Ask The Experts FAQ and Ask the experts

[psadmin]

Over the years, I have been thinking about reorganizing and improving the FAQ section; I have never quite figured out what I wanted or what was best. The recent topics around the FAQ and working on improving the HCA with Garry have given me some ideas.

So the goal of this thread is to come up with topics which we will create as an FAQ for that members think lurkers, pro members or anyone new would like to read about in one place. It is also an opportunity to ask the experts anything.

As I create each topic, I invite everyone to ask any questions and assist in answering them, similar to Reddit’s AMA (Ask Me Anything). In my book our members are just as knowledgeable as the trade, so don’t be shy about answering questions.

The trade is given freedom to answer and use any visuals as needed as long as it pertains to the topic. I only ask that you do not use this as a way to promote.

After each topic has some time for the Q and A, the plan is to create a set FAQ /Ask the experts pages.

To start this off, I am creating an Ask the Experts - HCA topic and asking Garry Holloway to keep an eye on it.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/all-about-the-hca-holloway-cut-advisor.240661/


The following are topics in no particular order:

• Jewelry insurance.
• How to use an Ideal scope and interpret the images.
• How to use an ASET scope and interpret the images.
• How to use the diamond search.
• How to pick a round, cushion, oval, etc diamond.
• How to pick an engagement setting?

• What is the best way to compare diamonds?
• Why is cut important?
• How much finger coverage will the diamond be?
• How to clean a diamond.
• Ask the experts.
• How to add more to this list.

Please assist me with adding more topics to the list; let me know what you’d like/want to learn about or what you think someone new would like to have at the tip of their fingers. Don’t be shy and help us in creating the best FAQs for diamonds, gems and jewelry. I ask that you let me start up each thread and if you have any suggestions for new topics just post here.

Thank you, everyone,
Andrey

 

[tyty333]

How about "Is Fluorescence really an issue?"

Seems like we still get new posters inquiring whether Faint is a problem etc.

 

[prs]

What is the difference, if any, between pave and melee?
Are there different styles of pave and melee?

 

[the_mother_thing]

GREAT IDEA!!! One of my topic ideas is Pros & Cons of the various metals used in jewelry items and (if appropriate) when & why some metals are recommended over others for certain setting styles (e.g., how platinum is highly recommended for pave).

Will add more as I think of them.

 

[BlingDreams]

Thanks for adding this board!

I think explaining different setting styles would be helpful. This could include defining designs such as a peg head, cathedral, “Tiffany”, tulip, tension set, etc. Perhaps pros and cons of each could be added (if applicable, as some are just personal preference).

Then maybe also components of a design, such as how to secure the stone (standard 4/6/8 prongs, claw prongs, tab prongs, double claws, bezel set, etc.), decorative touches (halo, double halo, filigree, milgrain, engraving, etc), and a brief tutorial on the terminology of a ring (shank, gallery, donut, shoulders, etc.). Photo examples are always good too.

 

[Bron357]

An understandable explanation of the 4 Cs.
Colour ie most people can’t see a yellow tint until colour is H or I
Clarity ie that assessed at x10 and even SI clarity can be eye clean
Cut ie that certain dimensions if out of whack affect brilliance
Carat ie that it’s a weight not a size and different cuts (and indeed other gemstones) of the same “visual size” will have a different “carat weight”.

 

[OoohShiny]

Ooh, nice


A quick braindump of potential questions from me would be…:


Can Fire and Scintillation be quantified / measured? (and a grading system designed?)

How does contrast affect / improve brilliance?

Is some leakage beneficial in some cuts? (Does/can it work the same as contrast in terms of creating visual patterns/interest and enhancing brilliance?)

How does crown height affect fire?

What effects do changes to each of the facets have? e.g.:
- longer vs shorter LGFs,
- smaller tables vs larger tables,
- painting and digging (pavilion and crown),
- longer vs shorter Star Facets (https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4335138)

Should/can light performance be assessed from head-on positions only (á la current ASETscope and IdealScope usage recommendations/practices) or through a range of tilt angles?
(ref: Yoram's excellent illustration here: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...ess-or-about-right.240562/page-3#post-4336446)

How should one expect well-cut diamonds of different shapes to perform in different lighting conditions? (e.g. diffuse office lighting, pin-point downlighters, supermarket strip lighting, sunlight, etc.)
How does this compare to poorly cut diamonds? (e.g. steep/deep MRBs, leaky cushions/pears/marquise, 'dead' step-cuts, etc.)

How does viewing distance impact light performance? (re: obstruction in ASET images and real-life videos, shallow stones, low HCA scores…)

What is ‘3D Optical Precision’ and how does it improve diamond light performance?

What is the 'Hall of mirrors' effect in step-cuts? How is it achieved?? (and why are there so few step-cuts with it?!)

