Date: 6/5/2009 12:43:45 AM
Author: Regular Guy
Serg,
It seems to me the relationships between inclusions, and their effect on light performance, have been talked about with ranges of opinion on the ones effect on the other, for some time. I went looking for such posts, found one I was looking for, and then found another I'm glad I stumbled into again.
For the first, comments from Paul, on the effects from inclusions...and the circumstances that govern their possible effects:
'Take the extreme case of an I2, and consider how much of the surface area would be touched by the inclusion. Of course, it is difficult to measure, and it depends upon the stone, but my guess would be maximum 5%.
I think that even in this clarity, a better cut-quality will still be giving a higher light performance.
So, therefore, in the case of an SI2, which I estimate will not even have an effect on 1% of the surface area of the stone, cut-quality will clearly prevail.'
Also, interestingly, is this other post from Bill Bray towards the end of this 2 page thread dedicated to the topic:
'One of the difficulties of making the correlation between a diamond that performs well and a stone that is cut well is that there are other factors in addition to the quality of the cut that mitigate and in some instances totally negate this relationship. Some of these factors include but may not be limited to:
1. Color or opaqueness of color
2. Clarity
3. Material
4. Fineness of polish beyond just seeing “cutting lines”.
5. Granular structure and subsequent layout of the stone.
If my scoring system would take off there are ways to weight some of them in relationship to performance. For instance, a stone drawing slight color (i.e. I-J-K) would benefit in appearance from a varying degree of angles than say an Ideal cut. But we're far from there.
Also, some of the items on that list, if they are taken to extremes, (Like the machine guys and my system are forced to do to incorporate error rates and their effect on the final outcome), then you can see that performance grading is only for better material. A badly knaated stone, a cloudy stone, an opague stone all perform much less than fine soft material.
All diamond is not the same.'
This piece about 'diamond material,' like the quality of goods a clothing manufacturer might begin with....is like never addressed that I am aware of...and it would be good to hear some agreement or disagreement about the extent to which some of these other factors come into play, and might reasonably part of a consumer's review of characteristic considerations.
Good write up Karl, as an owner of I1''s I agree with the above.Date: 6/26/2009 4:13:57 PM
Author: strmrdr
When it was first discussed that here months ago that a PS vendor was pushing some high performance i1 diamonds my first thought was what a bunch of garbage based on the majority that I had seen.
Then I said wait a second I need to take another look because of the reputation of the vendor and cutter.
So I set out to find some to look at locally.
I found a lot of igi/egl/gia graded i1 diamonds locally.
Let me tell you the range of inclusions in them was huge even from the same lab!!!
From eyecleanish to a mess of carbon.
The cut quality ranged from absolutely awful to excellent range in ASET, IS, HCA scores and GIA scores.
The effects of the clarity on performance ranged from a disaster to none that was on the hand eye visible.
There was a pair of GIA EX/EX/EX from the same cutter one was a G/I1 and the other a G/vs2.
The numbers on the GIA report were virtually identical and they were within .04ct.
At close range about 6-8 inches the I1 had some slightly visible inclusions otherwise you could not tell them apart by eye under a variety of lighting.
There was an igi si1 in the same store that the inclusions had a much higher impact on the performance, a full third of the stone was dead.
So in the end the vendor did not receive the very sharply worded email that I first thought I was going to send.
The Pricescope poster ended up buying the diamond and loves it!
I have to agree with Paul/Wink/John an I1 diamond can be cut so that the inclusions have very little to no impact on performance.
I am 100% certain it can be brought down to a less than eye visible performance difference on the hand.
Personally instead of slamming people, investigating the art of minimizing the effect of inclusions and turning it into a science is a very worthy goal.
The bottom line:
Would I consider buying an I1 RB diamond? Certainly
Would I advise people to hunt for them? NO, because it is really a needle in a haystack.
Locally I only could find 1 or 2 that I found acceptable and most were very bad.
If a trusted vendor had one in stock would I recommend talking to the vendor about it? Yes I would.
That is impossible to answer by looking at a picture.Date: 6/26/2009 4:31:18 PM
Author: Serg
Will same cut without this I1 impurity have bigger Light performance? How is big difference could be?
