Decisions Decisions

[noob529]

I have a few stones that i have been looking at. Originally i was thinking about a 1.5ct stone, but realized that i want something with a better cut. What do you all think of these to?

#1 stone


stone #2

 

[rainydaze]

that''s a tough call, they both appear to be high quality, beautiful diamonds. i looked at excel''s policy briefly but didn''t see if they offer the 100% full value trade up that GOG does. you may want to compare their policies and factor that in to your decision. i know GOG''s is outstanding. either way, those diamonds are knock outs and i hope you love whichever you chose!!

 

[noob529]

or this one from ERD

 

[noob529]

Attached is the ideal scope for the last one.

 

[peridot83]

I don''t know if it''s the quality of the Idealscope, but the ERD stone looks a lil fuzzy - like not all the pattern is coming out. Between GOG''s and Excel, I think they''re both excellent. H in round brilliants doesn''t show for most people, and it is 500 or a little more cheaper for the same size.

I would say the Excel one, seems like it may have a little better light return petformer etc, but its hard to tell from the pictures and both seem excellent. I don''t know too much about round brilliants, so I can''t really evaluate whether you could get a better deal for the price etc.

 

[noob529]

the ideal scope pic looks a lot better when they e-mailed me the actual picture.I just want to know if its worth the extra $1K for .2 cts

 

[peridot83]

I''m probably not the best person to answer this, my knowledge on round brilliants is def. less than a lot on this forum. However, I don''t think the ERD is worth the extra .3 mm in spread you''re getting. First, it''s one step down in color, and the idealscope just looks a little off to me. Is there anyway to get the crown and pavilion angles from ERD? Then you can put all 3 in the cut advisor and see (right now the excel scored better than the GOG). While the cut advisor is imperfect, it can provide some useful information.

Also, I''ve noticed that the same diamond listed on the ERD database tends to be $200 more than on the Excel database (however maybe there are some fees that make this all even out in the end).

If you''re considering a bigger diamond, have you called Excel and GOG and asked if they have any inhouse for 9,000ish, G or H VS2, that have a bigger spread than 7mm?

 

[noob529]

Here are the stats. The one from ERD scores a 0.8 on the HCA!
61.6
56
35
40.6

 

[peridot83]

Just to let you know if the diamond scores below a 2, then whether its a .8 or 1.5 doesn't mean it's better. Some people even prefer above 1s to below 1s. All to really consider is what categories it gets "Excellent" and what categories it gets "Very good" and go from there. (I believe, but am too lazy to check, is why I thought that the Excel was better than the GOG is because the GOG had more very goods than the Excel).

All I know how to use the HCA for is the above basic screening tool.

I'm not an expert on the HCA so I couldn't really say what the differences are between diamonds that score in the 2 range. I believe I've read on the board that younger people are thought to prefer diamonds that are between 1-2. Why that is, I'm not quite sure.

Basically you have 3 great diamonds in front of you, but I wouldn't pick between the excel and the ERD based on the HCA score.