How are the ASET images on AGSL grading reports created and are they different to ‘real life’ ASET analysis? (I think Texas Leaguer and John may have covered this here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4335266)

How does lighting / white backgrounds / dark backgrounds affect ‘real life’ ASET images and the interpretation of them? (John touches on this here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4334628 but I know there are a lot more posts on it made previously!)


How are H&A Melee made? (as per Dancing Fire's thread! https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-are-h-a-melees-made.240640/)

How are Man-Made Diamonds made? How are they different internally to Mined diamonds?

What are the different stages of cutting a diamond? (A walk-through with pictures could be cool )

 

[YoLaL]

How about this " why this diamond term " NO BGM " is not included in the certificate? "

 

[psadmin]

I love everyone ideas.

BTW: Trade is welcome to help with this as well.

Keep them coming.

Thank you!

 

[Rockdiamond]

I hate to throw water on the fire but....
IMO, each subject has already been covered- and many times.
Many times, subsequent discussions are not the same as the last one- new points are raised.
Plus there are tutorials all over the place.
No, to me, it's the immediacy of a real discussion that makes this place special.
I think removing these discussions from the "main stream" is not the way to assist people coming here looking for assistance.

 

[psadmin]

The goal here is not to stop the discussions. It is to create them, give people a place to look up answers easier, a place to give some answers for those not comfortable to ask, a place for trade to have more freeedom to answer, a starting place to learn and ask all the other questions.

 

[Bron357]

And I’ll just add, sometimes too much information can be overwhelming and confusing to newcomers.
So I’d recommend a basic “start here” explanation - short, simple and then other articles, more “intense”, that discuss certain terms or points in more detail.
The first time I saw those posts discussing all those angles and percentages I was like “whoa, I’m out of here”. I think we sometimes forget that newbies just know two things about diamonds 1. They are clear sparkly things and 2. They cost a bomb!

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

What is the difference, if any, between pave and melee?
Are there different styles of pave and melee?

Pave (the e is like cafe) comes from french Pavement or cobble stones. Classic pave has the diamonds very very close together.
Melee is a word for small diamonds, often used in pave

 

[psadmin]

And I’ll just add, sometimes too much information can be overwhelming and confusing to newcomers.
So I’d recommend a basic “start here” explanation - short, simple and then other articles, more “intense”, that discuss certain terms or points in more detail.
The first time I saw those posts discussing all those angles and percentages I was like “whoa, I’m out of here”. I think we sometimes forget that newbies just know two things about diamonds 1. They are clear sparkly things and 2. They cost a bomb!

That is the basic idea.

Use the Ask the experts section to gather all the info. Then break it up to start here (a beginner's guide ), FAQ sections, everything else you may want to know and the nitty-gritty.

 

[Miki Moto]

Hi!
QUESTION: Who exactly cuts the super ideal diamonds (e.g. in-house vendor, cutting center)

Specifically, I am interested in who cuts these super ideals? Is it done in-house? Cutting-center? And if cutting center, where (e.g. U.S./India/Antwerp)? I am inquiring about WF, JA, and HOF to be specific.
And what about the virtual diamonds in inventory? What location do they come from and who cuts those?

Thank you.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Hi!
QUESTION: Who exactly cuts the super ideal diamonds (e.g. in-house vendor, cutting center)

Specifically, I am interested in who cuts these super ideals? Is it done in-house? Cutting-center? And if cutting center, where (e.g. U.S./India/Antwerp)? I am inquiring about WF, JA, and HOF to be specific.
And what about the virtual diamonds in inventory? What location do they come from and who cuts those?

Thank you.

By a country mile diamonds are polished in India. Bad, better and best. No one place is clearly better. Russians were best under communism because they followed rules not money.
China and Thailand was a cookie cutter system but is yeild driven now too.
A tiny number of nice stones come from Antwerp, Botswana, south Africa - but those types of places tend to cut larger special stuff. +100ct rough etc

 

[Miki Moto]

@Garry H (Cut Nut) Thank you for the info!

This is great information. I am trying to understand the flow of a rough diamond until it becomes a super ideal diamond and available for online sale. We can use India as an example. If India is doing the cutting and polishing, would it be a fair statement to say that most online vendors purchase from India and then ask for their logo/serial number to be lasered on the stone? This would then mean dealers are purchasing from the same pool of super ideal cut diamonds and a Whiteflash vs. Brian Gavin vs. Good Old Gold vs. Hearts On Fire diamond all come from the same source, in this example, from India. Is this a correct assumption?

What about companies that are sightholders and also have a retail outlet? Do they also send their rough to India, have it cut/polished, then send it to their retail stores to sell to the consumer?

For the quality of the cuts... poorly cut vs ideal cut vs. super ideal... do buyers put in the "order" as to how many of each they want? Said another way, why doesn't India just cut as much as possible rough and make them all super ideals? Of the four Cs, "cut" is one element that human hands can control (vs. clarity or color), so technically, every diamond should be able to be cut as a super ideal.

