Considering a diamond

[Metmark1]

Hi all,
I'm seriously considering buying a particluar diamond.
I've attached images of it



and as per GIA report, its specs are:

Measurements 7.40 - 7.42 x 4.51 mm
Carat Weight 1.53 carat
Color Grade H
Clarity Grade VS1
Cut Grade Excellent

Depth 60.9 %
Table 58 %
Crown Angle 34.0°
Crown Height 14.0%
Pavilion Angle 40.8°
Pavilion Depth 43.0%
Star Length 50%
Lower Half 75%
Girdle Medium to Slightly Thick, Faceted, 4.0%
Culet None

Polish Excellent
Symmetry Excellent

Fluorescence Faint

clarity characteristics Crystal, Needle

Its HCA score was 1.1 which I'm happy with.

Should I pull the trigger?

 

[Lorelei]

Hi all,
I'm seriously considering buying a particluar diamond.
I've attached images of it



and as per GIA report, its specs are:

Measurements 7.40 - 7.42 x 4.51 mm
Carat Weight 1.53 carat
Color Grade H
Clarity Grade VS1
Cut Grade Excellent

Depth 60.9 %
Table 58 %
Crown Angle 34.0°
Crown Height 14.0%
Pavilion Angle 40.8°
Pavilion Depth 43.0%
Star Length 50%
Lower Half 75%
Girdle Medium to Slightly Thick, Faceted, 4.0%
Culet None

Polish Excellent
Symmetry Excellent

Fluorescence Faint

clarity characteristics Crystal, Needle

Its HCA score was 1.1 which I'm happy with.

Should I pull the trigger?

Hi Metmark,

It should be a beauty as far as I can tell, the proportions are excellent, it should give a lovely display of light return and what a nice size! Is this diamond being sold as a Hearts and Arrows precision cut? The images of the hearts and arrows are showing quite small on my monitor and I can't see as clearly as I would wish, but as far as I can see, this stone is showing a very nice h&a patterning, but looking as closely as I can at the images, in my opinion there are a few things that for me would not put it among the top branded h&a as there are a couple of variations with the images that aren't quite as crisp and uniform as I would expect from a top branded h&a cut. But it is still a very fine stone and could be a super choice, I take it this diamond is intended for an engagement ring?

Also with the HCA score, the HCA is intended as a screening tool in the first instance to determine which stones are worth further consideration, usually those that score <2, but sometimes stones scoring between 2 and 3 can also be worth further evaluation if you have images for analysis, images always trump the HCA. Colour and clarity are a very nice combo, faint fluorescence, although some believe faint doesn't make any difference to the beauty or colour grade of the stone, I think it's nice to have, so a plus for me. You shouldn't have any worries about a diamond of this size being eyeclean in VS1, I think this one is well worth shortlisting.

 

[MarionC]

Pretty stone!

 

[Metmark1]

Hi Lorelei,
Thanks for your very helpful response yes it is intended for an engagement ring. I'm talking to a dealer in Sydney Australia about it (where I live). I'm not sure if it's being marketed as a hearts and arrows precision cut (to be honest I don't know what that is... Is that simply a reference to the pattern seen in the diamond or is it a brand name?) but the dealer is giving it their own "ideal" cut rating, for whatever that is worth.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi Lorelei,
Thanks for your very helpful response yes it is intended for an engagement ring. I'm talking to a dealer in Sydney Australia about it (where I live). I'm not sure if it's being marketed as a hearts and arrows precision cut (to be honest I don't know what that is... Is that simply a reference to the pattern seen in the diamond or is it a brand name?) but the dealer is giving it their own "ideal" cut rating, for whatever that is worth.

Metmark, you are most welcome!

In that case, I think you are definitely in the ballpark with this diamond, to coin a phrase, it could be an absolutely beautiful diamond and as I mentioned previously, I can't see the images clearly but even if this isn't what is called a ' true' h&a precision cut as some would deem it to be, it is still displaying a very nice pattern and the optical performance ( sparkle) should be superb. The term Hearts and Arrows refers to a strict precision cutting style that has the result of perfect optical symmetry, this is judged by the precision of the hearts patterning ( seen underneath the diamond) and the arrows, seen face up. These diamonds are rightfully sold at a premium due to the skill involved in cutting to such levels of precision, plus as you can imagine, there is a higher proportion of wastage with the rough diamond in order to craft such a precision cut gemstone.

