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Grateful for Your Opinion On This Diamond

150811

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 30, 2017
Messages
6
Dear PriceScopers,

I joined within the past month and have done some readings here and also on some other diamond educator websites. I'm really glad my paranoia/obsessive personality saved me from blindly getting into a market of so many dimensions and just buy the first diamond that I see fit, because after one more education article, my view changed about that previously "ideal" diamond. After a dozen of times that this scenario happened, I came across this diamond on JA that I am seriously considering purchasing.

It would be so kind of you if you could help me analyze on this diamond. In a nutshell, it is a 1.2-carat, F, VVS1, and GIA 3X. The HCA score came out to be 0.9, which I'm not sure whether is too low for a diamond to be used on a ring. On HCA website, it says a score under 1 is usually good for earrings or necklace, while a score of 1 - 2 is good for rings. Another issue with this diamond is the strong fluorescence. I remember reading that strong blue might be troublesome for D/E/F class. By looking at the 360 image at 20X I cannot tell if this is the case, but this is my first time purchasing a diamond in my life, so I'm sure my eyes need way to much training compared to yours, so your opinions would weigh much more than my own ;-)

The problem at the moment is that JA rep said he could not retrieve Idealscope image of this diamond due to its location being overseas. I've read so many articles that advised against buying blind, and lacking Idealscope image gives me a perception of buying blind.

For your information, diamond I found today is SKU 2770967 on James Allen. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the link, so I only included the SKU. A GIA screenshot will also be attached to this post. I would appreciate your help in determining if there is any potential issues with this diamond without looking at its idealscope. Your insight would weigh very much to my decision. I may consider purchasing it without the idealscope and then get its idealscope after I get the diamond (or preferably have JA take the image when they have the diamond in-house but before shipping out to me). But since this is my first-time-in-life diamond purchase, I may be dead wrong in doing (or planning on doing) this.

Lastly, I thought I should probably add a little of my mentality/background thoughts on this purchase. I think I'm in a cheapa** mentality at this moment, but that is because I've been repetitively raising my budget. Original budget was something like $4000, but then I thought I want to give her a 1+ carat, so that raised the budget to ~$5000. Then, I became comfortable in comprehending 4Cs, I became anal about them, and would want eye clean. Being risk averse, I set clarity at VS1 or above. Then, I decided to get 1.2-ct, so the color has to be F, because I read that color plays a larger role in larger stones... Then, I learned a little about cuts and symmetries, I started checking HCA score and such. To end this illogical mumble, long story short, my budget is now $9000... After doubling my budget, my current goal is to find the 1.2-ct, F, VS1+, HCA < 2, at the lowest price possible. Please forgive my cheapness and naive perception, if any. This last sentence is basically what I tried to say in this entire last paragraph :lol:

Anyway, thanks in advance for any advice and opinions!

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P.S., having read some other threads, I see that many of you suggested (to other novice diamond hunters) to lower color grading from F to G. I thought about this, but I guess I'm just obsessed with the colorless category, it's an illness. As to clarity, being eye clean seems to be unsatisfactory for me, again because of my obsessiveness. I blame this partially on JA's 20X images, i.e. if it's not clean enough in 20X image, which is what I see in the first place, it won't be "eye clean" to me psychologically, even if it's really eye clean. God I feel ill about this.
 
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BTW PriceScope has a wonderful search engine for diamond! But I've always wondered about its timeliness with regard to James Allen. Is it heavily delayed on JA inventory updates? Almost 8 out of 10 diamonds from JA that I clicked on are unavailable, especially for those with the lowest $/ct.
 
No rules against linking to James Allen: https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-2770967

Crown is slightly shallow, which may cause it to look a little darker when viewed up close. I think this is the rationale for the guidance about HCA <1.0 stones, but the vast majority of people on this forum have no problem with HCA <1.0.

I personally think it looks great. Arrows clearly defined. Nice balance of dark and light. Decent symmetry.

Also very familiar with the "expanding expectations" problem myself, so I feel you!

EDIT: James Allen should be able to tell you if the fluorescence is causing any milkiness. This is much rarer than say a cloud causing milkiness. Is it superideal? No. But it looks like an above average performer.
 
P.S., having read some other threads, I see that many of you suggested (to other novice diamond hunters) to lower color grading from F to G. I thought about this, but I guess I'm just obsessed with the colorless category, it's an illness. As to clarity, being eye clean seems to be unsatisfactory for me, again because of my obsessiveness.

I~G and SI1~VS1 are often recommended because they are white enough and eye clean enough for many wearers. They are popular and offer the best "value" (although it can be debated)
https://www.pricescope.com/diamonds/popular-diamond-searches


But I think F~D combined with med~str fluo can be a great choice. Colorless stones with med~str fluo are traded at significantly discounted prices.
well cut 1.2 G VS2 no fluo at 8k.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3119805
Just for 1k more at 9k.. you get 1.2 D VS2 strong fluo.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...d-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3286436

Going back to your stone.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-2770967
Just ask the vendor there is no negative effect from med~strong fluo.
Like the previous poster said, the crown is a bit shallow. But it is F VVS at a great price. Looks good too. Ask for the idealscope image if you are serious about buying the stone.
 
