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Advice needed on emerald cut diamonds from adiamore

M

MacH

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 27, 2019
Messages
8
I'm looking for an emerald cut center diamond 1-1.5 ct total in this setting:
https://www.adiamor.com/Engagement-...d-Cut-Diamond-Accented-Setting/WhiteGold/1981

I am looking at a budget at around 4k for diamond. After doing some reading on here and researching, I've come up with a list of possible options. I have not requested an ASET for any of them but can look into getting those. I'm not set on this vendor but they seem to have competitive prices and a 30 day return policy. I'm okay with 1.3-1.4ish LW ratios. Can someone more knowledge please give your opinion on these stones. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! Or if you have other suggestions, I'm open to them. Thank you!!!

1. https://www.adiamor.com/Diamonds/1.05-ct-H-VVS2-Affinity-Cut-Emerald-Diamond/D42711712

2. https://www.adiamor.com/Diamonds/1.02-ct-H-VS1-Affinity-Cut-Emerald-Diamond/D42694726

3. https://www.adiamor.com/Diamonds/1.05-ct-H-VVS2-Affinity-Cut-Emerald-Diamond/D42465548

4. https://www.adiamor.com/Diamonds/1.03-ct-H-VVS1-Affinity-Cut-Emerald-Diamond/D42729199
 
princessandthepear said:
@tyty333, @diamondseeker2006, @OoohShiny, @Matthews1127 please offer advice.
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MY top choice is #1. Second: #2.
3 & 4 have some dark areas that concern me; I believe 1 & 2 are more consistently brighter, and the steps move more consistently, as they should.
#1 is more rectangular, so, you know I like that.
Both are eye clean & face up white, and crisp.
I think either/both should be held & further investigated via ASET.....
 
Thank you all! I will follow up and see if they can send the ASET. I know JA does but not sure about this vendor.
 
MacH said:
Thank you all! I will follow up and see if they can send the ASET. I know JA does but not sure about this vendor.
Click to expand...

JA MIGHT, if they have the diamond in house....or can get it....
 
@Matthews1127 @rockysalamander @Karl_K

Thank you for all your input thus far!
I haven't heard from Adiamore so I assume they are having issues getting the ASET. I started looking at JA and linked a few below. Do you guys have a few favorites for me to request the ASET from? It seems that people have better luck obtaining one from JA. Or if you see anything else that pops out at you, please by all means suggest it. :) Thank you!!

1. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6304083

2. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-5094405

3. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-6471642

4. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-sku-5814605

5. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6364074

6. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.02-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-5747906
 
MacH said:
@Matthews1127 @rockysalamander @Karl_K

Thank you for all your input thus far!
I haven't heard from Adiamore so I assume they are having issues getting the ASET. I started looking at JA and linked a few below. Do you guys have a few favorites for me to request the ASET from? It seems that people have better luck obtaining one from JA. Or if you see anything else that pops out at you, please by all means suggest it. :) Thank you!!

1. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6304083

2. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-5094405

3. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-6471642

4. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-sku-5814605

5. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6364074

6. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.02-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-5747906
Click to expand...
My entirely personal opinion would be:

1 - I like it - bit of windowing at the bottom triangle of the short ends when tilted/rotated but that's quite common, the rest seems to be lively and visually interesting at all angles. Perhaps lacking some brightness/contrast under the table head-on, but I don't know how much that is down to the lighting setup.

2 - same as no.1, albeit less windowing, I reckon.

3 - bit of windowing as per 1 and 2. Central, long facets perhaps major more on virtual facet reflection than direct white light return? Perhaps lacking some brightness in the centre head-on, also as per 1 and 2, but that seems quite common in JA videos so I do wonder if it's just the lighting setup.

4 - it looks to me like the pavilion facets might be slightly twisted? (because the dark obstruction is not a rectangular box, it has a slight 'wonkiness' to it.) I can't tell if the grey under the when head-on table is leakage or not - it is very close to the background colour (although I note that resting on the P2/P3 facets does no stone any favours).

5 - smidge of windowing as per earlier stones but I like the contrast patterns head-on.

6 - an interesting stone... I like the contrast patterning head-on but it is very bright across the centre at certain angles, which makes me wonder if it might be a bit 'all-on / all-off' in real life. I'm surprised it's a VS1, given that that inclusion is right in the table and also seems to be black - I would have thought that was a VS2 any day of the week.


Overall, a nice selection :) Good hunting! (And kudos to JA for actually stocking a decent range of stones that are cut to perform - I'm sure their selection used to be much more difficult to find good ones in!
 