(0.90 H I1 RB) I recall a question about the feather. It was already answered in the thread but you can bring up the grading report. All inclusions are red, indicating they’re internal.
(This is the diamond in the picture posted above - 1.29 H I1 RB). I agree that the zoomed photo looks terrible. This diamond likely never would have sold via the internet. It was sold live by an AGS-member jeweler who had other ideals alongside for comparison. For sure, the ‘net representation does not do it justice but it is a beautiful diamond. For the record, our jeweler also commented on how poor the photo is, compared to the live diamond. Mea culpa.
(1.15 G I1 RB) This diamond also sold in a traditional store - just one day after it arrived in the US from Antwerp. The jeweler is a former HOF seller with good knowledge and appreciation for cut. He has even made a standing request for Infinity I1s to be assigned to his store. We don’t produce a lot of them but when we do we find they are popular with our traditional retailers due, we believe, to the performance offered at that price point.
This is certain. It would be self-destructive to allow any Infinity to fall short of the standards we’ve worked hard to be known for - especially due to the following: There are only a few-hundred Infinity diamonds available at any time, shared between dealers. Our jeweler in St.Louis must be able to say “If you like the performance of the Infinity I showed you we can bring in another to fit your size and budget” - with total confidence in appeal & consistency. To that end we have great accountability to our professional clients as well as to consumer-buyers. We take our responsibilities to both groups very seriously.Date: 6/26/2009 2:13:45 PM
Author: oldminer
Relative to average cut diamonds, probably all of Infinity's Ideal Cut ones are way better in measured performance with light. I sort of doubt Infinity would cut cloudy or dead due to inclusion type stones into their branded ideal cut. There would be little point in it for them and these diamonds would not only be hard to sell, but hurt the brand's reputation.
Date: 6/26/2009 4:13:57 PM
Author: strmrdr
When it was first discussed that here months ago that a PS vendor was pushing some high performance i1 diamonds my first thought was what a bunch of garbage based on the majority that I had seen.
Then I said wait a second I need to take another look because of the reputation of the vendor and cutter.
So I set out to find some to look at locally.
I found a lot of igi/egl/gia graded i1 diamonds locally.
Let me tell you the range of inclusions in them was huge even from the same lab!!! Yep..., not all I1''s are equal...
From eyecleanish to a mess of carbon.
The cut quality ranged from absolutely awful to excellent range in ASET, IS, HCA scores and GIA scores.
The effects of the clarity on performance ranged from a disaster to none that was on the hand eye visible.
There was a pair of GIA EX/EX/EX from the same cutter one was a G/I1 and the other a G/vs2.
The numbers on the GIA report were virtually identical and they were within .04ct.
At close range about 6-8 inches the I1 had some slightly visible inclusions otherwise you could not tell them apart by eye under a variety of lighting.
There was an igi si1 in the same store that the inclusions had a much higher impact on the performance, a full third of the stone was dead.
See..., to understand better, you must dig into the roots of the cutting system...
A lot of cutters I know personally will send an obvious I1 to a second tier lab for the purpose of an upgrade they would usually get. When the stone has a decent chance to get a genuine SI2..., the cutters will submit to GIA and hope for an SI2 but if it gets an I1..., chances its a decent I1 (that came with hopes for an SI2)![]()
So in the end the vendor did not receive the very sharply worded email that I first thought I was going to send.
The Pricescope poster ended up buying the diamond and loves it!
I have to agree with Paul/Wink/John an I1 diamond can be cut so that the inclusions have very little to no impact on performance.
I am 100% certain it can be brought down to a less than eye visible performance difference on the hand.
Sure it can for two main reasons:
A) Knowlege on how to plan a rough Diamond as to partly-controlling the positions of inclusions is extremely effective and not practiced enough by big conglomerates (a big plus for boutique cutting houses).![]()
B) When dealing with higher quality rough assortments on a regular basis..., the SI2''s and I1''s are the result of the lower end of that quality assortment... (eg- by the nature of the methods used to assort higher quality rough..., most often the SI2 or I1'' inclusions will be positioned much better to start with than a lower quality "pique" assortment.
