H&A stones worth the premium?

[slycatty]

Hi all,
Do you think the premium on H&A stones such as the WF ACA and the BGD H&A stones are worth it? Will I be able to tell a visual difference between these H&A stones and very carefully selected GIA triple EX or AGS000 stones? Or for the price difference would you rather go up in color? I''m looking at I colored stones.

 

[stone-cold11]

depends. :p

mind clean purposes, personal preferences, and also policies of the vendors.

 

[slycatty]

Hi Stone cold. I''m still deciding between BGD H&A/WF ACA or James Allen ideal cut. All 3 vendors provide good upgrade policies. I know that the James Allen stone will take more work to find a really good one but they are usually a few thousand less than the BGD and WF stones. I don''t care too much about mind clean. I care more about whether I can tell a difference in real life.

 

[IceExplorer]

I chose to go with a BGD H&A.
However, I did so only AFTER looking at many many stones in person at multiple B&Ms.
My intent was to get a feel for what I have learned (on pricescope) and how it translated to visual optics. Also, whether or not I could tell any difference.

After going through the above exercise, which I would recommend, to everyone, it was a simple decision for me.

Within minutes of pulling out the H&A, I considered it the stone for my GF.

 

[slycatty]

I have tried going to alot of B&M stores. Most of them had no clue what I was talking about when I asked for an idealscope and only one store had one. Time to buy my own idealscope perhaps.

I did see a hearts on fire stone but the premium on it was really really high. Do you think these BGD H&A and WF ACA are equal to the hearts on fire diamonds?

 

[coda72]

BGD H&A and WF ACA are definitely equal in sparkle to Hearts on Fire. I have a B&M store near where I live that sells Hearts on Fire, and I have compared my BGD and WF diamonds to them, and they definitely hold their own. So, in my mind it''s worth the premium for BGD and WF stones over normal stones. And you will pay less than you would for Hearts on Fire.

 

[JoeNewbie11]

My personal experience: I have two .5 carat G/H SI2 ACA from WF, one .82 GIA Ex non-H&A from JA, and one 1.5 carat H&A I-SI1 from JA. For me, the precision H&A is worth it in larger carat stones. The distinct arrows and contrast pattern in the 1.5 carat is pleasing to the eye. In my half carat stones, I can see the pattern, but it''s so small that the premium is probably not worth it. In my .82 carat non-H&A, I can see arrows, but the contrast pattern is non distinct, still a beautiful stone.

Bottom line, go look at non-H&A and H&A in your desired size and see if it matters to you. Best of luck.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Jared''s peerless line is AGS0, not H&A though to my knowledge. But it might help you decide.

 

[NJDeac]

Date: 3/23/2010 5:24:29 PM
Author: dreamer_d
Jared''s peerless line is AGS0, not H&A though to my knowledge. But it might help you decide.

I stopped in at my local Jared a couple weeks ago to see what they had to offer and the peerless stones they had in house were definitely H&A - the sales rep brought out a H&A viewer and everything. With that said, I''m not sure if all of the peerless line is H&A, or only a subset.