Advice on selection stones

[invisibleadjunct]

After a lot of lurking in this wonderful forum and online research, I am trying to make up my mind about a purchase. I offer the following specs but would like to know if I am going in the right direction (to ask the vendor to supply additional information).

Based on the info below, I would be very thankful if you could offer your thoughts. I am looking to get a princess cut stone ~ 1ct in a channel setting from Excel Diamonds or similar.

#1
Shape: Princess
Carat weight: 1.12
Cut: Ideal
Color: E
Clarity: VS2 (will the inclusions be very obvious/distracting)
Certificate: GIA
Depth: 70.1%
Table: 71.0%
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Girdle: Medium to slightly thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 5.88*5.78*4.05
Ratio: 1.02
Price: $5300

#2
Shape: Princess
Carat weight: 1.04
Cut: Ideal
Color: D
Clarity: VS1
Certificate: GIA
Depth: 72.9%
Table: 70.0%
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Very Good
Girdle: Slightly thick to thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: Medium blue
Measurements: 5.62*5.53*4.03
Ratio: 1.02
Price $4000

Are these good stones based on numbers alone to request additional information ?

 

[Lorelei]

Yes they have potential and Excel are a great vendor if they are the one you are using. Generally VS2 inclusions will not be visible or any type of issue but it doesn't hurt to check that the diamond is eyeclean from all angles. The first has a table which is a little larger than the depth, usually it is preferred to have the table percentage less than the depth, but the diamond could still be worth further investigation. The term Ideal Cut will be vendor applied as GIA do not grade Princess for cut.

 

[invisibleadjunct]

Thanks. I am beginning to drive myself crazy over this and feel like I will never be able to decide. It seems like every vendor has literally 100s of stones that fit all the criteria; and after that it seems hard to decide without idealscope images etc.,

Does the price difference in both appear significant? I am requesting images additional information, should I do that for both the above ? How do the experts recommend which of the listings on the website (which only gives numbers such as above) to pursue for images etc., ?

Thanks

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/16/2009 11:46:04 AM
Author: invisibleadjunct
Thanks. I am beginning to drive myself crazy over this and feel like I will never be able to decide. It seems like every vendor has literally 100s of stones that fit all the criteria; and after that it seems hard to decide without idealscope images etc.,

Does the price difference in both appear significant? I am requesting images additional information, should I do that for both the above ? How do the experts recommend which of the listings on the website (which only gives numbers such as above) to pursue for images etc., ?

Thanks

Depending, I use some of this advice from one of our experts when looking at Princess. The below is quoted from expert Paul Slegers.

"- Reject the ones with a very thick girdle, because of weight hiding where you do not want it.
- Limit yourself to square stones, since it is much more difficult to direct light correctly if the stone is not square (depends upon your comfort-level, of course, and it is more a matter of risk-reduction, and not of correct selection).
- Reject all with VG polish or symmetry, since none of them could be seriously called ideal. Again debatable, but it is a manner of selection.
- Reject the ones with a too big table (say 80% or more). Depending upon your comfort-level, you might want to reduce this table-size-level."

Sticking to in house Princess can be easier as very often all the images and info you need are available and at your fingertips, going through the non in house stones can take more work, skill and judgement to find the ones most likely to be beautiful diamonds.
Can be various reasons for price differences, the first is bigger which can affect price, both polish and symmetry are excellent and the D colour could be discounted for the medium fluorescence, so these are some of the factors that could affect price in this instance.

 

[invisibleadjunct]

Thank you. That does make it easier to narrow the choices down .

by "square" you mean the ratio to be closer to 1.0 or do you mean the measurements (with first two units being similar to make the square)

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/16/2009 12:08:37 PM
Author: invisibleadjunct
Thank you. That does make it easier to narrow the choices down .

by 'square' you mean the ratio to be closer to 1.0 or do you mean the measurements (with first two units being similar to make the square)

GIA's cutoff is 1.05 I believe LXW ratio before they start referring to a diamond as rectangular so yes the closer to 1.0 the ' squarer' the diamond will look. But it depends on your own eyes and preferences, I have seen plenty of 1.05 and above which still looked great. Here is a shape selector you can have a play with but above all images are essential to judge a diamond properly and whether the shape is pleasing to you.

http://www.gemappraisers.com/shapePickerNew.asp

 

[invisibleadjunct]

Thanks. I dont think it works on a non-IE browser. Will have to check it out later. I have asked for specs and images on one of these and 2 others from elsewhere that I am trying to narrow down (perhaps in a separate post). And your input has certainly made it easier to shorten the list of potential candidates. Thanks much

 

[Marjan12]

Hi Abbylia -

I think that the above vendors are so recommended not just b/c they have the right stones in house but b/c they can call almost any stone in. Once you have the stones with one of these trusted vendors, they will tell you everything there is to know, and provide all the needed scans, pics, etc.

I would call one of them if I saw any stones at any other site that I liked, and ask them to call the stones in and review them. Or, you could ask them to do their own search w/in your parameters and they''ll find the stones.

Good luck!

 

[Marjan12]

Sorry for that post above - I posted my reply to the wrong thread.

Sorry.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/17/2009 9:58:57 AM
Author: invisibleadjunct
Thanks. I dont think it works on a non-IE browser. Will have to check it out later. I have asked for specs and images on one of these and 2 others from elsewhere that I am trying to narrow down (perhaps in a separate post). And your input has certainly made it easier to shorten the list of potential candidates. Thanks much

Thats a shame about the SS, maybe if you can get IE it might work for you? But you are most welcome, very glad to help, let us know if you need any more assistance!

 

[invisibleadjunct]

Date: 7/17/2009 10:17:53 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 7/17/2009 9:58:57 AM

Author: invisibleadjunct

Thanks. I dont think it works on a non-IE browser. Will have to check it out later. I have asked for specs and images on one of these and 2 others from elsewhere that I am trying to narrow down (perhaps in a separate post). And your input has certainly made it easier to shorten the list of potential candidates. Thanks much

Thats a shame about the SS, maybe if you can get IE it might work for you? But you are most welcome, very glad to help, let us know if you need any more assistance!

Thank you. And yes, I will turn to you and this community for all follow-up questions

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/17/2009 10:20:30 AM
Author: invisibleadjunct

Date: 7/17/2009 10:17:53 AM
Author: Lorelei

Date: 7/17/2009 9:58:57 AM

Author: invisibleadjunct

Thanks. I dont think it works on a non-IE browser. Will have to check it out later. I have asked for specs and images on one of these and 2 others from elsewhere that I am trying to narrow down (perhaps in a separate post). And your input has certainly made it easier to shorten the list of potential candidates. Thanks much

Thats a shame about the SS, maybe if you can get IE it might work for you? But you are most welcome, very glad to help, let us know if you need any more assistance!

Thank you. And yes, I will turn to you and this community for all follow-up questions

Just let us know! And your signature line is wonderful and it means a great deal to us, thank you!!!