Crown angle less than 30%

[M&M]

My husband recently purchased a new wedding band for me (Memoire shared prong!) and came across this wonderful website. Out of curiosity, I used a few of the tools to check out my engagement ring, purchased in 2002, and was concerned to read a few posts about crown angle. Let me just say that I love my diamond, which we found in the NY diamond district and had set in a simple 6 prong platinum setting.

My husband bought it for what we thought was a very good price, $6600, but since the price was so much less than other diamonds we had seen in that size, we always wondered if it was too good to be true. I figured the price was cheaper because the polish and symmetry were lower than other diamonds we had priced, but never knew what to make of the comment regarding the crown angle.

So, here are my questions: Did we pay too much? Should we be concerned about the crown angle? Here is the info from the GIA cert:

1.53 carat round brilliant
H
VS2
Depth 59.6%
Table 57%
Girdle thin to medium, faceted
culet very small
good polish
fair symmetry
Crown angles less than 30%

When my memoire wband arrives, the jeweler is going to buff out the ering for me too. Do I need to express any concern about not chipping the diamond? Any thoughts would be appreciated. If this wasn''t a wise financial purchase, I won''t feel too badly because I do love the diamond and enjoy it every day.

 

[find45di2]

I am no diamond expert so I only know what I''ve learned in the past few months of shopping.

I would say that $6600 for a 1.53ct is on the cheaper side as you already know. I am helping a friend shop in this size range and for a diamond he is comfortable with (F to H, and SI1) is over $10,000.

In my own shopping I tried to not let the Holloway Cut Advisor take over my emotions but in the end I chose a diamond that rated somewhere a little over 1.0 and was glad it did because to the eye it was amazing.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 9/17/2007 10:32:14 PM
Author:M&M
My husband recently purchased a new wedding band for me (Memoire shared prong!) and came across this wonderful website. Out of curiosity, I used a few of the tools to check out my engagement ring, purchased in 2002, and was concerned to read a few posts about crown angle. Let me just say that I love my diamond, which we found in the NY diamond district and had set in a simple 6 prong platinum setting.

My husband bought it for what we thought was a very good price, $6600, but since the price was so much less than other diamonds we had seen in that size, we always wondered if it was too good to be true. I figured the price was cheaper because the polish and symmetry were lower than other diamonds we had priced, but never knew what to make of the comment regarding the crown angle.

So, here are my questions: Did we pay too much? Should we be concerned about the crown angle? Here is the info from the GIA cert:

1.53 carat round brilliant
H
VS2
Depth 59.6%
Table 57%
Girdle thin to medium, faceted
culet very small
good polish
fair symmetry
Crown angles less than 30%

When my memoire wband arrives, the jeweler is going to buff out the ering for me too. Do I need to express any concern about not chipping the diamond? Any thoughts would be appreciated. If this wasn''t a wise financial purchase, I won''t feel too badly because I do love the diamond and enjoy it every day.

I just checked you proportions using DiamCalc and it seems your pavilion angle is quite deep, which makes your stone a Brilliant Ideal Cut BIC - in the upper left red zone on HCA. It should be quite amzingly bright, but a little down on fire.

Re the chipping risk - ask the jeweller to make sure the thinest parts of the girdle are not exposed. If it is set in a 4 prng setting then make sure it is always well covered by insurance and run your finger around the girdle t check for chips frequently.

 

[M&M]

Thanks for this information! I am confused how you can determine that it is a BIC, since all the GIA cert said about the crown angle was "less than 30%," and it didn''t give a pavilion angle. Is the term "less than 30% a term of art? I didn''t know what to type into the HCA since it asks for a specfic angle. How do I determine what the angle is?

I have enjoyed this diamond every day for 5 years, but am still very curious about this issue. When we bought the diamond in NY, we specifically asked the jeweler about the comment on the GIA cert about the crown angle, and she never told us that it was a durability risk or that GIA would not rate the diamond well. We were armed with cut dimensions from a basic primer, and this diamond seemed to fit in the right range, and it sparkled beautifully. When I brought it home, I had it appraised by another jeweler, who wrote an appraisal for insurance purposes that was nearly double what we paid. And that jeweler never commented on the crown angle.

It won''t change my enjoyment of the diamond, but is this issue a "fatal flaw" that makes the diamond not worth the price we paid?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

It is not that simple.
Firstly if you never sell it then you got a bargain in terms of its appearance - you already know that.

I can use the scant data you gave me in DiamCalc to estimate the pavilion angle from the total depth minus crown height (I used 28.5 degree crown angle and the table size to get that).

Clean your diamond and go into various stores and compare to H&A''s and Tiffany etc and you will see yours is bigger by quite a lot for its ct weight, and noticably brighter.
Please do it and report back.
Of course if we had an ideal-scope image of it we would be able to confirm my guestimation

 

[stebbo]

I think you possibly got a great stone for the price too. Have a look the diameter on the cert and compare it against other diamonds of similar weight. Actually, what is the diameter? It can lead to a better picture of the girdle.

 

[M&M]

Yes, to my eye it has always seemed big, bright and sparkly, and I have gotten plenty of admiring comments from strangers. But I really started to understand that it looked so much "bigger" than other 1.5''s when we were shopping for a new wedding band, and the salespeople assumed that it was a much larger carat weight than it really is. So, I started comparing to the well cut diamonds, and mine definitely had a larger spread than the other 1.5s, and tremendous brightness.

I have no particular complaints about the diamond, except now I will worry about breaking it. I had always heard that diamonds are the most durable gemstone so I was surprised to read about chipping. And while I like the diamond, I am annoyed that the salesperson in NY was not straight with us about the diamond''s "pedigree," as far as all of the weaknesses I now understand regarding the cert, and am even more annoyed that the appraiser, who was supposed to work for us, didn''t alert us to the issue when we brought it home to have it checked out.

One other thing. The NY salesperson told us the diamond was priced so low because she got it at a discount...she said that it was originally a larger, poorly cut diamond, and that they had recut it to maximize its potential. I wonder if that was complete fiction.

Thanks so much for your time! This site is a fountain of knowledge.

 

[M&M]

Date: 9/18/2007 9:25:40 PM
Author: stebbo
I think you possibly got a great stone for the price too. Have a look the diameter on the cert and compare it against other diamonds of similar weight. Actually, what is the diameter? It can lead to a better picture of the girdle.

The measurements listed on the GIA cert. are 7.56 - 7.62 x 4.52 mm

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Entering the mm and other data into DiamCalc gets this.
The stone has a 6% or .10ct plus spread and probably looks even larger because it will have better than normal crown facet light return.

Keep it insured and the damage risk is not yours.

 

[stebbo]

Date: 9/18/2007 10:07:10 PM
Author: M&M

The measurements listed on the GIA cert. are 7.56 - 7.62 x 4.52 mm

That's big... I suspect your girdle is borderline thin/medium rather than a good medium with some crucially thin points, which is good news - but you never know until you scope the diamond.