can you recut the pavilion to fix bad hearts on an otherwise great stone?

[johngalt2004]

I have an AGA-1A, AGS zero, really nice 1.17 round diamond but it has bad hearts. Diamond looks great but it is just a little bit not mind-clean because I know the hearts are not true. Wife does not care but I kind of care a little bit.

Is it feasable to send it to a jeweler to fix up the pavilion cuts and fix the hearts so it is a true H&A? The pavilion is 40.9 so I''m thinking maybe it can lose a little weight and pavilion angle, but not lose the other good cut elements... basically clean up the hearts and retain the light performance and maybe just shed fractions of a carat in weight. Of course it would suck if I tried that and it lost the "zero" when regraded

Is this ever done, and how much would it cost to do something like this?

 

[stone-cold11]

Case by case situation I suspect, as with all recuts, and also the risk of damage to the stone. Only the cutter can say for sure with the stone in his hand.

 

[wsblue430]

I would contact Brian Gavin . Brian is a skilled cutter and designs gorgeous rings..you can read about him. I would start off my giving them a call Good luck!

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 1/13/2010 8:00:00 PM
Author:johngalt2004
I have an AGA-1A, AGS zero, really nice 1.17 round diamond but it has bad hearts. Diamond looks great but it is just a little bit not mind-clean because I know the hearts are not true. Wife does not care but I kind of care a little bit.

Is it feasable to send it to a jeweler to fix up the pavilion cuts and fix the hearts so it is a true H&A? The pavilion is 40.9 so I''m thinking maybe it can lose a little weight and pavilion angle, but not lose the other good cut elements... basically clean up the hearts and retain the light performance and maybe just shed fractions of a carat in weight. Of course it would suck if I tried that and it lost the ''zero'' when regraded

Is this ever done, and how much would it cost to do something like this?

not worth doing in your case. your wife already have a nice stone.

 

[johngalt2004]

I do risk my wife mocking me for the rest of our life together if go to that trouble and she cannot see any difference face-up.

 

[stone-cold11]

ya, you probably will not see any difference.

 

[HVVS]

Personally, I don''t care much about the hearts except that I would not want to overpay. i.e. pay a full H&A price for a stone that doesn''t have great hearts as well as arrows.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I don''t think it is worth the risk to the diamond. There is *always* a risk when cutting a stone. And you woulsn''t be able to tell. Get her a nice H&A pendant or something

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/14/2010 3:12:55 PM
Author: dreamer_dachsie
I don't think it is worth the risk to the diamond. There is *always* a risk when cutting a stone. And you woulsn't be able to tell. Get her a nice H&A pendant or something

Ditto, besides the ever present risk of shattering or breakage whilst recutting, plus potential weight loss, I probably wouldn't bother - also you can't see the hearts when set. As you already have what sounds like an excellently cut stone, my advice is to leave well enough alone.

You could of course ask an expert for their opinion, in which case I would contact Brian Gavin if you prefer to get your info straight from the horse's mouth so to speak!

 

[johngalt2004]

You guys are right. You know how it is... on this site you read all about yaw, and fake hearts, and all this stuff and it is just a real mind****. I started to wonder if the AGS-0 and angle specs were some kind of swindle like the pavilion was just cut like a dang cone or something.

I''m sure best is to just drop it.

I just got her some small ACA studs which is what brought it back up my head. But you can''t tell from looking that the earrings are cut "more premium" than the ring - so it is not something she''ll want to do anyway.

Thanks for the inputs.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/15/2010 2:23:28 PM
Author: johngalt2004
You guys are right. You know how it is... on this site you read all about yaw, and fake hearts, and all this stuff and it is just a real mind****. I started to wonder if the AGS-0 and angle specs were some kind of swindle like the pavilion was just cut like a dang cone or something.

I'm sure best is to just drop it.

I just got her some small ACA studs which is what brought it back up my head. But you can't tell from looking that the earrings are cut 'more premium' than the ring - so it is not something she'll want to do anyway.

Thanks for the inputs.

Glad to help! I just went back and looked at your ring, you have a beautiful diamond there with excellent numbers, I think you did really well and there wouldn't be anything to gain visually by tweaking the stone to get picture perfect hearts.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

It is interesting for me to read this thread.

There are many vendors and peope who really believe (or imply) that optically perfect symmetry combined with great proportions makes a better diamond. However there has never been any professional vendor prepared to do a blind pepsi taste test to prove that a near H&A with the same great proportions can be picked out as the better stone.

I am not sure what level or type of symmetry deviation would make the differen where trained observers could make the distinction with a high level of repeatablity. But one reason why I originally skewed HCA in favour of shallower stones is because i believe that slightly steeper deeper stones with not so great optical symmetry sufer more deleterious effects than shallower stones.
Remember that when I developed HCA there were far more not so great symmetrical diamonds as there are nearly a decade later. This is a factor that I need to put in place in a revamped HCA which i have finally started some work on.