Please reserve your favorites so that any lurkers don't grab them!
 
Some other options (with slight deviations to your criteria- mostly paying attention to cut and price):
@OoohShiny can you give these a glace:
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6403963
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-6110657 (wish this one had higher crown angle, but the facets move quite well)
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-g-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-6103781
(bit low for the crown height)
 
OoohShiny said:
My entirely personal opinion would be:

1 - I like it - bit of windowing at the bottom triangle of the short ends when tilted/rotated but that's quite common, the rest seems to be lively and visually interesting at all angles. Perhaps lacking some brightness/contrast under the table head-on, but I don't know how much that is down to the lighting setup.
Click to expand...
Obstruction not windowing, black is pointed to the camera, might or might not be too much green in the ASET for this one. If not ......
Its the best of the group.
 
Karl_K said:
Potentially leakage yes.

As an aside diamonds draw light from the pavilion(leakage) but not directly through like a window far more often than they ever window.
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Thanks for the clarification / information!

Good to know I'm not going completely insane :D lol

More diamonds should be mounted in tension and very open settings to increase light uptake from all angles :))
 
To make this even more complex I dont think it is leakage, it looks more like a combination of obstruction and glare and just no bright lighting where it is pointing. It could be green in ASET at that point.
There are a bunch of facets in that area at different angles and for them to all leak at the same time is not likely.
On the other had it could be leakage.
 
Karl_K said:
To make this even more complex I dont think it is leakage, it looks more like a combination of obstruction and glare and just no bright lighting where it is pointing. It could be green in ASET at that point.
There are a bunch of facets in that area at different angles and for them to all leak at the same time is not likely.
On the other had it could be leakage.
Click to expand...
LOL

Nothing's ever simple with diamonds, is it... :lol:
 
OoohShiny said:
LOL

Nothing's ever simple with diamonds, is it... :lol:
Click to expand...
Actually I think its a lighting issue and there is never anything easy about lighting. Which makes diamond videos double not simple because you are right about diamonds not being simple!!
Every one I checked is doing it to some extent or another that leads me to believe its environmental.
Either way its minor if the rest of the stone is great.
 
Wow! I'm just reading this thread and learning so much myself. Thank you all for your great input! I requested and put the three diamonds on hold including 1 and 2 so I will update once I get those. The rep didn't indicate there would be issues getting them and said it would be within 2 biz days.
 
Karl_K said:
Actually I think its a lighting issue and there is never anything easy about lighting. Which makes diamond videos double not simple because you are right about diamonds not being simple!!
Every one I checked is doing it to some extent or another that leads me to believe its environmental.
Either way its minor if the rest of the stone is great.
Click to expand...
Thanks, Karl - a lot on JA seem to do it, which I've always wondered about, so it's good to know it might well just be their setup. :)
 
MacH said:
Wow! I'm just reading this thread and learning so much myself. Thank you all for your great input! I requested and put the three diamonds on hold including 1 and 2 so I will update once I get those. The rep didn't indicate there would be issues getting them and said it would be within 2 biz days.
Click to expand...
Good stuff!

Keep us updated :))
 
OoohShiny said:
Good stuff!

Keep us updated :))
Click to expand...

I received the ASET back. I have linked the listing below with the images attached. It's hard to say which one is best as I've never attempted to read an ASET before and the online references show having a lot of red to be good. Can you guys please weigh in on your favorite? :) As always, thank you for your help!!

1. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6304083
6304083aset.jpg

2. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs2-clarity-sku-5094405
5094405aset.jpg


5. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6364074
6364074aset.jpg
 

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I'm not sure if Karl can comment on specific stones (who would be the best person to comment on any EC, I reckon! :) ) but in my non-expert view...

1 - seems to accord very closely to the head-on video image - the blue and dark facets (due to obstruction) accord with the dark facets in the video :) The central area has a lot of green (so collecting light from 45degrees to 90degrees, IIRC??) rather than red (which is from the area around the head and down to 45degrees IIRC??) so should collect a lot of light from the surrounding environment, I think. It looks like there is a 'box' / rectangle of grey-ish green just inside the first band of red facets? I'm not sure if that band might be more 'leaky' than other areas where the green is brighter/stronger?

