
I'll know that my diamond is imperfect

Type IIa, D, IF* ... perhaps ?

I know GIA would determine type upon request. No idea who might provide such a thing.

You got me thinking what my notion of 'perfection' would be, and that's where the idea of measurable elemental purity comes from.

Somehow, in my mind, a perfect crystal does not exist (via the thermodynamics argument for this), so 'clarity' is about what is seen, not about Perfection ... Quirk ?

Feelings !


___

* Between IF / FL - not sure ... the difference might be a detail of manufacture - which would not matter (there will be wear of similar magnitude ...), or something to do with 'flaws' admitted to even these rarefied GIA clarity grades, twarting a perfect finish. I would want to hear about such details - for a personal sense of technical completion / perfectionism: the cutter knew, I wish to know too.

2c
 
Type IIa, D, IF* ... perhaps ?

I know GIA would determine type upon request. No idea who might provide such a thing.

You got me thinking what my notion of 'perfection' would be, and that's where the idea of measurable elemental purity comes from.

Somehow, in my mind, a perfect crystal does not exist (via the thermodynamics argument for this), so 'clarity' is about what is seen, not about Perfection ... Quirk ?

Feelings !


___

* Between IF / FL - not sure ... the difference might be a detail of manufacture - which would not matter (there will be wear of similar magnitude ...), or something to do with 'flaws' admitted to even these rarefied GIA clarity grades, twarting a perfect finish. I would want to hear about such details - for a personal sense of technical completion / perfectionism: the cutter knew, I wish to know too.

2c

That is a good point, Valeria about perfection vs what is seen....

As they say, perfection doesn't exist in anything... and that the pursuit of perfection never ends.... (because it doesn't exist)...

But the mind wants what the mind wants...:pray:
 
But the mind wants what the mind wants...

Sure does !

Mine says that the mysterious natural sense of 'perfection' is worth chasing - not least because it is not clear what that is. Ordered 'defects' (so-called, relative to the stick'n ball crystal lattice model) - are subtle beauty (that some folk see 'pink' or 'blue' in the colourless range is astonishing to the not so colour senztivive yours truly ...) & not so suble (how do you get Dark Gray IF !? Vivid-Deep anything ... WWW) ... Eh ... RANT
 
Sure does !

Mine says that the mysterious natural sense of 'perfection' is worth chasing - not least because it is not clear what that is. Ordered 'defects' (so-called, relative to the stick'n ball crystal lattice model) - are subtle beauty (that some folk see 'pink' or 'blue' in the colourless range is astonishing to the not so colour senztivive yours truly ...) & not so suble (how do you get Dark Gray IF !? Vivid-Deep anything ... WWW) ... Eh ... RANT

Wow! Gorgeous but fractured.

I go digging for diamonds myself in Arkansas, so I feel like since finding one is so time consuming and difficult-(-even when you know you are someplace they are) that any diamond is a "miracle".

I see inclusions as personalities-- but I feel like am tint sensitive. I will go down on clarity because inclusuons don't bother me at all (within reason).

I think an E/F VVS would be great for OP..... but.... OP has to get what Op wants!!!
 
Wow! Gorgeous but fractured.

I keep wondering if these are those ... WWW

The databases of diamonds would certainly look different, if they were to list mine runs !
 
I keep wondering if these are those ... WWW

The databases of diamonds would certainly look different, if they were to list mine runs !
I have some sphalerites in my collection that look like the stones at the WWW link. (Back in the day I was a colored gemstone trader.)

The color of bright honey and dispersion on steroids!
 
.
@Texas Leaguer ... You do not happen to have any suitably deeply colored diamonds available to shoot the two species together, now that you mention ? ,-)
 
btw.


... this therad used to be about D/FL before I started ...

Apologies for the l o n g digressin !
 
I'm afraid we only stock diamonds in the colorless and near colorless ranges.

A D / IF-FL ACA would be an interesting pursuit ...

(WF WWW is somewhat temperamental under Android, so, I do not know what is there now)
 
@supacpeon ,

- I said, & was I overheard ?

Whichever way the miracle happened, here it is: WWW

The cut could be perfect - it very nearly is.

It has never occured to me to wish for such a thing, but I am grinnig ,-)
Valeria, think what else you could wish for if your thoughts here were addressed so quickly!! :eek2:
 
Valeria, think what else you could wish for if your thoughts here were addressed so quickly!!


They have !

... see comment on 'mirrors' - this is MY diamond cut, without a shaddow of a doubt ... I did not dare ask the author's view on my turning his diamonds upside-down & got this flattering nod nonetheless. Will be asking for one such square next year
 
Last edited:
@supacpeon ,

- I said, & was I overheard ?

Whichever way the miracle happened, here it is: WWW

The cut could be perfect - it very nearly is.

It has never occured to me to wish for such a thing, but I am grinnig ,-)

That links to the "Diamond 2" from my OP, which I have already passed on due to the cut.
 
That links to the "Diamond 2" from my OP, which I have already passed on due to the cut.

Interesting ... Truth be told, I do not know how many known Type IIa -s are around at any time - the comment does not happen often on lab reports, but, I wonder how oftern GIA is asked to make this extra determination.

I wish this were a merely 3 carat H&A & would ask if the transformation could be done, brazen as the question might be.
 
.
Digressing, as usual,

Aside the IIa designation & the two muted arrows (peculiar azimuth distortion only - odd to me), I did nottice the tag - which could hang of a 5 carat D/IF EC - my Perfect cut style. The usual difference between IF & FL I am seeing are 'polish characteristics' - a technicality much less prominent, to me, than the difference between the H&A perfection & what the ASET of the respective glorious specimen shows.

Of course, what constitutes perfection in step cut, is more a matter of taste & connoseurship & I tend to the odds. For example, this caught my imagination some time ago - www (D/VS2) - the cut seems ... BOLD & I would certainly love to understand its 'innards' (the way those unusually sized & placed facets throw light to one another). It is somewhat more conventional than the 'squares' I have named to be my favorites above - but not by much ... I would only be very slightly more enthusiastic about this object, if it carried the FL, IIa badges too.

Diamonds with character & material perfection - not allot to think about. (who ever plays cut games with THAT sort of material !)

I talk of my likes, since that's what I know best ...
 
Last edited:
Does anyone have experience with or personal knowledge of the differences in quality between:

- A Cut Above by Whiteflash
- Crafted by Infinity by High Performance Diamonds
- Black by Brian Gavin
- Ascendancy by Good Old Gold

I have received initial estimated pricing and the range is quite wide.

This is going to be a lot tougher than I thought...
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Top