GIA Hearts and Arrows with a cut grade of Very Good?

[bem3231]

Hi all...

I''m looking for some stones for a five stone ring. I decided to have a look locally and went to a jeweler in town that was recommended by a fellow Pricescoper.

They had 5 matching stones that are the perfect size/colour/clarity, however I have a question about the cut. I said that I was only interested in ideal cut stones. All five stones were GIA graded as Hearts and Arrows, but with a cut grade of Very Good rather than excellent. All had excellent polish and symmetry.

I was under the naive impression that *all* true hearts and arrows cut rounds were ideal cuts. Obviously that''s not the case. What am I missing?

 

[whatmeworry]

GIA doesn't issue a cut grade of Hearts and Arrows. Must be from the vendor.

ETA: The GIA cert might say something like Hearts and Arrows inscribed on the girdle. But that's something different from grading it H&A.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 5/8/2008 9:52:31 PM
Author: whatmeworry
GIA doesn''t issue a cut grade of Hearts and Arrows. Must be from the vendor.

I saw the actual, original GIA certs. Hearts and Arrows was not listed as the cut grade, but they were each clearly listed as Hearts and Arrows diamonds on each original cert.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 5/8/2008 9:52:31 PM
Author: whatmeworry

ETA: The GIA cert might say something like Hearts and Arrows inscribed on the girdle. But that''s something different from grading it H&A.

Would this mean that they were branded as hearts and arrows without actually being hearts and arrows?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

If you ask GIA to inscribe "this is the best quality diamond ever mined" on a L I3 they will do it.

There have been examples of vendors (not Pscope advertisers or vendors) who used Pscope vendors H&A''s photos and images to sell completely different diamonds.

And NO - not all H&A''s are well cut and not all VG GIA stones are worse than GIA Excellent.

Read the H&A''s section here under knowledge Advanced tutorial

 

[bem3231]

So I looked up one of the GIA reports online and indeed it''s listed as ''additional inscription: H&A''. When I ran it through the HCA it scored a 4.6 so clearly, *very far* from ideal. The GIA report actually said "Hearts and Arrows" in addition to the ''additional inscription'' bit. That''s pretty tricky business, if you ask me...

Methinks I will steer clear of that vendor.

 

[whatmeworry]

It just means that the manufacture inscribed H&A on the girdle. Like I said, GIA doesn''t grade H&A. Just because something is inscribed H&A doesn''t make it so. There might be some labs that do grade H&A, but GIA and AGSL don''t. There''s also lots of definitions of H&A, some stricter than others.

 

[bem3231]

Date: 5/8/2008 10:02:16 PM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
If you ask GIA to inscribe ''this is the best quality diamond ever mined'' on a L I3 they will do it.


There have been examples of vendors (not Pscope advertisers or vendors) who used Pscope vendors H&A''s photos and images to sell completely different diamonds.


And NO - not all H&A''s are well cut and not all VG GIA stones are worse than GIA Excellent.


Read the H&A''s section here under knowledge Advanced tutorial

Thanks, Garry. I have read the H&A tutorial in the past, as well as other stuff on H&A, which is why I was confused. I just didn''t think that it would be so easy to misrepresent something in terms of what appears on the report. Wow.

Thank goodness for pricescope!!