2 - as with 1, the ASET accords nicely with the video, with the strong, darker obstruction patterns being clearly visible in the blue facets. This one also seems to have a slightly greyer 'box' of facets halfway up the pavilion, which I worry might be slightly leaky, but in the video it seems to form some of the contrast pattern head-on while performing decently well at rotation/tilt angles. Between head-on and about 5degrees of rotation on the video, it does perhaps have maybe a little too much obstruction?? but it is not all off at the same time... so perhaps this one will depend on if you like strong contrast patterns? Personally speaking, I like how this one performs as it rotates because the light reflections seem to move around the stone in an interesting way (IMHO!), and it has edge to edge brightness and the short ends work pretty well at all angles. The windmills look perhaps a tad leaky in the ASET, which seems to be reflected in the head-on image, but they do seem to be using virtual facet reflections as it rotates, so I think they'll be okay.

3 - You can see the stong contrast/obstruction patterns scattered nicely across the ASET image, with some good, strong red and green facets showing light return between them. It looks to have some leakage bands in the ASET (the white facets) but they are narrow and I think they would form part of the visual head-on patterning rather than being a negative. The keel is green, which shows light return, but there is a box of dark grey around it - IIRC Karl has previously said this can make stones perform poorly in the middle, I think because of P3 facet angles not working properly. When you look at these facets in the video, I wonder if they are perhaps a bit 'quiet' as the stone rotates? I do perhaps wonder if this is a bit 'all-on' at certain angles, which could mean it doesn't perform as well / as interestingly at other angles, but I might just be worrying unnecessarily.


Overall an interesting selection :) and one that exposes my shortfall in ASET-reading knowledge... :lol: lol

That said, an ASET is (currently) only one angle of the 180 degrees that a face-up stone in a ring could be seen at, so performance when moving is perhaps more important, which is why videos are where it is at in terms of stepcut assessment!


What are your thoughts? They are three pretty decent ASETs, no one stands out as bad (as far as I can tell) so I'm not sure you can go too far wrong with any of them!
 
molecule said:
Some other options (with slight deviations to your criteria- mostly paying attention to cut and price):
@OoohShiny can you give these a glace:
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.00-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-sku-6403963
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-6110657 (wish this one had higher crown angle, but the facets move quite well)
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/emerald-cut/1.01-carat-g-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-6103781
(bit low for the crown height)
Click to expand...
Apologies, molecule, I completely missed your post before now!!

Of these ones, I (personally speaking, of course) think 2 looks brightest/most contrast-y, and I like that the strong contrast also extends to the crown facets at the short ends! Apart from the potential slight windowing at the short-end bottom triangles (ref: Karl's earlier posts) I really like how this one performs :)

3 looks like it might be a bit low-contrast in the centre when head-on (as there aren't many bright or dark facets, more shades of grey) but it seems bright to the edges and all the central band facets seem to work during rotation! Maybe a bit more of the potential windowing mentioned earlier, but I think it is as visually interesting as 2 :)

1 is perhaps a little bit dark head-on, but that might be because it seems to have chunkier facets so any that are obstructed will naturally make the stone look overall darker if they are larger (if I understand things correctly). I'm not sure the bright light reflections dance around the facets in as interesting a manner as 2 and 3, and I think the central band of facets across the stone might be dominating things just a little, but that would also be personal preference at play, I reckon :)


Overall, IMHO, a nice selection there! I'm glad JA is getting some nicely cut ECs in nowadays :)
 
ASET angles:
ASET-color-light-ranges.jpg
Diamond-reflecting-light-at-different-angles-as-seen-through-an-ASET-image.jpg
 
1st and 2nd ASET are above average which is the a step down the top tier.
The 3rd is a step below that because of the darkness pattern in the center pointed right into the center of the scope mixed with leakage. With a white background ASET black in the camera lens above the hole on the scope. With a black background it is leakage.
 
Last edited:
Karl_K said:
1st and 2nd ASET are above average which is the a step down the top tier.
The 3rd is a step below that because of the darkness pattern in the center pointed right into the center of the scope mixed with leakage. With a white background ASET black in the camera lens above the hole on the scope. With a black background it is leakage.
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Thank you for your input and the graphics, Karl!

I swear I knew that last bit but completely failed to recall it :( :lol:
 
OoohShiny said:
Thank you for your input and the graphics, Karl!

I swear I knew that last bit but completely failed to recall it :( :lol:
Click to expand...

Thank you all! JA is holding these for me until Monday. I'm inclined to go with #1 as the setting is three stone so a longer shape would look nice. I know it's not too tier but I think it will be hard to find on my own and perhaps would take quite a bit more time and effort.
 
Shopping for stepcuts is tricky, and waiting for 'the one' can take a while!

The good thing with JA is that you have good Returns policies to use if a stone arrives and it just doesn't 'do it' for you :)
 
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