Advice on Radiants? TIA!

[JW2008]

I posted a few days ago- my cousin got the princess cut ring & while it is quite sparkly (Blue Nile Signature Ideal Princess, G VS1), I don''t think it''s what he was going for. She''s a teacher and the pointed corners may pose a problem. His gf mentioned radiants to him and so now we''re on a quest for radiants. I think I''ll be an expert on all of this by the time they''re married.

In any case, we''ve started looking around and found this one. Since there''s not as much info on radiants as there are princesses, I''d really appreciate any advice based on the specs. Of course, we will get it and look at it as well, but I just wanted to see if any radiant experts could chime in. We''ve compared it against the AGA charts for radiants and it seems pretty good.

Opinions? Thanks so much- I''m always amazed at how everyone on this board is so helpful.




Carat weight: 1.02

Cut: Very Good

Color: D

Clarity: VS1

 

[Lorelei]

Can you ask for detailed photos of the diamond and an ASET image if available? If this one is with Blue Nile, I don't think they offer such services, but they do have a good return policy should you need it. Unfortunately radiants need to be seen to be properly judged, the numbers don't reveal much. D VS sounds like a lovely combo, I take it that is the lady's preference?

 

[JW2008]

How odd- the specs didn''t appear. This is what we have:

Carat weight: 1.02

Cut: Very Good

Color: D

Clarity: VS1

Depth%: 64.5%
Table: 68%
Symmetry/Polish: Good
Girdle: Medium to very thick
Culet: None
Florescence: None
Measurements: 5.75 x 5.70 x 3.67mm
L/W ratio: 1.01

 

[girlie-girl]

I recently went through the whole trying to find a nice radiant myself. The specs you listed sound reasonably balanced, I''d bet it''s going to be a nice looking stone.

Which vendor has it? Are there any magnified photos available of it?

 

[JW2008]

Sadly, no- it''s Blue Nile. That''s one of their major downfalls- I wish they had more pictures/reports/idealscope/etc..

Did you ever get your radiant?

 

[girlie-girl]

Yes I did. I ended up purchasing from Abazias (Katie Ripley was my contact). They didn't have magnified images or ASET etc available either, so with a hold on my credit card they shipped me out two stones for a '10 day trial'. After seeing the stones in person, coupled with the stones I had seen locally, I knew I had found my diamond. I shipped the other stone back, traded to a bank wire purchase and the credit hold was lifted. It was all pretty painless and only took a couple of days to complete. There was just a small shipping fee for the stone I returned, but it was worth it to have a side by side comparison.

Here are its numbers:

Carat weight: 1.01
Color: E
Clarity: VS1
Certificate: GIA
Depth: 63.4%
Table: 68%
Polish: VG
Symmetry: VG
Girdle Thickness: Very Thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: Medium
Measurements: 6.51*5.38*3.41
Ratio: 1.21

I took a few pictures of it even though I didn't have any jeweler's tweezers, but then I shipped it off to be set in a Danhov ring I purchased at JamesAllen.com. It's slated to ship Monday next week, so hopefully I can share some pictures of the finished product then. I'd be happy to show you the images I did take if you'd like, and if you don't mind seeing it on the palm of my hand. lolol

 

[kcoursolle]

It''s going to be really tough to buy a nice radiant on BN, because they simply don''t provide enough information about their stones. With fancies you really need images to judge stones, radiants can''t be judged by numbers alone. If they now want a radiant, I would just return the old ring and start over with Goodoldgold.com, whiteflash.com, or jamesallen.com and ask them to find a nice radiant.

That being said, the table on this particular radiant is a bit large. I would start by looking for depth between 60-68 and table between 60-65.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 6/26/2008 4:12:20 PM
Author: kcoursolle
I would just return the old ring and start over with Goodoldgold.com, whiteflash.com, or jamesallen.com and ask them to find a nice radiant.

Ditto, let an expert vendor help you through this, radiants can''t be judged by the numbers, they need to be seen, so let an experienced vendor be your eyes, one who has in house diamonds with the cut analysis done on each diamond.