Any difference between H&A and ideal cut melee?

[rinni]

The thing is, I don't live in the States, so I won't be able to see them IRL before purchase, and I really don't wanna go through customs (and the cost) of returning things.

Looking at 10 pointers here, for use in a simple 5 stone diamond necklace.

The centre stone will be a keepsake diamond from my grandma, K colour and flanking it will be a pair of J colour BGD H&A, and to give it an extra bit of presence, I'm looking for 2 more 10 pointers to be added at the ends.

BGD, of course, has lovely signature melee, but they also quoted me a premium price for F/G VS melee (they say they only have these right now and they will still match J colour diamonds). So I did a little digging online and found Africagems, and they carry precision cut ideal melee (at a better price).

So now I'm wondering if there is any obvious difference in sparkle between these 2 types of melee?

Or are there any other vendors I can order from?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WinkHPD]

Looking at 10 pointers here, for use in a simple 5 stone diamond necklace.

The centre stone will be a keepsake diamond from my grandma, K colour and flanking it will be a pair of J colour BGD H&A, and to give it an extra bit of presence, I'm looking for 2 more 10 pointers to be added at the ends.

BGD, of course, has lovely signature melee, but they also quoted me a premium price for F/G VS melee (they say they only have these right now and they will still match J colour diamonds). So I did a little digging online and found Africagems, and they carry precision cut ideal melee (at a better price).

So now I'm wondering if there is any obvious difference between these 2 sources of melee?

Or are there any other vendors I can order from? However, I don't live in the States, so will need vendors willing to ship internationally.

Thanks in advance!

That's the problem. Without being able to see and assess the two parcels of diamonds being chosen from, we can not say who is or is not properly grading their melee goods.

Even if we knew one or the other to be better on average, we could not say with any authority on the diamonds you are looking for, and furthermore, we could have NO IDEA whether or not YOUR eyes saw a difference. Perhaps you could bring in a few of each parcel to look at and return the ones you like the least.

Wink

Oh, OH, just saw the part about not living in the States. Shipping Internationally is no big deal, dealing with customs can be a pain though. Some countries do not like to give you back the money if you return the diamond. You will need to ignore my advice most likely, sorry.

 

[solgen]

I highly doubt you'll see much difference in ideal cut or H&A 10 pointers. If it were between single and full cut then perhaps you may.

 

[MollyMalone]

Have you asked BGD if they will procure other melee for you; it obviously would eliminate time and hassle for you if they were to rustle up the 10-pointers, and they doubtlessly have "to the trade" sources you can't access, plus the experience-expertise to readily assess what would be most compatible -- even if not their own H&A cut -- with the two J stones from their inventory.

(fwiw, I think the color difference between BGD's F-G melee & the J stones would probably bug me more than whatever perceptible difference in cut there might be between their signature melee & the kind of fine, non-signature melee, lower in color and cost, that I imagine BGD could obtain for you)