[first diamond purchase] some help would be great! (cut vs. clarity)

[davidson]

hi all,

if anyone out there has a second, i''d really appreciate some help in trying to choose between these two diamonds from WF.


(1) round ideal cut 0.53 ctw G VS2 $1,422.00 [HCA: 1.1]


(2) round ACA 0.517 ctw G SI1 $1,500.00 [HCA: 1.2]


as far as i can tell (i don''t know if i''m using it properly), they both did well on the HCA. btw, what am i supposed to input in the ''culet'' box on the HCA?


my question is whether i should go for (1) with better clarity, or (2) with better cut. the rest of the factors are negligible so i guess it''s really down to those two. how much better are the WF ACAs compared to their ideals? and generally speaking, are SI1 diamonds eye-clean?

also (apologies in advance if this question is way off the mark), if i inputed the numbers correctly on the HCA, why did the ideal cut perform better than the ACA? isn''t ACA supposed to be superior?

that''s it then.

thanks a lot for your time!

davidson
vancouver, bc

 

[:)]

ACA is an optical symmetry and there are differing schools of thought with regards to optical symmetry. The WF line of ACA is obsessively chosen by the owner of WF himself, so they are basically guaranteed to be winners as he does not want to put his brand name on any that are not beautiful enough. Those HCA scores are both below 2 which is good to weed out only, not rank the stones- neither score is better than the other. You can call WF and ask them their thoughts on the other stone.

SI diamonds are often eyeclean, but the larger the stone the less likely this is - it is always important to ask the vendor if eyeclean (get the vendors definition of eyeclean when asking)

culet will generally be 0 unless the report lists a medium or large culet, etc.


eta:
the PS price on the G VS2 is $1379 and the G SI1 is $1425 I believe.

 

[monarch64]

Definitely talk to WF as far as whether the SI1 is indeed "eye clean..." I have a J, SI1 that was GIA graded and our jeweler told us he''d have graded it VS2...just food for thought. And btw, my stone is "eye clean" but there is one very tiny carbon spot (a black spot) that is not visible to the eye at more than an inch away. There are also some very tiny internal inclusions which require a loupe to detect, but I love my stone and it''s cut well enough so as to give off plenty of fire and sparkle and I''ve received so many compliments on it!

From a numbers pov, I''m not sure what to tell you. Seems like somewhat of a dilemma on that standpoint to me. I can only suggest that you see both stones in person, side by side, to really get a grasp on which one you love the most. I know that''s not very helpful, but I had to put it out there.

Should you go for better clarity...or cut??? You''ve got such similar diamonds in most respects here that I can''t even say. Again, if there''s any way you can view both stones, I would go for the visual over numbers.

 

[davidson]

and monarch, thanks a lot for the time and your input. i have emailed WF to ask them more specific questions about the diamonds, hopefully i will be able to come to a decision soon.


can somebody direct me to a link with the ''pricescope prices''? smileyface, is there a set % discount to all PS members on WF, or does it differ by product? i have asked WF about this and they have told me that they offer a 2% discount if i pay by bank wire. does anybody have more information on this?

thanks again, all.

 

[davidson]

i feel silly for not doing this earlier, but i went ahead and searched ''pricescope discount'' and found the information regarding discounts. thanks!

any other input in regards to the original post are welcome and will be much appreciated.

 

[Lorelei]

Both are fab diamonds you are considering, you need to check with WF whether the SI1 is eyeclean, which is likely in this size. If so , then it is a case of whether you want the pedigree of the ACA or a lovely non branded diamond. But I don''t think you can go wrong either way!