Read more here if you would like a good introduction to the hearts and arrows topic, https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/hearts-and-arrows-diamonds

 

[proto]

It certainly looks like a nice stone.

Whether you should pull the trigger depends on price.

 

[proto]

you may also want to consider dropping to VS2 to save money or get a larger stone.

VS1 is slightly overkill in my opinion as you can easily find eyeclean (any distance/any angle/orientation) at VS2.

H is the lowest colour that most people get for a colourless stone (I starts to show a tinge of yellow imo), however as colour grades are a sliding scale, you could get a H borderline I, rather than a middle of the road H, or a H borderline G. If you go for G colour, you would be very confident that it is really within the colourless range.

Notwithstanding that, you appear to have chosen an excellent excellent cut with optical symmetry (on top of the point symmetry as indicated in the GIA garding report), and this will also have an effect of looking "whiter" when face up.

 

[Metmark1]

Hi proto, the price I've been quoted, before sales tax, is about US$13,000 - does that seem about right?
I'll have to wait until they order it in to really see if it is an acceptable level of colourlessness I guess, though the picture I've been sent and posted looks fairly colourless

 

[Lorelei]

the price I've been quoted, before sales tax, is about US$13,000 - does that seem about right?
I'll have to wait until they order it in to really see if it is an acceptable level of colourlessness I guess, though the picture I've been sent and posted looks fairly colourless

GIA H colour with that cut quality in that size is going to be very white to all but the most colour sensitive. If you are unsure, try to view some well cut stones with the same lab grading ( GIA or AGS) and of similar size in person. But I would be surprised if you were unhappy with how white the diamond looks unless you are one of those extremely colour sensitive souls. You could drop to VS2 if you preferred to try to save a little money but it might not be worth doing unless you can find a similarly excellent cut diamond in the size you want with the colour grade, diamonds in this size sell quickly and are popular.

I will check the price out for you but it appears to be in the ballpark, which it is on checking. You mention you are in Sydney, so if you were to buy from the US I believe there would be taxes and or import duties to pay.

 

[proto]

from a quick search, seems a very good price.

Its estimated weight based (on a rule of thumb) assuming the ideal cut makes the weight 0.02 carats over the expected 1.51, so it doesnt look like the cutter left excess diamond on the stone to make up the weight. The fact that it is 1.53 instead of 1.50 also should give you some additional confidence that they didnt try to hit 1.50 as a magic weight.

Can you post larger pictures of the diamond and the idealscope images? The actual picture appears to show a much messier contrast patern than the idealscope image, but that may just be my extremely suspicious nature rearing its ugly head.

Certainly ask to put a hold on the diamond, but wait to see what other pricescope members have to say.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

though the picture I've been sent and posted looks fairly colourless

We had a lovely talk about pictures and color here:

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/can-you-tell-which-of-these-is-not-like-the-others.201734/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/can-you-tell-which-of-these-is-not-like-the-others.201734/[/URL]

It might be worth a read!

 

[Metmark1]

I'm going to get the dealer to order it in and I'll go have a look to check that it matches the pictures accurately. If it lives up to expectations I think I'll purchase it. Will probably pair it with a classic solitaire setting. Will let you know how I go! Very excited!

 

[Metmark1]

Hi All,
I'm still going on this! Turns out I had to head overseas for work and the diamond has since arrived in Sydney, so I haven't been able to see it!
I got a them to send me some pics of it through an idealscope. What do you think?

It seems like the photos were not taken from directly above, but you can still get a pretty good idea of the light return I think.

 

[Lorelei]

Hi Metmark,

Firstly, kudos to this seller for taking the reflector images for you, that's very good to see! I think it looks very good indeed, it's helpful to see actual images of the stone rather than computer generated, overall it's a very fine make of stone, not cut to the absolute perfection of the branded superideals we see here, but it's still an excellent make of cut, definitely worth shortlisting!