Good deal? Whatcha think?

[shuston]

The GIA stone (round brilliant):
G, VS2 (very small inclusion on side, clean table)
1.35 carats
61.3% depth
56% table
35% crown angle
40.5% pavilion angle
7.11 x 7.14 x 4.37
no fluoresence
no cullet
polish excellent
symmetry excellent
I don''t believe it''s been certified through AGS, however, the jeweler suggests this would be an AGS 0 no problem..."perfectly cut stone" (by most people''s standards anyway, i.e. that''s a somewhat relative statement)
$8,329 (no sales tax). Not sure about H&A? HCA ranking was 0.4 (Excellent in all categories except for a Very Good for the last one).

I''ve done a TON of research (more than I would have ever thought), and a lot of it has been through this forum...either through chat strings or contacting individuals directly. THANK YOU everybody! (especially RICHARD SHERWOOD...gave me some very insightful info on another jeweler that I otherwise would have never known about). If you''re in the market for a stone this is a GREAT resource to leverage.

I will reveal the jeweler once I get the stone...he''s been awesome to work with, very honest and up front.

Sooooo.....good deal? Anyway to tell if it''s H&A? (kinda a bragging thing)

 

[Mara]

Ask the jeweler if it's an H&A..he should be able to tell you.




Are those %'s for the crown & pav really angles? Looks more like it...




The HCA score looks great and the price looks very good for a well-cut stone like that. One thing to note and this may sound odd but I have heard that sometimes stones with HCA scores under something like a 0.6 are not necessarily recommend, something about there being not enough contrast in the stone. Maybe Garry can chime in here, we don't see many stones score so low on HCA--which you would assume would be a good time (score low), but I have heard more than once that sometimes super low is not as good as one may think.




That said...it looks like it'd be very nice, the numbers are good, slightly steep crown angle may give it more fire. Have you seen it in person? Can you get an idealscope image of the stone or an actual image? BTW I like G VS..that's what my stone is.

 

[shuston]

Mara,
I asked the jeweler about getting and idealscope or more info on "hearts and arrows" and he said for $25 he would have no problem sending it to GIA/AGS or whoever. (he's not a big proponent of that stuff, kinda gimicky, like buying an E or F stone vs a G...is it worth it?) I saw the ring and it's BLING BLING all day long (YEEEAAAH BABY) so I don't care enough to take the time/cost to get more details other than that. In the end this sucker goes!! and goes and goes!

Thanks for your advice. Oh, and what's this about the HCA being too low? Never heard about that before

My jeweler isn't sold on the HCA either...he doesn't think it takes enough into account. e.g. he sadi something about if you enter high table and depth #'s, as long as they're in proportion w/ e.o., you'll still get a great score, even though the stone is top heavy.? Not sure, either way it's a very well cut stone and I'm very happy w/ it. Just curious what you meant by HCA score being too low?

Thanks!

P.S. pictures to come once I get a friggin' digital camera...maybe this CHRISTmas?

 

[Mara]

Congratulations, the stone sounds like it looks amazing.




Not too sure about the HCA score, just have heard it here and there that super low doesn't necessarily equal the best, and I think recently I heard that Brian the Cutter noted this as well. Maybe an expert can chime in with their thoughts?




Lastly, on your jeweler noting on the HCA--yes if you put in a larger table and a smaller depth, if the stone is proportioned correctly and will look good, the HCA will give it a very good score, but it will call it a BIC which is not the same as a TIC. Your stone would be considered a TIC--which in laymans terms is 'a good combo of fire, brilliance and scintillation'. A BIC would be more likely 'more brilliance, less fire' and FIC would be 'more fire, less brilliance'. So YES he is right in that this tool would score a 'non-ideal' diamond highly IF it had good proportions, but it would mark it as a BIC or FIC and not a typical ideal TIC.




Hope that helps

 

[shuston]

That helps, thanks! Love this chat forum, an informed consumer is a dangerous thing (for some people)!!!

 

[magna2]

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On 12/4/2003 5:41:00 PM shuston wrote:

Mara,
I asked the jeweler about getting and idealscope or more info on 'hearts and arrows' and he said for $25 he would have no problem sending it to GIA/AGS or whoever. (he's not a big proponent of that stuff, kinda gimicky, like buying an E or F stone vs a G...is it worth it?)

Huh???? When does GIA and/or AGS assess whether a diamond is H&A?? H&A is an indicator of how well a diamond is cut, so to say it is gimicky is blowing smoke in your face.

Thanks for your advice. Oh, and what's this about the HCA being too low? Never heard about that before

My jeweler isn't sold on the HCA either...he doesn't think it takes enough into account. e.g. he sadi something about if you enter high table and depth #'s, as long as they're in proportion w/ e.o., you'll still get a great score, even though the stone is top heavy.? Not sure, either way it's a very well cut stone and I'm very happy w/ it. Just curious what you meant by HCA score being too low?

HCA is a good tool to help you weed out the bad ones, it doesn't give you the entire story. Your jeweler need not believe in the HCA but he also need not disparage it. But what he stated holds water; that is, how a diamond performs is dependent on the relationships of the facets - to which if you enter the information of the crown and pavillion into the HCA, it will tell you whether that relationship would make the diamond a good performer or not.

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[shuston]

magna,
to clarify...he wasn't disparaging it, he basically said just what you did - it doesn't necessarily guarantee a good stone but it helps to weed out the bad ones.

i didn't totally understand how we was recommending that i get the "H&A" designation, but his point was it doesn't necessarily mean much given i already have a very well cut, clear and almost colorless stone.

thanks for your feedback