Thanks for any insight into this process from a rough diamond, to being cut/polished, to being available for sale online.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

@Garry H (Cut Nut) Thank you for the info!

This is great information. I am trying to understand the flow of a rough diamond until it becomes a super ideal diamond and available for online sale. We can use India as an example. If India is doing the cutting and polishing, would it be a fair statement to say that most online vendors purchase from India and then ask for their logo/serial number to be lasered on the stone? This would then mean dealers are purchasing from the same pool of super ideal cut diamonds and a Whiteflash vs. Brian Gavin vs. Good Old Gold vs. Hearts On Fire diamond all come from the same source, in this example, from India. Is this a correct assumption?

What about companies that are sightholders and also have a retail outlet? Do they also send their rough to India, have it cut/polished, then send it to their retail stores to sell to the consumer?

For the quality of the cuts... poorly cut vs ideal cut vs. super ideal... do buyers put in the "order" as to how many of each they want? Said another way, why doesn't India just cut as much as possible rough and make them all super ideals? Of the four Cs, "cut" is one element that human hands can control (vs. clarity or color), so technically, every diamond should be able to be cut as a super ideal.

Thanks for any insight into this process from a rough diamond, to being cut/polished, to being available for sale online.

Branded online vendors usually have specific first dibs on diamonds from specific companies. Sight holders have bought and sold diamond brands - e.g. Rosy Blue (cutting in India, Sri Lanka, China and other places) I think bought Hearts on Fire, and later Chow Tai Fook bought HoF. CTF are sight holders too I think, as well as the worlds largest retailer.
If you had a rough stone that can make a 0.90ct supa doopa and can be squeezed into a GIA VXX 1ct, what would you do? price difference maybe $4k compared to $5k. Do'hH

 

[Miki Moto]

@Garry H (Cut Nut) You are correct, I forgot about the size factor! Yes, CTF is a sightholder. I was a bit disappointed CTF purchased HOF as I interpreted that as HOF losing ground. My laymen prediction is that HOF will significantly reduce in the U.S. and grow in Asia.

Thank you again for your input.

 

[blueMA]

My understanding is that it's not always possible to consistently produce super ideals due to diamond grains that resist cutting, inclusions, and what not that end up causing yaw and azimuth shifs?

I do find it ironic that I do often find extremely well cut CZs nowadays while having trouble finding something close to ideals through many dropshippers that carry what seem to be leftover stocks rejected by branded vendors.

 

[Demon]

How about this " why this diamond term " NO BGM " is not included in the certificate? "

I'm sure this is very simple, but my mind is drawing a blank. What is BGM?

 

[blueMA]

"No BGM" is the industry term for a diamond that does not contain a brown or green shade (tinge) and does not have a milky or cloudy appearance.(Shade/tinge here does not refer to fancy colored diamonds.)”
http://feedback.rapnet.com/knowledgebase/articles/778818-what-is-no-bgm

 

[Demon]

"No BGM" is the industry term for a diamond that does not contain a brown or green shade (tinge) and does not have a milky or cloudy appearance.(Shade/tinge here does not refer to fancy colored diamonds.)”
http://feedback.rapnet.com/knowledgebase/articles/778818-what-is-no-bgm

Thank you!!

 

[blueMA]

No problem - says a recent victim of a milky VS1

 

[Demon]

No problem - says a recent victim of a milky VS1

Yeah, I was reading that.

 

[WinkHPD]

Branded online vendors usually have specific first dibs on diamonds from specific companies. Sight holders have bought and sold diamond brands - e.g. Rosy Blue (cutting in India, Sri Lanka, China and other places) I think bought Hearts on Fire, and later Chow Tai Fook bought HoF. CTF are sight holders too I think, as well as the worlds largest retailer.
If you had a rough stone that can make a 0.90ct supa doopa and can be squeezed into a GIA VXX 1ct, what would you do? price difference maybe $4k compared to $5k. Do'hH

There is most likely a worthy FAQ/Ask the Experts question in this back and forth with Miki Moto. I will comment here though that one house not mentioned cuts all of its own diamonds, from sourcing the rough to delivery to its retailers. No one need question from which cutter those branded diamonds were sourced from, and the reason for their consistency is obvious.

Wink

 

[WinkHPD]

Ooh, nice


A quick braindump of potential questions from me would be…:


Can Fire and Scintillation be quantified / measured? (and a grading system designed?)

How does contrast affect / improve brilliance?

Is some leakage beneficial in some cuts? (Does/can it work the same as contrast in terms of creating visual patterns/interest and enhancing brilliance?)

How does crown height affect fire?

