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Emerald cut search - expert help please!

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Bleeblue - thanks for your insights. Out of interest, when you had your engagement ring made, did you source a loose stone overseas then have it set locally? I''m having some issues with the fact that I wouldn''t be able to insure my stone whilst it''s been set here - I suppose it''s somewhat academic if I take it somewhere like Holloway Diamonds but it niggles me!
 
Hi pancake, I had my ring made at Ellissi in Melbourne (great service, really patient with my sometimes neurotic questions)

Ian at Ellissi sourced the diamonds for me. They don''t keep much stock (he explaind that it would be silly to as everyone''s tates are so diverse) but he said that he would not bring in a bad diamond and that I was under no obligation to buy it if I didn''t like it when it arrived.

The only issue you may have in buying diamonds this way is that a sarin scan and ASET image are usually not possible. However, I felt comfotable knowing that I didn''t have to commit to it if I didn''t like the diamond. This was important to me as it''s hard to tell if an EC is good or not just based on the numbers.

HTH
 
I think it''s impossible NOT to be neurotic during this process!

We are absolutely sure that we want to source a loose stone online from the US, so our situation is going to be a little different. I know there are PSers who have had their stones set locally after buying them overseas, essentially my partner and I just need to sit down and work out the issues.

For others who have bought and compared ECs of a similar size before - did you find that fractions of millimetres made much difference when looking at stones on the finger?
 
pancake - in terms of insurance, I think I read somewhere here that you can have the diamond set in a cheap temp setting and have it insured that way - that may put you mind at ease a bit.
 
I do love that Stone 2 from ERD! But I want you to get something *perfect* and if you want one just like that but bigger, then wait until you get it!
 
i bought and traded in and up 3 times until the size was not only what i wanted but what fit on my finger and hand in the right way. stone size is not just about carats and wanting a big stone IMO. It is about how it fits on the shape and length of your hand and fingers. Dont rush if you havent found the right stone--there are a million diamonds out there!
 
I think I'm being a bit ridiculous - not least because I saw a loose stone with almost identical millimetre dimensions iin a B&M here a week ago and it was more or less perfect - could go slightly bigger, but not much. I'm just getting paranoid because PS is so full of massive rocks
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I know I have the L/W ratio right; I know I can't go too big (a well-cut 1.6ct looked ostentatious/wrong on me - although admittedly with a different L/W, 1.3 rather than 1.4) so the range I'm looking in is probably spot-on. I've been doing silly things like mocking up the L/W dimensions on paper and then looking at it thinking it's too small before the lightbulb goes on and I remember that a flat piece of paper is not the same as a well-cut diamond, duh!
 
Date: 1/19/2010 12:24:55 AM
Author: pancake
I think I'm being a bit ridiculous - not least because I saw a loose stone with almost identical millimetre dimensions iin a B&M here a week ago and it was more or less perfect - could go slightly bigger, but not much. I'm just getting paranoid because PS is so full of massive rocks
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I know I have the L/W ratio right; I know I can't go too big (a well-cut 1.6ct looked ostentatious/wrong on me - although admittedly with a different L/W, 1.3 rather than 1.4) so the range I'm looking in is probably spot-on. I've been doing silly things like mocking up the L/W dimensions on paper and then looking at it thinking it's too small before the lightbulb goes on and I remember that a flat piece of paper is not the same as a well-cut diamond, duh!
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wow a twin! i used to measure stones l/w on paper, draw it and then cut them out and tape to my finger!!
 
Glad I am not alone in my psychotic fervour ;)

Someone gave me what I think is pretty wise advice about this today - she told me to stop looking once I''ve found something I like. I am going to somewhat modify this principle (!) - going to see how the WF stone looks and ring GOG tomorrow. If the WF stone looks good, then I will choose between that and the ERD stone I think. If the WF doesn''t look so good, I will see how far along GOG are with the process of pulling stones for us and wait until Thurs/Fri to make a decision.

THEN am going to stop looking!

THEN am going to start obsessing about settings. Argh.
 
Date: 1/19/2010 12:50:14 AM
Author: pancake
Glad I am not alone in my psychotic fervour ;)


Someone gave me what I think is pretty wise advice about this today - she told me to stop looking once I've found something I like. I am going to somewhat modify this principle (!) - going to see how the WF stone looks and ring GOG tomorrow. If the WF stone looks good, then I will choose between that and the ERD stone I think. If the WF doesn't look so good, I will see how far along GOG are with the process of pulling stones for us and wait until Thurs/Fri to make a decision.


THEN am going to stop looking!


