GAHHH, help me pick a diamond

[flamingoezz]

I think I'm going ahead with a custom ring for my girlfriend from whiteflash.

my diamond budget it $3,600 - 4,600. do any of these diamonds look good to you?

I'm open to suggestions!

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2803946.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2792454.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812711.htm

 

[TC1987]

Just at a glance, the SI1 is positively the best cut, but I can see that crystal or cloud under the table as a speck in the ASET and the magnified image. Ask how eye-clean it is, and at what distance, and head-on or at a tilt. It might be okay in that carat range.

The others don't look bad, but do have slight leakage in the table area. i am not experienced enough to know how it will affect the look of either of them versus the ACA G SI1 in the first link. (I didn't have time to run the HCAs, but I presume you did that and know what they scored.)

 

[flamingoezz]

GULP...sorry, im a newbie with all this stuff. how do i see an HCA score?

if there are better diamonds in my range, im open to suggestions

are either of these better than the original ACA I posted?
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2803949.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm

 

[ecf8503]

All the stones you posted look great - have WF pull them and look at them for you, with the purpose of evaluating color, performance, inclusions, etc. A lot of those Expert Selection stones are near-miss ACA's and can be a great bargain! Also the staff there may be able to recommend other stones that are worth taking a look at.

Here's info on the HCA - it's just a weed-out tool; anything under 2 is good (and lower isn't necessarily better), 2-3 is worth further investigation, over 3 I'd pass.
https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/holloway-cut-advisor

Plug the numbers in here:
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/hca

I wouldn't worry about any of those WF stones - the IS and ASET images are more "valuable" than the HCA anyway in that case.

 

[flamingoezz]

they recommended these stones:
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/compare.aspx?idnos=2829800%2c2794534%2c2763510%2c2803949

i'm thinking of bumping my budget up slightly since the one i like that she chose doesn't specify that it is eye clean..

of all the stones i listed, can an expert pick their top 2 choices...that will help me choose one for myself. if we could stay under 4000, that would be great, but if one is much better i'm willing to budge

 

[flamingoezz]

I have narrowed down to my two favorites:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829800.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm

the latter would really stretch my budget..do you think it is worth 900 bucks for the 1 color shade and cut above name?


this would be my fallback option if the others sell before i can buy in a week or so.
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812711.htm

thoughts?

 

[tyty333]

I have narrowed down to my two favorites:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829800.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm

the latter would really stretch my budget..do you think it is worth 900 bucks for the 1 color shade and cut above name?


this would be my fallback option if the others sell before i can buy in a week or so.
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812711.htm

thoughts?

The second one does look to have a better cut but...not worth $900 more to me. A true cut-nut would probably go with the
second one but for most people the first one will still be a realy lovely stone (it is an AGS000).

 

[flamingoezz]

thanks for the reply!!

after I posted, I ran the HCA scores on all three stones. I came up with this (didn't have cutlet info):

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829800.htm 3.2 HCA
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm 1.9 HCA
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812711.htm 1.6 HCA

seems like maybe the first one may be a disappointment in performance. i still need to know whether the last one is eye clean..so i think i'll ask whiteflash to review the stones for me.

I have narrowed down to my two favorites:

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829800.htm
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2829825.htm

the latter would really stretch my budget..do you think it is worth 900 bucks for the 1 color shade and cut above name?


this would be my fallback option if the others sell before i can buy in a week or so.
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2812711.htm

thoughts?

The second one does look to have a better cut but...not worth $900 more to me. A true cut-nut would probably go with the
second one but for most people the first one will still be a realy lovely stone (it is an AGS000).

 

[tyty333]

You dont really need the HCA when you have all the images and they are AGS 000 stones. HCA is more for the first line
of cuts before you decide which stones to ask for images on. That first stone is not scoring so well becuase of its crown
angle.

I would go back to the gemologist and ask them questions about the two you like and how they might perform in different
lighting.

 

[flamingoezz]

I put an email out to her to check them out for me. Thanks

In general, would a stone like we're discussing perform better than a similar diamond with better crown angle but not ideal cut?