H&A listed on a report?

[Search_Diamond]

Are there any reports/certificates like the Sarin or GIA certificate that will comment on the diamond being a Hearts and Arrows?

 

[pqcollectibles]

I've seen a GIA Cert that listed "Exhibits Hearts and Arrows pattern" in the comments section. I just bought a White Flash A Cut Above, so I pulled out my AGS Cert and looked for you. In the comments section was a notation about the ACA girdle inscription, but the Cert does not denote the diamond as Hearts and Arrows.

Hope this helps.

 

[Search_Diamond]

thanks pqcollectibles!!!

Does anybody know why the GIA sometimes will place a comment about it appearing to be a Hearts & Arrow and then other times it doesn't even though it is a hearts and arrow?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I didn't realize that GIA made that sort of comment. My understanding was that the only time they would make a comment regarding H&A was if a girdle inscription referenced H&A information, and the GIA would report what the inscription said.

The only lab I know of that reports on whether a stone is H&A or not is a Japanese lab. I think they even have different categories for the level of H&A symmetry exhibited.

 

[rbjd]

As far as I know GIA and AGS only list engravings on their reports. If a stone is engraved H&A, they will list it. That doesn't mean it IS an H&A, just that somebody had "H&A" engraved on it. You could engrave "H&A" on any diamond if you wanted. I wouldn't trust an engraving to mean anything about the quality of a diamond.

The Central Gemological Laboratory (CGL) in Japan grades Hearts and Arrows and assigns quality ratings to them. However, I've never seen a CGL stone for sale in America, so if you want to fly to Japan and pay triple the price, maybe you can get a CGL hearts and arrows stone. Otherwise, you ought to ask for pictures. You'll notice that the reputable online vendors who carry H&A stock on hand will gladly send you photos of the H&A patterns of their diamonds and many have them posted on their websites.

If you were thinking about buying an H&A stone from a vendor who won't send you a picture first, be prepared for disappointment. You get what you pay for.

I sense that you are looking for a better deal on ideal cut H&A's than you are seeing on the premium websites. Let me say this: if there were better deals to be had, a broker would have snapped them up already. The listings you have access to have already been picked over by someone else.

 

[pqcollectibles]

I stand corrected!

I went back and checked the downloaded copy of the cert and it did say "H&A (Cert#) inscribed on girdle" in the comments.

I swear, I looked at soooo much stuff..... This was a diamond I had settled on until I found a diamond in my color, clarity, size, and price point ACA diamond from White Flash. Many THANKS to Lesley and Brian!!!!

 

[niceice]

Inscribing "H&A" on the girdle edge of a diamond before sending it to the labs for grading is an old trick used by some cutters as a marketing ploy with the public... They know that the labs will mention the inscription under the "comments" section of the lab report whether the diamond actually exhibits a pattern or not because the inscription is "a characteristic of the diamond at the time of grading"... With the exception of the CGL Laboratory mentioned previously and Zenhokyo Japan (they may be out of business, we haven't seen their paper in quite some time) we're not aware of any major laboratories that provide H&A grading...

 

[Rank Amateur]

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On 4/25/2003 9:55:56 PM niceice wrote:

Inscribing "H&A" on the girdle edge of a diamond before sending it to the labs for grading is an old trick used by some cutters as a marketing ploy with the public... They know that the labs will mention the inscription under the "comments" section of the lab report whether the diamond actually exhibits a pattern or not because the inscription is "a characteristic of the diamond at the time of grading&quot
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This has always been a bugaboo with me. To the lay person it is not apparent that the lab is simply reporting what they find inscribed on the stone rather than listing what the lab inscribed themselves. Doesn't AGS inscribe the AGSL # on the girdle now? So part of the inscription is by AGS and part by the vendor?

I'd have to look, but I think my wife's stone is one of those that has the AGSL # and H&A inscribed on the girdle. It's confusing.

 

[robbe]

dear search_diamond,
i know igi issues reports for stones that qualify for h&a.
i have seen reports issued by igi-antwerp describing h&a including the photographies of the h&a. i once called igi for more info regarding this report and they said igi in antwerp & tokyo were shooting pictures of the h&a when required by the owner (not random photos).
i hope this helps.
regards, robbe

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

That's good Robbe.

A photo can not lie.
Many H$A's are shown to consumers who move their eye around until they make all the patterns line up - but they can never see all in a single glance. When consumers have never seen a tight stone, they get taken for a ride.