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Advice on vintage diamond

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Sexypiggy

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 27, 2019
Messages
108
Hello,

I am a long time lurker and recently made an account. I have fallen in love with the vintage cut diamonds and would really love some advice on the following stone.

http://www.loveaffairdiamonds.com/3-63ct-old-european-cut-diamond-gia-o-p-vs2/

As I am in Australia my only option is to buy online as our local stores are quite limited in stock and expensive!

I would be putting it in a simple platinum 6 prong setting.

Thank you :)
 
I can only comment on what my eyes see in the pictures, not the price.
The grade of color and inclusions are a-ok to me. I love the lower colors in old cuts.
The faceting - it's interesting. I can't say if that's good or bad. I surely would need to see in person to be certain. The center facets are a pleasing shape/pattern to me - but how they twinkle on and off is sometimes lazy and consistent to one another in the video. I have a few that go together in mine sometimes, and only at a certain angle. But it doesn't bother me in person and my stone is way way smaller than this one. Others here have much less tolerance for this.
In contrast to the center facets, the peripheral facets look to me to be extra on, for a lack of a better description? So it's like two extremes paired together?
This stone could be lovely and everything you are looking for. Maybe the faceting pattern is below clarity, color and size in importance, or quite possibly it suits ones personal taste. It's all opinions vary.
But I think it'd be somewhat tense, and costly to have it shipped from USA to Australia (and back) to view in person. I have found tracking from Australia to USA is more reliable than tracking options the other way around. High dollar items - I think have their own hoops to jump through?
 
Sexypiggy said:
Hello,

I am a long time lurker and recently made an account. I have fallen in love with the vintage cut diamonds and would really love some advice on the following stone.

http://www.loveaffairdiamonds.com/3-63ct-old-european-cut-diamond-gia-o-p-vs2/

As I am in Australia my only option is to buy online as our local stores are quite limited in stock and expensive!

I would be putting it in a simple platinum 6 prong setting.

Thank you :)
Click to expand...

Also - hit the 'report concern' button at bottom of your post and ask it be moved to Rocky Talky. You'll probably get more views and feedback.
 
Thanks heaps for your reply!

When you say the centre facets look to be lazy, and peripheral are extra on do you mean the centre is lacking light return? Sorry, I am quite new to this and still learning the jargon!

For me, the most important thing would be performance in a stone. I once had a steep deep diamond (round brilliant) which did not sparkle at all and it really bothered me. My current ring is hca <2 and while the H&A are slightly off I am satisfied with it because it sparkles and shines.

For a vintage diamond I don’t mind if the facets are not perfect however I do not want a dull and lifeless stone. Is it worth asking for an ASET image?

I hope this post made sense, sorry for my amateur wording haha

Also, I have requested this post be moved to rockytalk. =)2

@Rfisher
 
I don’t think ASET images are particularly helpful with old cuts. I think that’s overly/needlessly critical of them. If you want perfect light return on an old cut - very seldom you’ll find in an antique. If ever. Look to newly cut ones -brand names ones, if excellent light return is important to you.
The center facets look to be many dark/off at the same time in the video. They don’t alternate much from each other. Real life viewing (in a ring) may differ somewhat.
The contrast from (what seems to me) super busy peripherals and very slow center was striking. Not sure - to me- if that’s a good thing or not. Once again, could be very different from what you’d see in real life mounted in a ring and in your hand.
 
It does seem to be less evident in the mounted in a ring video. Could be the lighting.
I’m not saying it’s ugly by any means! It was just an observation I had.
@dreamer_dachsie
Can you chime in? ( she’s an expert at deciphering these still shots and photos!!!)
 
It does look better in a ring. I see what @Rfisher sees, there is more happening around the table than under the table. Since performance is most important to you I think you might be disappointed in this stone. If you were in the US I’d say take a chance, but the hassle of a return for you is a concern. What drew you to this stone?
 
This is a lovely example of a classic OEC. It has a very small table, which helps optics a lot. The central facets do go dark in blocks sometimes. This is basically unavoidable in this style of old cut in my experience. You don't buy this kind of old cut diamond for "perfect" optics. You buy it for what it is and what it was designed do to, and I think this one does it pretty well. This means yes, you will see obstruction under the table sometimes and at some angles. And yes, you will see a distinction between how the central zone handles light and how the periphery handles light. I feel like this is kind of par for the course with these kind of "flowery" classic OECs. These limitations are exactly why people like Rhino and VC developed their own lines of modern cut OECs with "better" optics.

I realize there are some old cut classic OECs out there that don't do what I am describing. But TBH I believe that a lot of old cuts have been repolished/recut to improve optics. Love Affair Diamonds as a rule tries to avoid such diamonds and/or will disclose when they think a particular stone may have been recut.

There are other styles of old cut that have very lively central regions. They tend to have even higher crowns and maybe even smaller tables. They have lots of kozibe and a more busy facet pattern. Transitional cuts like my own diamond (see avatar) are also more lively under the table. No flowery "petals" under the table though! More like arrows.

So the most important think is for you to decide why you want and old cut, what kind of look you are after, and what compromises you are willing to make to own a piece of history.
 
@Sexypiggy
This ring/stone belongs to a fellow PS'er.
If you search this site, you'll find more photos, showing it from a different perspective. The photos posted here don't depict the perimeter area as splintery (or busy) as the loose vendor pics do. As the vendors mounted pics didn't as much either.
If you love all the photos, and enjoy a stone that most likely has a changing personality in more than just color - this stone might be for you.
Hope this helps!
 
Hello everyone, thank you heaps for your thoughts. I still have much to learn about vintage cuts. Due to the hassle of returning and poor exchange rate I’ve decided to pass on this one. This will probably be my last upgrade so I don’t want to settle. I will save up a bit more and wait for a more favourable exchange rate and then look into the modern cut OEC or maybe just another MRB :geek2:
 
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