Advice on these to ideascope images?

[lyingju]

Looking for a diamond for engagement ring from these two, any advice?

Diamond 1
DEPTH %:62.30
GIRDLE: Medium
TABLE %:58.00
CULET:None
CUT: Excellent
POLISH:Excellent
SYMMETRY:Excellent

CARAT WEIGHT:0.84
COLOR:G
CLARITY: VVS1
CROWN %:15.00
PAVILION %: 43.50


Diamond 2
DEPTH %:61.50
GIRDLE: Medium - Slightly Thick
TABLE %:59.00

CARAT WEIGHT:0.82
COLOR:H
CLARITY: IF
CUT: Excellent
POLISH:Excellent
SYMMETRY:Excellent

 

[chrono]

I would pass on both. Look for diamonds within this range:

Total Depth between 59 – 61.8%
Table Diameter between 53 – 57.5%
Crown angle between 34.3 – 34.9 degrees
Pavilion angle between 40.6 – 40.9 degrees
Girdle thickness between 0.7% thin to slightly thick
Culet: GIA “none” or AGS “pointed”

 

[pfunk]

I would also pass on those as I don't like the lack of contrast. However, I think the ranges proposed above are too strict and can rule out some very pretty diamonds.

 

[chrono]

pfunk,
I am open to suggestions on widening the range safely; what do you suggest?

 

[yssie]

pfunk,
I am open to suggestions on widening the range safely; what do you suggest?

I like DreamerD and DS's "quick and dirty" metrics for these situations (new buyers looking to narrow the shopping pool without images to select a couple of stones to investigate further):

GIA
HCA + GIA EX (I personally recommend HCA < 3, not HCA < 2, to avoid kicking out a great many beauties).
The HCA does the hard work of removing the doozies whilst still accepting a variety of flavours. This is where that cheat sheet fails, IMO - it asserts that chocolate ice cream is indisputably the best of the best.

AGS
HCA + AGS0-2 (again, I personally recommend HCA < 3).

To clarify: these are strictly ways to eliminate stones and have a manageable number left over to investigate further. They're NOT good ways to actually select one stone from that pool of candidates; there's no shortcut for the "investigate further" bit!

 

[pfunk]

pfunk,
I am open to suggestions on widening the range safely; what do you suggest?

Hi Chrono,

Folks who are looking at GIA graded diamonds can't use your range very effectively. Essentially the only crown angle you would allow would be 34.5. A GIA 34.5 could range from 34.3 to 34.7 which is within your tolerance, but a CA of 34 or 35 could range outside of your strict tolerances when considering the GIA rounding. I would open the range up to at least 34-35 for the crown angle and 40.6-41 for the pavilion angle. Similarly with the table, I don't see an issue with a 58% table. When I make recommendations for total depth I try to keep it to 62.3%. I think diamondseeker has a range close to this that she recommends, and I like her range and follow it closely.

Having said all this, there are proportions that work outside of this range but the measurements of the other facets begin to matter more to make sure it all works. Because of that, the safe bet is to stick towards the center of ideal like you have done.

 

[dawgcatching]

pfunk,
I am open to suggestions on widening the range safely; what do you suggest?

These 2 were outside of that range: 62/55, 35.6 crown, 40.6 pavilion on the first, the second was 62/55, 35.1 crown, 40.7 pavilion. Both were stunning (and well within AGS 000 range, graded as such). You could safely bump up the crown to 35.6 based on these, pavilion up to 40.9 or 41 I would think (a bunch of H&A diamonds hit that 40.9 number). I checked out both of these by doing a search for AGS 000 through the solomon brothers website (a PS vendor). Both were very brilliant and really as nice performance wise as anything I saw