Can you help me understand why these Asschers appear so different?

[Antique Chic]

Hi everyone,
Just wondering, is IGI super unreliable? These 3 are all listed as Fancy Blue, but appear to be very different.

1. https://www.brilliantearth.com/1.12...Diamond-DLCB1.12ASRFBIF/?process=cyoring&sid=

2. https://www.brilliantearth.com/1.08...amond-DLCB1.08ECFBVS1_V/?process=cyoring&sid=

3. https://www.brilliantearth.com/1.62...Diamond-DLCB1.62ASRFBIF/?process=cyoring&sid=

Also, is #3 cut differently? It seems to have far less facets than #1. Wondering if it's just the way these were photographed?

 

[OoohShiny]

Wow, that's some price difference between VS1 and IF in those first two diamonds!

They definitely appear to be different shades of blue, I agree. Whether it's just down to the photography, I don't know - the backgrounds seem similarly white/exposed, so maybe the really are that different.


The third one has terrible cut, though - the P3 facets are windowing to the point of being basically see-through...

I don't quite know what they've done, but they haven't extended the 'windmills' onto the P3 facets? Weird.

The VS1 looks quite 'windowy' as well once tilted, I'm not sure it would perform that well. (Inasmuch as coloured diamonds can perform in terms of white light return and fire!)

 

[Antique Chic]

Thanks for the input!

#1 is the only one I was considering but it's too small. And I don't want to pay for IF if I can avoid it. As long as it's eye clean I'm happy.

 

[Matthews1127]

Of the 3, #1 would be my choice. #3 looks like the new square step cut style. #2 is a visual and dimensional disaster!
I'd def go with #1.
CRM

 

[OoohShiny]

I don't think he can comment on these particular stones because they are from a named vendor, but @Karl_K might be able to advise re: faceting and what to look for in asschers

 

[Antique Chic]

Karl K is my hero! My dream ring (that I've been waiting 10yrs for) is a light blue lab grown Octavia diamond in a Leon Mege setting.

 

[SimoneDi]

What about this one, if you can live wih the inclusions. http://d.neadiamonds.com/lab-created-diamonds/BA30

 

[Antique Chic]

Thanks SimoneDi. I want something larger and lighter than that. I've been on D.nea's wait list for over 10yrs. Hoping to get a rough stone and have it custom cut. We'll see if that's even possible!

 

[cmd2014]

Wow. I wouldn't have guessed that lab created diamonds would be so expensive! (I think of them like the lab created gemstones that you see sold in Costco for hundreds of dollars, not thousands). Do they retain their value at all on the resale market?

 

[denverappraiser]

It’s tough to tell. The talking point of the miners is no, they don’t do much of a resale market, but that’s a loaded answer. They haven’t been around long enough for them to start turning up in estates and such so there really isn’t a secondary market. You’d be hard pressed to buy a ‘used’ one if you tried. We just don’t know how it’ll play out. Selling diamonds is hard, and selling synthetics is even harder, but no one really knows how this will play out. My general advice is to don't go into any diamond deal expecting to ever see your money again. This is true of synthetics as well.

 

[Antique Chic]

Denver appraiser is right- it's too soon to tell about resale, but I would never sell it. Hopefully, it will be something passed down through the family when I'm gone.

From what I understand from research, lab grown diamonds aren't cheap to produce, at least not yet. The equipment is constantly being improved and research to grow them larger, cleaner, and create consistent colors is ongoing. It takes 2-3 months to grow one, and quality cutting isn't any cheaper on a lab grown stone, so they're not a huge discount compared to mined diamonds. However, for fancy colored diamonds, because they are so rare in nature, the price for lab grown is a significant discount. They're real stones, not imitations like CZ that you would see for a few hundred dollars. They are the same composition as what is mined out of the earth, just usually much better clarity because they are formed in a lab instead of in the ground. I don't like the term synthetic because to me that means it's fake. These are cultured or lab grown.

 

[ChristineRose]

Does Costco sell lab diamonds? Nothing I've seen makes me think so. Several hundred dollars sound like a cubic zirconia in a nice setting.

 

[Antique Chic]

If it's several hundred dollars it's a CZ. I did look and found out they have yellow fancy diamonds (ranging from $1k to $72k). They're graded by IGI which makes me think maybe they are lab grown. The site didn't mention if they were mined or lab-grown so I called. I left a message. I'll post again when I receive a call back.

In the meantime, I stopped at Brilliant Earth's showroom in Chicago last week to see some of the blue stones IRL. From top to bottom in the first picture, the cushion was a 1.27(?) intense blue. In the middle is the 1.12 Fancy Blue (definitely should have been graded Fancy Light Blue), and at the bottom is the 1.62 Fancy Blue. The cut on the 1.12 was great. It had a lot of fire (I wasn't sure if I would see rainbow flashes in a blue diamond but I did. The larger Asscher was a better size but the cut made it look like a piece of glass.

 

[Antique Chic]

Interesting. Just got a call back from Costco. They are real fancy yellow mined diamonds, with no enhancements, and not lab grown.

 

[ChristineRose]

Interesting. Costco has yellow diamond jewelry on their website but the cheapest is $1000.

Lab grown emeralds, sapphires, and rubies, have been around since 1880. They are fairly easy to grow (the devil is in the details). You get some ground up beryl or corundum and melt it. Then you drip it very slowly from just the right height for it to solidify and crystallize as it hits a slice of gem beneath the drip.

Modern growers use a variation where they dip a slice of gem into a vat of molten rock and pull it out at just the right speed so that it solidifies without dripping off. That way you don't get a sandwich like effect of drippy layers.

They also grow garnet this way but they wouldn't sell them at Costco. Garnet is cheap and they aren't worth the trouble. Synthetic garnets are used in lasers instead. Lasers are much pickier than humans.

Diamonds use far more complicated techniques.