What effects do changes to each of the facets have? e.g.:
- longer vs shorter LGFs,
- smaller tables vs larger tables,
- painting and digging (pavilion and crown),
- longer vs shorter Star Facets (https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4335138)

Should/can light performance be assessed from head-on positions only (á la current ASETscope and IdealScope usage recommendations/practices) or through a range of tilt angles?
(ref: Yoram's excellent illustration here: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...ess-or-about-right.240562/page-3#post-4336446)

How should one expect well-cut diamonds of different shapes to perform in different lighting conditions? (e.g. diffuse office lighting, pin-point downlighters, supermarket strip lighting, sunlight, etc.)
How does this compare to poorly cut diamonds? (e.g. steep/deep MRBs, leaky cushions/pears/marquise, 'dead' step-cuts, etc.)

How does viewing distance impact light performance? (re: obstruction in ASET images and real-life videos, shallow stones, low HCA scores…)

What is ‘3D Optical Precision’ and how does it improve diamond light performance?

What is the 'Hall of mirrors' effect in step-cuts? How is it achieved?? (and why are there so few step-cuts with it?!)

How are the ASET images on AGSL grading reports created and are they different to ‘real life’ ASET analysis? (I think Texas Leaguer and John may have covered this here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4335266)

How does lighting / white backgrounds / dark backgrounds affect ‘real life’ ASET images and the interpretation of them? (John touches on this here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/which-cbi-0-5-e-vs1.240494/#post-4334628 but I know there are a lot more posts on it made previously!)


How are H&A Melee made? (as per Dancing Fire's thread! https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-are-h-a-melees-made.240640/)

How are Man-Made Diamonds made? How are they different internally to Mined diamonds?

What are the different stages of cutting a diamond? (A walk-through with pictures could be cool )

Oooh Shiny, Of all the posts in this thread so far, this one has the most ideas for posts that I want to participate in. I hope that Andrey will choose at least three of your ideas for threads right away, and down the line some of the less urgent ideas also. I suspect from your recent postings that you will be a participant/contributor to many of the threads that will be coming.

Wink

 

[John P]

No problem - says a recent victim of a milky VS1

You're not alone. And @YoLaL makes a valid point: On the global stage gem-quality rough has become less clean.

In our cutting operation we only select fully transparent material that will finish eye-clean. Over the years our selection standards have not changed, but we're now rejecting material at a higher rate, and the average clarity-grade in our production has risen over time (tip of the hat to the observant @yssie ). For anyone interested, there's a longer overview about the impact of that, here.

As always, it's prudent for consumers to choose reputable pros who reliably screen any diamonds before selling them.

 

[TreeScientist]

No problem - says a recent victim of a milky VS1

Another idea for an ask the experts topic, stemming from this extremely interesting recent thread, would be:

"Analyzing diamond clarity beyond 10X: Potential impact of diffuse micro-scale inclusions on transparency and light performance"

As someone who works with microscopes every day, I know that there is plenty that can be seen at say, 25X, that cannot be seen at 10X. On this forum, we always talk about the potential issues of diffuse clouds regarding the possibility of affecting transparency and making a diamond appear lifeless. So "Clarity grade based on clouds not shown" is always seen as a big red flag. But lets say that there's a diamond with a type of imperfection small enough that it escapes detection at 10X, but is spread evenly throughout the entire diamond (let's use the extremely scientific term "itty bitty, ultra closely spaced pinpoints" ) In theory, couldn't this also produce a "cloudy" stone, even in an IF-graded diamond? Do you all in the industry look at your rough and/or polished diamonds beyond 10X to see if such inclusions are present? Would love to have an AMA on this topic.

A sequel to the topic could be: "The giant scam that is "Internally Flawless""

Seriously though @blueMA, I would've loved to look at your stone under 40X to see if there were such imperfections lying beneath the "10X surface"

 

[sledge]

I hate to throw water on the fire but....
IMO, each subject has already been covered- and many times.
Many times, subsequent discussions are not the same as the last one- new points are raised.
Plus there are tutorials all over the place.
No, to me, it's the immediacy of a real discussion that makes this place special.
I think removing these discussions from the "main stream" is not the way to assist people coming here looking for assistance.

I see your point, but having some tutorials or FAQ's is very useful. I hope the threads can be setup in a manner so that the originator can continue to update the FIRST post so that it stays relevant as people ask questions, more data becomes available, technology improves, etc.

My bigger fear of this is you get a popular topic that is 10 pages long. While tons of good information was probably discussed, the reality is many people will not invest that much time so it can become counter-productive if the main thread isn't updated appropriately so newcomers can EASILY find the most up-to-date answer possible without reading through all the hoopla.

I've seen this done well on a garage forum I participate in. The admin will normally write up a small article and then link back to a forum topic as well so it can be discussed in detail and with user input. The main article can be updated as needed and remains in a different location.