Diamond Opinion, very nervous soon to be buyer...

[serpentor30]

Hello to all, I''ve been looking thru the forums for about 2-3 months now, and I have noticed that there are some very knowledgeble people on here. So I was wondering what some of you thought of the following diamonds from James Allen''s website:

Princess Cut

Carat - .74
Cut - Ideal (a must for me, am I being to picky on this?)
Color - G
Clarity - VS2
Depth - 73.2%
Table - 72.0%
Polish - Excellent (also a must for me

)
Symmetry - Very Good
Girdle - Thick
Cutlet - None
Floresence - None
Ratio - 1.02

and the other....

Princess Cut

Carat - .74
Cut - Ideal
Color - F
Clarity - SI1
Depth - 73.4%
Table - 71.0%
Polish - Excellent
Symmetry - Very Good
Girdle - Thin to Slightly Thick
Cutlet - None
Floresence - None
Ratio - 1.00

I guess my greatest concern is if I am giving up too much on Clarity. I have seen in numerous sites that SI1 is a good choice for people on a budget (and that would be me) because it is generally eye clean. What I am not too acustomed to is the Depth and Table percentages. I am most likely going to be putting either one of these diamonds on a 18k White Gold 4mm Rounded Cathedral Solitare from the same James Allen website. Does anyone also know if the rings from James Allen''s store come with the L type prongs, or do they come with the regular round holder prongs. The website shows the with the L type prongs when you ask it to show it with a Princess Cut, and I am not liking the effect.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/12/2009 1:18:37 PM
Author:serpentor30
Hello to all, I've been looking thru the forums for about 2-3 months now, and I have noticed that there are some very knowledgeble people on here. So I was wondering what some of you thought of the following diamonds from James Allen's website:

Princess Cut

Carat - .74
Cut - Ideal (a must for me, am I being to picky on this?)
Color - G
Clarity - VS2
Depth - 73.2%
Table - 72.0%
Polish - Excellent (also a must for me

)
Symmetry - Very Good
Girdle - Thick
Cutlet - None
Floresence - None
Ratio - 1.02

and the other....

Princess Cut

Carat - .74
Cut - Ideal
Color - F
Clarity - SI1
Depth - 73.4%
Table - 71.0%
Polish - Excellent
Symmetry - Very Good
Girdle - Thin to Slightly Thick
Cutlet - None
Floresence - None
Ratio - 1.00

I guess my greatest concern is if I am giving up too much on Clarity. I have seen in numerous sites that SI1 is a good choice for people on a budget (and that would be me) because it is generally eye clean. What I am not too acustomed to is the Depth and Table percentages. I am most likely going to be putting either one of these diamonds on a 18k White Gold 4mm Rounded Cathedral Solitare from the same James Allen website. Does anyone also know if the rings from James Allen's store come with the L type prongs, or do they come with the regular round holder prongs. The website shows the with the L type prongs when you ask it to show it with a Princess Cut, and I am not liking the effect.

Welcome!

I take it these diamonds are GIA graded?

Ok first a few points to address. The use of the term Ideal Cut can be used loosely by vendors to describe some diamonds, but is no guarantee of a well cut diamond - it is important to know this and not go by labels such as Ideal Cut, Premium Cut etc. The only meaningful use of the term Ideal pertains to AGS lab's AGS0 cut grade.

Cut is critical if you are going to get a beautiful diamond, but with Princess it is so important to have images such as detailed photographs, preferably ASET images or Idealscope if ASET isn't available. So work with a vendor such as James Allen who can supply photos and Idealscope images and has access to the diamonds. Princess cannot be properly judged by the numbers and depth and table at best will only give you a rough outline of the diamond.

Polish - I wouldn't insist on excellent only as it is said that good and above for polish and symmetry looks the same to the naked untrained eye. Unless you want to concentrate on what are considered to be the top cut Princess AGS0 Ideal which will have Ideal for polish and symmetry, then I would suggest looking for very good and above for both, otherwise you could miss out on some diamonds which could suit you very well.

Clarity - SI clarity grades can be an excellent choice if verified eyeclean to your standards by a trusted vendor who can physically inspect the diamond. Make sure you make your expectations clear to the vendor whom you are working with, for example if you don't want to see any inclusions visible from any angle at close scrutiny, then make sure you make them aware of that so you are both on the same page.

As to the diamonds you listed, see if you can post the pictures of them which are probably on the website, and request Idealscope images for each and post them here, then we can take a look for you.

Prong types - I would check with JA concerning these and which might be most suitable for you.

 

[serpentor30]

Good, I have asked JA to get me some Idealscope images.

I am curious about one of the statements you made about the cut of Fancy Diamonds.
I have been noticing that on most vendor sites, that they do offer an GIA cert. for fancy diamonds. They claim that the diamond is an Ideal cut, even tho it does not say it anywere in the cert. How does the vendor come to the conclusion that the diamond is indeed an ideal cut? I am very curious to see if this is infact a selling scheme, and if there is a big difference between an ideal and a premium cut when it comes to Fancy diamonds.... please indulge me on this

 

[stone-cold11]

Date: 2/12/2009 5:33:24 PM
Author: serpentor30
I have been noticing that on most vendor sites, that they do offer an GIA cert. for fancy diamonds. They claim that the diamond is an Ideal cut, even tho it does not say it anywere in the cert. How does the vendor come to the conclusion that the diamond is indeed an ideal cut? I am very curious to see if this is infact a selling scheme, and if there is a big difference between an ideal and a premium cut when it comes to Fancy diamonds.... please indulge me on this

Yap, for GIA stones that is what the vendor think is an ideal cut. Only AGS grades princess cuts as of now, and will give an Ideal cut grade for some stones.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/12/2009 5:33:24 PM
Author: serpentor30
Good, I have asked JA to get me some Idealscope images.

I am curious about one of the statements you made about the cut of Fancy Diamonds.
I have been noticing that on most vendor sites, that they do offer an GIA cert. for fancy diamonds. They claim that the diamond is an Ideal cut, even tho it does not say it anywere in the cert. How does the vendor come to the conclusion that the diamond is indeed an ideal cut? I am very curious to see if this is infact a selling scheme, and if there is a big difference between an ideal and a premium cut when it comes to Fancy diamonds.... please indulge me on this

I think it depends on the particular vendor as to the criteria they use to assign an Ideal Cut label to fancy shapes or even rounds for that matter, most of them do this but it is no guarantee of a well cut diamond as I said previously. I am only guessing here but maybe the depth and table of a Princess falls within certain range for a vendor to advertise a diamond as Ideal Cut, Premium Cut etc. So really don''t go by these labels as the only meaningful use of the term Ideal Cut refers to AGS0 Ideal cut grade for round or Princess. GIA do not grade any shape other than rounds for cut at this time so the GIA report won''t refer to any cut grade for non round shapes.