Dumb cut question??

[ButterBean]

(Still learning, so please bear with me!) Everyone here thus far has been so helpful.
I am comparing GIA cut grades and wonder:
Would the difference between "very good" and "excellent" be easily visible to most people?
What difference would I notice - more fiery color? more sparkle?

Thanks for any help!
BB

 

[marcy]

When buying my diamond last summer I compared a 0, 1, 2 make diamond in the same color stone and I could easily tell the difference in the unmounted stones. The 1 and 2 were lovely, but the 0 was by far the best diamond.

 

[ButterBean]

Date: 10/9/2007 9:57:20 PM
Author: marcyc
When buying my diamond last summer I compared a 0, 1, 2 make diamond in the same color stone and I could easily tell the difference in the unmounted stones. The 1 and 2 were lovely, but the 0 was by far the best diamond.

marcyc,
When you say the 0 was by far the best diamond, are you referring to the AGS 000 that I have read about in other threads?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I just wanted to say that I''d recommend sticking with GIA Excellent or AGS0. All diamonds look good to me (almost), but I wanted the best possible cut.

 

[ButterBean]

Thanks! In the cut/size balancing act, I will look for the largest ideal cut we can afford, as long as it''s mind-clean. The more I read, it seems most folks agree that an ideal cut will help a smaller stone appear larger.

 

[marcy]

Date: 10/9/2007 10:13:31 PM
Author: ButterBean

Date: 10/9/2007 9:57:20 PM
Author: marcyc
When buying my diamond last summer I compared a 0, 1, 2 make diamond in the same color stone and I could easily tell the difference in the unmounted stones. The 1 and 2 were lovely, but the 0 was by far the best diamond.

marcyc,
When you say the 0 was by far the best diamond, are you referring to the AGS 000 that I have read about in other threads?

Yes I am.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 10/9/2007 9:41:25 PM
Author:ButterBean
(Still learning, so please bear with me!) Everyone here thus far has been so helpful.
I am comparing GIA cut grades and wonder:
Would the difference between ''very good'' and ''excellent'' be easily visible to most people?
What difference would I notice - more fiery color? more sparkle?

Thanks for any help!
BB

Had a dealer in this morning and about 1/2 the excellents were worse looking than 1/2 the Very Goods. Some goods were also very good - better than the worst looking excellents.

We suggest you use different criteria than pure GIA cut grades.
But do not discount VG''s from your search criteria

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

I was just going to answer that the theory of GIA is that they limited themselves to 5 cut-grades is due to the fact that the difference between these grades should be easily discernable by observers. So, based upon that theory, you should see that difference.

On the other hand, there is Garry''s experience, which shows that theory is often not equal to practice. And he is absolutely right in this.

Live long,

 

[oldminer]

GIA is proving that grading by parameters alone is sufficent for pre-screening diamonds in order to save postage in shipping them for a look-see. If you want the best looking ones, you might best decide to look only at VG and EX ones since VG and EX have somewhat similar results in a lot of cases. Garry showed me a VG in Las Vegas this past Summer that was not good looking, but many VG diamonds look every bit as good as many EX's.

GIA might say the diamonds which cross over the grades ore "borderline calls". It could be a case of too few borders. A tighter grouping of parametric ranges with more numerous categories at the top might be helpful to the system. I'm pretty sure the GIA's best customers would feel a tighter system was just more of a noose being squeezed. There are two very powerful opposing forces here which are creating a difficult course for the participants and consumers.

 

[ButterBean]

Garry, Paul and David,
I thank eqach of you for your insight and expertise. WOW - hearing that an Ex may not look as good as a VG ... that''s a surprise! I did not expect to hear that.
How about this: If I narrowed it down to 3 or 4 VG''s and Ex''s that were in the same approx size range and within budget, then asked the vendor to look at each of them to provide an opinion which had a better face appearance to their naked (but trained) eye. My thought is this: to my untrained and less discriminating eyes, they may ALL look good so I should be pleased with their recommendation.
Or is this not a good idea for some reason?
BB

 

[marcy]

Your eye will be the best judge. I bought a solitaire pendant out of the case - no specs on it at all - and it is one of the nicest, brightest, cleanest solitaire pendants I''ve ever seen. I don''t think it''s ideal cut but I''m pretty sure it''s at least very good and probably G / H color. Going without certs will allow you to go larger in size but still find a very nice diamond.

 

[ButterBean]

Hello all,

Armed with this new information I went and found 4 similar stones.
3 are VG and 1 is EX cut. I plugged in the #s and got HCA scores that have the VGs at 0.7, 1.3, and 2.7; the EX came in at 2.5.

There is a cloud in the table of the 0.7 VG
The feather is on the side of the 1.3 VG
Small cloud in dead center of table on 2.5 EX
Feather in 2.7 VG that may be covered by a prong

Should I now ask the vendor to look at all 4 to weigh in with his/her opinion?