THEN am going to start obsessing about settings. Argh.
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i must have missed your recent activities--i will go re-read. yes at some point you need to stop looking and looking, providing you are not just giving in from exhaustion!
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i think you will know though in your gut what is right. i know i did. when i saw my stone i knew. everything about it was right FOR ME: size, specs, price etc. i didnt want to settle and when i saw my stone nothing gave me pause. good luck! we look forward to seeing the end product on your hand!
 
Date: 1/18/2010 6:19:49 PM
Author: pancake
Lestat - as an aside: did you get your stone appraised in the States prior to having Leon set it? Will you have to have the ring re-appraised in Australia in order to take out insurance?

We are tossing up whether to get our stone set in the US or whether to have the loose stone shipped here and then have it set at Holloway Diamonds. The obvious disadvantages to the latter are that a) we can''t insure the loose stone, and b) it''s much more expensive; but the disadvantages of having it set in the States are a) we don''t see the loose stone first, and b) presumably it is a little more difficult to work on the design process.
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Sorry for the late reply, I bought my stone from Whiteflash and they provided a verification letter stating that the stone was undamaged and matched the certificate, which was enough for me to prove it was undamaged before setting. Leon''s website states that diamonds are covered by his insurance while he''s working on them, so I wasn''t worried about it being damaged in his workshop. It was covered by insurance while being shipped to me and I had it insured locally by the time it arrived at my doorstep.

Regarding control over the ring design, I knew my girlfriend would be happy with a beautiful ring, and she''s not the type who has to pick every part of the design. I got quotes from Maytal Hannah, Whiteflash, and Leon, and the price difference wasn''t much for the setting I wanted, so I decided to go with Leon because it was in my budget and the quality of his work is great. I just gave Leon the general guidelines of what we like, and I let him do what he does best. I''m not a ring designer, so I''m not about to tell him how to design a beautiful ring. If you need to control the process 100%, I believe you need a benchman, not a designer.

Leon and his staff weren''t the quickest to return e-mails, but usually got back to me within 2 days. Their replies were usually very short and to the point which makes me think either e-mail is not their major strength or they were pressed for time with Christmas coming up. If I was too worried about some design element to wait that long, I just waited until they opened and gave them a ring on the phone. They''re very good on the phone and I had complete confidence in his skill. He never gave me any attitude and was always very pleasant to talk to, very helpful, and happy to discuss design elements.

If you need more information during the design process, you could always go with an overseas vendor that will provide you with sketches and CAD images of your ring before it is made so you can correct any design elements you don''t like. Some vendors will also provide you photos after the ring is made before they ship it, so you can have any corrections made before shipping. I knew beforehand from reading this forum that Leon would not provide these services, but I trusted him to make a beautiful ring and I wasn''t wrong
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I don''t really feel that I would have been happier having the ring made locally, but of course it''s your choice depending how you feel, you have to weight up the pros and cons.
 
Date: 1/19/2010 12:47:12 AM
Author: bgray
wow a twin! i used to measure stones l/w on paper, draw it and then cut them out and tape to my finger!!
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Same here!
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I even made one up while the ring was on it''s way to me (my smallest finger is the same size as my girlfriend''s ring finger)! I don''t know if it helped much, but it helped relieve some stress!
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Still waiting for WF - supposed to get pics by the end of today.

Got the Sarin on Stone 2 - crown height is 11.4%. Only concern is that on the Sarin, the girdle comes out as thinner than on the GIA cert (on GIA it''s thin-sl thick, on Sarin comes out at very thin-med) - is the GIA cert the most reliable? I guess I need to ask which bit is the thin bit.
 
As I understand it, the sarin could be different every time. It is not actually a manual measurement. I.e. the crown could be 11.2 or 11.5. There is some nominal fluctuation. I think it is probably fine. I would ask the vendor to doublecheck for you.
 
Full Sarin report on Stone 2 - the table and depth come up quite differently but that doesn't worry me:

Depth 64.4% (GIA 65.2)
Table 66% (GIA 64%)
Crown angle 20.3
Pavilion angle 40.5
Crown height 11.2%
Girdle 1.4-2.4% (clarified this - I was looking at the wrong bit!)

Any thoughts to add?



Would also be interested in hearing your opinions regarding size - this one is 7.26mm x 5.12mm according to GIA, 7.27 x 5.19 according to Sarin - my finger is a 4 3/4 and measures about 15mm across. Does that seem like a reasonable size?

I am trying to find a balance between substantial and ostentatious, haha. I work in a field where I feel it's important for me to not put too much of a "gap" between me and the people I work with and I want something that looks balanced, not too big, not too small.
 
