Hello Everyone,
First off, sorry for the long post.
I''ve been quietly reading about diamonds on this site/forum and a few others for the past few weeks. I''d like to thank all the great people here, I''ve learned so much in these past few weeks. 4 weeks ago I knew nothing of diamonds.
Much of my reading led me to search for an H&A AGS Ideal 0 graded RB diamond. I read so much about the H&A and decided that''s a feature I want in my stone. More precisely what I''m looking for is 1.2ct G SI1 AGS000 H&A. (probably a very common sought after stone)
I live in Toronto and have to say it''s been very difficult to find what I''m looking for. Many stores I''ve been to, either don''t know what H&A or even AGS is. By far the most popular diamond grading here in Toronto is GemScan. I like AGS because AGS seems to be the most stringent and most comprehensive grading lab especially in terms of Cut. I find it odd that certain websites have a relatively large abundance of AGS000 H&A stones in inventory while B&M stores I''ve been to don''t even know what it is, let alone have one, nevermind several in inventory. A few stores tell me, we don''t have it in stock, but can get it. They however want financial commitment from me just to bring it in - no thanks. I even bought an Ideal Scope, but fear I lack experience to use it effectively. I mention things like IdealScope, Firesope, Brilliance Scope, HCA, the gemoligist/sales at the stores look like a dear in headlights - never heard of these things. Time and again they tell me the cert is what counts, especially the AGS cert.
I''m still hestitant to purchase my diamond from an online vendor.
Anyway, I found a merchant in Toronto that I kind of like. They had a few AGS000 H&A stones and had a stone with my parameters brought in (no charge). I was estatic to even just be able to see a AGS000 H&A stone, boy did it sparkle! I went to see my chosen stone a couple days ago and liked it enough to put a deposit on it. I wrote down the stats off the AGS cert and punched it into the HCA. It only scored a 2.5 to my disappointment.
Here''s the stats on the stone:
1.197ct, G, SI1
6.87-6.89x4.21mm
Table: 55%
Depth: 61.2%
Crown: 34.6%
Pav: 41.1%
$11,600 CDN + GST+PST
What I particularly liked about this stone was the inclusion. Even under a 10x loupe I could not make it out. The gemoligist had to tell me it''s the little white sliver that looks just like a scratch. No black dots inside, no clouds, no feathers, just the little white sliver, sratch looking. Even on the AGS cert, the plot had only a small red cirlce and from the underside it was shown as a red solid line about 3mm long. Oh, and it sparkled quite nice.
Now, the part that bothers me a tad, is the HCA score of only 2.5. I wasn''t expecting this AGS000 to score above 2. See, I don''t have much experience in this field, but know that I want the most sparkling diamond I can get. I don''t know if a HCA of say 1.1 would be noticeably more brilliant than this 2.5 I''m almost going to buy. It''s so hard to be able to compare various stones side by side as AGS000 stones are very hard to come by in Toronto. Nevermind getting picky about a < 2 HCA score.
Then there''s the HCA itself in terms it''s effectiveness of a tool. I don''t mean to disregard Gary Halloway''s work, it might someday be the new AGS of sorts. How much of a difference does the < 2 on the HCA really make when it''s already a AGS000?
I could sure use some words from others more experienced. Should I add a HCA of less than 2 to my wish list and keep looking for my diamond? I''m not in a huge hurry to get one.
This has been quite the interesting and humbling journey thus far.
Many thanks, Zoran.
First off, sorry for the long post.
I''ve been quietly reading about diamonds on this site/forum and a few others for the past few weeks. I''d like to thank all the great people here, I''ve learned so much in these past few weeks. 4 weeks ago I knew nothing of diamonds.
Much of my reading led me to search for an H&A AGS Ideal 0 graded RB diamond. I read so much about the H&A and decided that''s a feature I want in my stone. More precisely what I''m looking for is 1.2ct G SI1 AGS000 H&A. (probably a very common sought after stone)
I live in Toronto and have to say it''s been very difficult to find what I''m looking for. Many stores I''ve been to, either don''t know what H&A or even AGS is. By far the most popular diamond grading here in Toronto is GemScan. I like AGS because AGS seems to be the most stringent and most comprehensive grading lab especially in terms of Cut. I find it odd that certain websites have a relatively large abundance of AGS000 H&A stones in inventory while B&M stores I''ve been to don''t even know what it is, let alone have one, nevermind several in inventory. A few stores tell me, we don''t have it in stock, but can get it. They however want financial commitment from me just to bring it in - no thanks. I even bought an Ideal Scope, but fear I lack experience to use it effectively. I mention things like IdealScope, Firesope, Brilliance Scope, HCA, the gemoligist/sales at the stores look like a dear in headlights - never heard of these things. Time and again they tell me the cert is what counts, especially the AGS cert.
I''m still hestitant to purchase my diamond from an online vendor.
Anyway, I found a merchant in Toronto that I kind of like. They had a few AGS000 H&A stones and had a stone with my parameters brought in (no charge). I was estatic to even just be able to see a AGS000 H&A stone, boy did it sparkle! I went to see my chosen stone a couple days ago and liked it enough to put a deposit on it. I wrote down the stats off the AGS cert and punched it into the HCA. It only scored a 2.5 to my disappointment.
Here''s the stats on the stone:
1.197ct, G, SI1
6.87-6.89x4.21mm
Table: 55%
Depth: 61.2%
Crown: 34.6%
Pav: 41.1%
$11,600 CDN + GST+PST
What I particularly liked about this stone was the inclusion. Even under a 10x loupe I could not make it out. The gemoligist had to tell me it''s the little white sliver that looks just like a scratch. No black dots inside, no clouds, no feathers, just the little white sliver, sratch looking. Even on the AGS cert, the plot had only a small red cirlce and from the underside it was shown as a red solid line about 3mm long. Oh, and it sparkled quite nice.
Now, the part that bothers me a tad, is the HCA score of only 2.5. I wasn''t expecting this AGS000 to score above 2. See, I don''t have much experience in this field, but know that I want the most sparkling diamond I can get. I don''t know if a HCA of say 1.1 would be noticeably more brilliant than this 2.5 I''m almost going to buy. It''s so hard to be able to compare various stones side by side as AGS000 stones are very hard to come by in Toronto. Nevermind getting picky about a < 2 HCA score.
Then there''s the HCA itself in terms it''s effectiveness of a tool. I don''t mean to disregard Gary Halloway''s work, it might someday be the new AGS of sorts. How much of a difference does the < 2 on the HCA really make when it''s already a AGS000?
I could sure use some words from others more experienced. Should I add a HCA of less than 2 to my wish list and keep looking for my diamond? I''m not in a huge hurry to get one.
This has been quite the interesting and humbling journey thus far.
Many thanks, Zoran.
300x240.png)