I hope what I have written is understandable...
Personally instead of slamming people, investigating the art of minimizing the effect of inclusions and turning it into a science is a very worthy goal.
The bottom line:
Would I consider buying an I1 RB diamond? Certainly
Would I advise people to hunt for them? NO, because it is really a needle in a haystack.
Locally I only could find 1 or 2 that I found acceptable and most were very bad.
If a trusted vendor had one in stock would I recommend talking to the vendor about it? Yes I would.
Date: 6/26/2009 5:28:48 PM
Author: strmrdr
ok I looked up the ASET and IS images for that diamond.
I would say a case could be made for a slight scientific reduction in light return based on these images.
The question then becomes if it is eye visible and does the i1 price reduction cover it.
Neither of those questions can be answered by pictures.
Here they are:
That is very true.Date: 6/26/2009 5:55:28 PM
Author: Serg
Cut light performance and Diamond light Performance are not same for bad color , big inclusions, milkiness..
Date: 6/26/2009 6:06:25 PM
Author: strmrdr
Date: 6/26/2009 5:55:28 PM
Author: Serg
Cut light performance and Diamond light Performance are not same for bad color , big inclusions, milkiness..
That is very true.
But I don't see how the conclusion can be drawn from the photos that a person viewing the diamond would see it in this case.
Real world impact in my experence can vary from practically none to a huge amount just in the GIA i1 range not counting i2 and other labs.Date: 6/27/2009 12:53:46 PM
Author: elle_chris
This is interesting as I've always wondered how much light return is lost in I1/I2 stones. From a physics perspective, what Serge is saying is true, there's no way around it.
As Serge noted in that picture, 'A lot of virtual facets lost 5-30% LR due absorption and dispersion on inclusions'
So can anyone cutting to precise H&A standards really say that their I clarity stones aren't taking a hit for light return? I'm also wondering how eye visible this is when comparing the I1 to a smiliar cut VVS..
Date: 6/27/2009 1:13:58 PM
Author: strmrdr
Real world impact in my experence can vary from practically none to a huge amount just in the GIA i1 range not counting i2 and other labs.Date: 6/27/2009 12:53:46 PM
Author: elle_chris
This is interesting as I''ve always wondered how much light return is lost in I1/I2 stones. From a physics perspective, what Serge is saying is true, there''s no way around it.
As Serge noted in that picture, ''A lot of virtual facets lost 5-30% LR due absorption and dispersion on inclusions''
So can anyone cutting to precise H&A standards really say that their I clarity stones aren''t taking a hit for light return? I''m also wondering how eye visible this is when comparing the I1 to a smiliar cut VVS..
I do not agree with the 5% to 30%
A lot of them are impacted not at all and far more less than 1%.
I see 2-3 that I would consider more than 10% and they are on the upper girdles on the edge and a very small part of the diamond.
re:We do disagree somewhat to what degree it happens and haven''t found a happy compromise point we both agree with yet.Date: 6/27/2009 2:08:17 PM
Author: strmrdr
Serg, I''m aware of that effect.
As we have discussed and mostly agree on. human vision also hides defects due to stereo vision by blurring them together and overlaying left eye right eye data.
We do disagree somewhat to what degree it happens and haven''t found a happy compromise point we both agree with yet.
We both agree it happens however.
Date: 6/27/2009 4:46:05 PM
Author: strmrdr
I disagree with most of them.
The large images show they are scattered small bits rather than one mass.
A case can be made for one or 2 of the arrow shafts maybe but it isn''t clear enough to call them.
If the others were one mass then more would be included.
I went back and forth on them.Date: 6/27/2009 5:09:35 PM
Author: Serg
Date: 6/27/2009 4:46:05 PM
Author: strmrdr
I disagree with most of them.
The large images show they are scattered small bits rather than one mass.
A case can be made for one or 2 of the arrow shafts maybe but it isn''t clear enough to call them.
If the others were one mass then more would be included.
very very strange what you disagree even with facets 1 and 2