Stone from WF:

I think it looks dark in the middle and the ASET is GREEN GREEN GREEN
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pancakeFIF.jpg
 
Sarin for the above

pancakeFIFSarin.jpg
 
Date: 1/19/2010 7:09:41 PM
Author: pancake
Stone from WF:

I think it looks dark in the middle and the ASET is GREEN GREEN GREEN
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Ask WF about the dark middle, if it lights up in reality.
 
Don't like that WF emerald cut at all. Sorry.
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I MUCH prefer the gorgeous one from ERD with the nice windmills.
 
Yes, I am not wild about those images of the WF stone BUT I recall Karl saying the same thing that Lorelei said, once, which is that you need to see step cuts in motion to really know if they remain dark in areas that seem dark in pictures, or whether the diamond lights up in motion.
 
Sigh. Yeah, that WF might perform well but it''s still not a look I favor in ECs.
 
I think if one of the ASET or IS looked good, I would consider it further but both of them just show a big area of "deadness" (!) there. I''ll talk to WF this morning and see what they say but I''m inclined to turn it down.

Now I have a dilemma: ERD have held onto Stone 2 (affectionately known to me as "the pebble") for a week. GOG are saying that they''re not getting stones in for me until Monday and I won''t have pictures etc until Wednesday - that''s a week away.

We are contemplating buying the ERD stone and then returning it if we don''t like it - in which case the polite thing to do would be to put GOG on hold, and resume the search there only if we reject ERD''s. Dan from ERD''s comment was that he''d seen so many ECs for us that it was more than likely that other vendors would be looking at stones he''d passed up, lol.

Thoughts?
 
We have made a decision!

We had some contact from GOG, who said that if we go with them they won''t get the stones in until next Monday, with information and photos available to us on Wednesday. Sarah has been very helpful so far.

Meanwhile, I finally spoke to Dan at ERD on the phone this morning. He feels that the EC we have there (Stone 2) is one of the best he''s seen in a long time, and both he and Mark agree that they find it hard to imagine us not loving it when we see it (the exact words were, "neither of us can see it coming back!"). We had quite a detailed conversation and I asked him lots of questions, but the long and the short of it was that it''s a great stone at a fantastic price.

With that in mind, and the week-long delay to GOG getting stones in (and the uncertainty over whether we will like those or not), we have decided to get the ERD stone sent to us. If we see it and have doubts, we''ll send it back and go full steam ahead with GOG; if we see it and love it, we''ll take it to Holloway Diamonds to have it appraised, and assuming all is well from that viewpoint we will leave it there to have it set.

Thank you all for your help, it has been much appreciated. I will be back when the stone (which has affectionately become known as "The Pebble") arrives - hopefully with joy and excitement!
 
so this is your stone? I had troubling following the thread

2: 70.1% Depth, 70% Table EVS1
 
Well that is very exciting news! When will you have it?

bgray I think that is the diamond in question.
 
Congratulations! I can''t wait to see your pics of it.
 
No - of the four stones in the original post, only the 4th made the cut. That was the shallow, spready 1.39ct F VS1.

"The Pebble" is one that Dan found after going searching and eliminating several others. The specs are:

1.20ct, 7.26mm x 5.12mm x 3.34mm
E
VS2
Depth 65.2%
Table 64%
Culet - none
Girdle thin-medium
No fluorescence

I think it was one of the links that Lestat posted - but at that stage I was still keeping mum!

Not sure when we will get it - the wire will take a few days to clear, so at the earliest it would arrive at the end of next week.
 
Date: 1/20/2010 11:20:54 PM
Author: pancake
No - of the four stones in the original post, only the 4th made the cut. That was the shallow, spready 1.39ct F VS1.


''The Pebble'' is one that Dan found after going searching and eliminating several others. The specs are:


1.20ct, 7.26mm x 5.12mm x 3.34mm

E

VS2

Depth 65.2%

Table 64%

Culet - none

Girdle thin-medium

No fluorescence


I think it was one of the links that Lestat posted - but at that stage I was still keeping mum!


Not sure when we will get it - the wire will take a few days to clear, so at the earliest it would arrive at the end of next week.
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awesome. I hope "the pebble" moves you in person! I have an E vs2 as well and I think its the sweet spot for an EC. White and clean...........but it keeps the price in check (well relatively). Congrats and we cant wait to see how you decide to set it!
 
A small collection of photos - Pebble in lovely flattering fluorescent tube lighting, lol!

(Also forgot to say - EX polish, VG symmetry)

Pebble.jpg
 
Pebble is stunning - I''m sure you won''t want to part with it even when it''s at the jeweller''s getting set
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