wallyworld
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 4
First time purchase comments
- Thread starter wallyworld
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 33,825
wallyworld|1448929250|3955796 said:
Since you asked ... I hope you can return it for a full refund because it is not a well-cut diamond.
The low crown angle and high pavilion angle means the girdle was placed to high for light to do a good job of returning to your eye.
Instead some light will leak out the sides and bottom.
If it was cut better the light performance would be MUCH better and nearly all the light would be returned to your eyes.
A diamond's beautiful light show depends on how well it is cut, not the color or clarity.
Unfortunately GIA's top cut grade of Excellent is too liberal because it allows for some diamonds that are not that well cut.
If they cut this one better its weight would have fallen below that important half-carat value and been worth much less.
There is a bullet-proof way to find a well-cut round.
1. Plug 4 numbers from the lab report into the HCA. Reject rounds scoring over 2.0. https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca Yours scores 4.2.
2. Get an Idealscope picture on those scoring under 2.0. https://www.pricescope.com/tools/ideal-scope
Post that pic here for feedback or comapre it to this chart.
http://ideal-scope.com/reference-chart-ideal-scope-images/
If you can return it may I suggest you reconsider the high clarity grade of VVS2?
You can get a much larger stone with VS1 or VS2 maybe even SI1 or SI2 clarity that looks identical to a VVS2 and is eye-clean to the naked eye.
But keep in mind the lower you go in clarity the more you have to search to find an eye-clean one.
That is of course unless you WANT to pay more and get a smaller stone just because high-clarity like VVS2 means something important to you.
If so no problem ... actually I personally prefer higher clarity than what's eye-clean.
Often though people think the most expensive clarity grades makes a stone look better or have better light performance, both not true.
wallyworld
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2015
- Messages
- 4
Thanks very much for the advice - Although it did put me in panic mode a little - I went and reviewed my diamond and made another selection. Could not get an ideal scope image unfortunately. hit me where it hurts with any comments on GIA 2161876559.
Time was of the issue on the purchase hence I have gone ahead with all advice from various places.
Time was of the issue on the purchase hence I have gone ahead with all advice from various places.
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 33,825
wallyworld|1448935802|3955834 said:
Time Shmime!
This is important and if you care about your gal you'll do this right.
Go back in time
and start earlier, or delay your proposal.She'll be wearing this for the rest of her life.
This diamond might just be super super important to her.
Now that you know how to determine whether it scores under 2.0 I won't do that for you.
If it does and your vendor refuses to provide an Idealscope pic I'd find a new vendor.
Two that do and that I have bought from and recommend are www.whiteflash.com and www.goodoldgold.com .
I won't recommend jamesallen because Gypsy says they are blowing of taking IS pics because they are too busy because of the holidays.
If true I'll blow off buying from them and recommending them.
If business is so good hire more people. Sheesh!
The reason you need an IS pic for rounds scoring under 2.0 is the crown and pavilion angles that you plug into the HCA are both averages of 8 angles each around the diamond.
Round diamonds are not actually round.
They are 8 sided.
If some angles are high but others low they could average out to one good (but misleading) number.
Since the HCA does not have psychic powers it cannot know this.
But an IS pic, being an actual photograph, will reveal this with wonky arrows and other patterns that should be nearly identical around the diamond.
This is why Garry Holloway, the creator of Holloway Cut Advisor (aka HCA), calls it a rejection tool not a final selection tool.
Gypsy
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 40,225
Round diamond 101:
The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king.
No other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. An ideal H will out white a poorly cut F. And GIA Ex is not enough.
So how to we ensure that we have the right angles and cutting to get the light performance we want? Well, we have tools to help you with that. But that is not enough.
What you need after that is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.
That's what an idealscope image does. https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/firescope-idealscope
It shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return. That is why you won't see us recommending Blue Nile, as they do not provide idealscope images for their diamonds. All our best vendors do though.
Now if you want to skip all that... stick to AGS0 stones and then all you have to do is pick color and clarity and you know you have a great performing diamond. Because AGS has already done the checking for you. That's why they trade at a premium. With AGS0 stones you don't strictly need an idealscope image. But getting one is nice to confirm performance and that is why almost all our best vendors provide them for you. Not all AGS0's are created the same though, so if you want to make sure it's the very best cut, post it and we'll evaluate it for you.
Generally you will want a table 60% or less. A depth between 59 and 62.4. Crown angle 33.5-36. Pavilion Angle: 40.6-41 (there is a little give on this)
And the crown and pavilion angles must be complimentary which is what the HCA does for you.
ON COLOR:
It is important to remember is that color is graded FACE DOWN. Where there is NO light return. Not face up where there is light return and refraction. You wear diamonds set. FACE UP.
Within one color grade, even the labs can't agree on the color grades of stones and something could be a "high" H or a "low" E. So... no. Not really. Within 2 color grades it is hard. Not impossible. But very hard. And it gets harder once set. If you are talking ideal rounds, or any stone with ideal light return and no sharp corners it gets harder still because the ideal light return masks body color.