I~G and SI1~VS1 are often recommended because they are white enough and eye clean enough for many wearers. They are popular and offer the best "value" (although it can be debated)
https://www.pricescope.com/diamonds/popular-diamond-searches


But I think F~D combined with med~str fluo can be a great choice. Colorless stones with med~str fluo are traded at significantly discounted prices.
well cut 1.2 G VS2 no fluo at 8k.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...g-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3119805
Just for 1k more at 9k.. you get 1.2 D VS2 strong fluo.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...d-color-vs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3286436

Going back to your stone.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs1-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-2770967
Just ask the vendor there is no negative effect from med~strong fluo.
Like the previous poster said, the crown is a bit shallow. But it is F VVS at a great price. Looks good too. Ask for the idealscope image if you are serious about buying the stone.


That 9k 1.22 carat is very nice! You got me dreaming now lol
 
Thanks for your replies! I'll keep bugging JA to give me that Idealscope image and also ask for the milkiness. I don't know if they'll be helpful in this though, if the diamond is out of their hands and cannot be retrieved an I/S image of, they might not be able to personally inspect it for milkiness?

I might be able to wait a little longer for something nicer to turn up, but not much longer. If I'm set at 1.2-ct, and have to sacrifice either color or clarity, would you choose color over clarity? I'm thinking about staying at F color and maybe lower clarity to VS1 and 2.
 
Thanks for your replies! I'll keep bugging JA to give me that Idealscope image and also ask for the milkiness. I don't know if they'll be helpful in this though, if the diamond is out of their hands and cannot be retrieved an I/S image of, they might not be able to personally inspect it for milkiness?

I might be able to wait a little longer for something nicer to turn up, but not much longer. If I'm set at 1.2-ct, and have to sacrifice either color or clarity, would you choose color over clarity? I'm thinking about staying at F color and maybe lower clarity to VS1 and 2.

Well, if they're setting it, they will get their hands on the diamond eventually and they can check it then. Cheaper for them to tell you up front rather than having you return it and having to unset it.

As for sacrificing color vs. clarity, i would personally do both. I think I/VS2 is most people's sweet spot in terms of being able to tell. If you think you would be able to tell for anything lower than a F (and there are people out there) then doing what you suggested and going to a VS1/VS2 makes sense.
 
Based on the video, I highly doubt there is milkiness, btw, which is not as common as people make it out to be due to fluorescence anyways.

EDIT: One more thing: many suppliers will actually inspect the diamond for milkiness themselves, so James Allen should be able to, in a lot of cases, just e-mail them and see if the diamond is milky or not. They should really have this information in their system, because many cutters already provide this information freely (and unlike eyecleaness, milkiness information is reliable).
 
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Here are a few options to look at that lower color and or clarity to H and VS2. These are all great performers with clean stones. I recommend them all, but I mostly just wanted to give you some tangible comparisons that are all similar in price and performance and have the images you need to look at.

G, 1.09, VS1. TH, AGS0. $8350
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-g-color-vs1-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3056546

F, 1.09, VS2, TH, AGS0. $8760
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-f-color-vs2-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-2871970

H, 1.22, VS1, TH. AGS0. $8990
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-h-color-vs1-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3208461

H, 1.28, H, VS2, TH, AGS0 with great numbers. $8940
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-h-color-vs2-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3353498
 

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Sorry for the late replies guys! Have been busy at school.

For not quite $1000 more, what do you guys think about this one?

1.2 F VVS2, not ideal cut by AGS, but HCA is about 1.7...

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...-color-vvs2-clarity-excellent-cut-sku-3119953

P.S. I've forgone the original diamond because there seemed to be a consensus on its light performance due to low crown angle. I found an education site that gives this range for a "generally" well performing diamond, what is your opinion:

Table % 54.0% to 57.0%
Depth % 61.0% to 62.5%
Crown Angle 34.0° to 35.0°
Pavilion Angle 40.6° to 41.0°
Lower Girdles 75% to 80%
Star Facets 50% to 55%
Girdle Thickness T – M – ST

I found most true hearts on JA matches this range, but not the other way around (falling in this range doesn't guarantee a true heart cut). That said, seems to me the most important parameters are the first four: table %, depth %, and crown/pavilion angles. In this regard, it's interesting to note that SKU 3299500 recommended by flyingpig falls out of most of the ranges yet still has a great HCA score (the first one can't be found on JA anymore).
 
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I use slightly different numbers. I suspect everyone has their own version based on what they prefer.
table - 54-58%
depth 60-62.3%
crown 34-35 degrees
pavilion 40.6 - 41 degrees

HCA only looks at if the 4 measures compliment each other. It is strictly for elimination and the actual number 1.2 vs 1.8 offers no insight. There will be stones outside these parameters that may be quite nice, for example 60/60 stones. Some on PS use it, others don't. Many use multiple criteria -- our eyes are pretty important too.

Relative to your stone, I like this one better FWIW.
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-g-color-vs1-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-3240175

Faces up bigger (6.84 mm vs. 6.7), smaller table and less deep. I personally prefer the chubbier arrows. Your selected stone also has a thick girdle along with the higher depth is more weight you are not getting in spread.
 

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