Generally we say to be conservative stay above H in a round. But MANY people have happily bought white I or even J diamonds when trying to eek out a little more size.
This is how I think of it.
Ever gotten one of those HUGE paint fan decks? Where there are literally 100s of colors of whites? And when they are RIGHT next to each other you can TOTALLY tell that one is bluer/colder and one is a bit warmer and which one is one is TOTALLY warmer. One there's one that's slightly greener. One that's slightly pinker? But really. They are all white?
Then you pick one after agonizing over this white or that white and when it's on the walls and people are like: Oh. You painted again. And it's STILL white. Great.
And you're all... BUT it's BLUE white. Or it's a WARM white now. It used to be ____ white. It's TOTALLY different.
It's like that. You are talking about shades of white. D is colder... J is warmer. But it's all white.
YES. If you have an accurately graded F and an H THAT HAVE THE SAME PERFORMANCE you are going to be able to tell them apart when you compare them. Just like you would be able to tell if you painted your walls a warm white, but painted the crown molding a cold/straight white. But both are STILL white.
I want you notice all the qualifiers thought. I'm talking about stones with the SAME performance. An ideal H will out white an F that has compromised light performance from a poor cut.
NOTHING impacts the appearance of a diamond as much as cut. CUT is king.
You want the shinest whitest and brightest diamond out there: Cut is King. No other factor, not color or clarity or anything else impacts how white bright an shiny a stone is.
ON CLARITY:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Clarity/SI/ and http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Clarity/VS/ Generally we say that eyeclean SI1 and VS2 are as high as you need to go with round brilliants.
The entire purpose of faceting a diamond is to reflect light.
How well or how poorly a diamond does this determines how beautiful it is.
How well a diamond performs is determined by the angles and cutting. This is why we say cut is king.
No other factor: not color, not clarity has as much of an impact on the appearance of a diamond as its cut. An ideal H will out white a poorly cut F. And GIA Ex is not enough.
So how to we ensure that we have the right angles and cutting to get the light performance we want? Well, we have tools to help you with that. But that is not enough.
What you need after that is a way to check actual light performance of your actual stone.
That's what an idealscope image does. https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/firescope-idealscope
It shows you how and wear your diamond is reflecting light, how well it is going at it, and where you are losing light return. That is why you won't see us recommending Blue Nile, as they do not provide idealscope images for their diamonds. All our best vendors do though.
Now if you want to skip all that... stick to AGS0 stones and then all you have to do is pick color and clarity and you know you have a great performing diamond. Because AGS has already done the checking for you. That's why they trade at a premium. With AGS0 stones you don't strictly need an idealscope image. But getting one is nice to confirm performance and that is why almost all our best vendors provide them for you. Not all AGS0's are created the same though, so if you want to make sure it's the very best cut, post it and we'll evaluate it for you.
Generally you will want a table 60% or less. A depth between 59 and 62.4. Crown angle 33.5-36. Pavilion Angle: 40.6-41 (there is a little give on this)
And the crown and pavilion angles must be complimentary which is what the HCA does for you.
ON COLOR:
It is important to remember is that color is graded FACE DOWN. Where there is NO light return. Not face up where there is light return and refraction. You wear diamonds set. FACE UP.
Within one color grade, even the labs can't agree on the color grades of stones and something could be a "high" H or a "low" E. So... no. Not really. Within 2 color grades it is hard. Not impossible. But very hard. And it gets harder once set. If you are talking ideal rounds, or any stone with ideal light return and no sharp corners it gets harder still because the ideal light return masks body color.
Generally we say to be conservative stay above H in a round. But MANY people have happily bought white I or even J diamonds when trying to eek out a little more size.
This is how I think of it.
Ever gotten one of those HUGE paint fan decks? Where there are literally 100s of colors of whites? And when they are RIGHT next to each other you can TOTALLY tell that one is bluer/colder and one is a bit warmer and which one is one is TOTALLY warmer. One there's one that's slightly greener. One that's slightly pinker? But really. They are all white?
Then you pick one after agonizing over this white or that white and when it's on the walls and people are like: Oh. You painted again. And it's STILL white. Great.
And you're all... BUT it's BLUE white. Or it's a WARM white now. It used to be ____ white. It's TOTALLY different.
It's like that. You are talking about shades of white. D is colder... J is warmer. But it's all white.
YES. If you have an accurately graded F and an H THAT HAVE THE SAME PERFORMANCE you are going to be able to tell them apart when you compare them. Just like you would be able to tell if you painted your walls a warm white, but painted the crown molding a cold/straight white. But both are STILL white.
I want you notice all the qualifiers thought. I'm talking about stones with the SAME performance. An ideal H will out white an F that has compromised light performance from a poor cut.
NOTHING impacts the appearance of a diamond as much as cut. CUT is king.
You want the shinest whitest and brightest diamond out there: Cut is King. No other factor, not color or clarity or anything else impacts how white bright an shiny a stone is.
ON CLARITY:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Clarity/SI/ and http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Clarity/VS/ Generally we say that eyeclean SI1 and VS2 are as high as you need to go with round brilliants.
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