HCA score 1.7 GIA VG cut still have excellent light return?

[Moko]

Hi everyone,

Could you please tell me what you think of this stone.

I am looking for a loose stone for earrings and my local jeweler showed me a stone today. I looked the stone with loupe and Ideal Scope and I thought it was pretty, but I turned down because of the following reason.

* The GIA cut grade was “very good” NOT Excellent
* HCA result shows Light Return was “Very Good” Not Excellent.
* The X mark was far below than GIA Excellent candidate and AGS Ideal candidate on the HCA chart

Now I would like to ask you a question.
Is it a big difference between Very Good and Excellent Cut? Does Excellent cut always have better light return

?
I am so obsessed with EX/EX/EX in GIA report and HCA number right now, but am I asking too much for a stone for earrings?

Here is what they found:

GIA Certified loose diamond ($1,300)

HCA Score: 1.7 Excellent
HCA Light Return: Very Good
HCA Fire: Excellent
HCA Scintillation: Excellent
HCA Spread: Very Good

Carat:0.52
Clarity: SI1
Color: H
Cut：Very Good
Depth%: 61.7%
Table%: 56%
Crown Angle: 34
Pavilion Angle :40
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Girdle ：Thin to Medium Faceted

Thank you!!

 

[arjunajane]

I am so obsessed with EX/EX/EX in GIA report and HCA number right now, but am I asking too much for a stone for earrings?

Moko, imho yes. I''m sure you have heard this before on PS, but the HCA tool is really only supposed to be relied on for rejecting diamonds that you haven''t seen as potential bad performers, Not as a selection tool or final criteria.
If you saw the stone in person, you are in a much better postion to judge than the HCA tool..

Now, I''m not saying you shouldn''t get an AGS ideal or GIA triple X for earrings stone - of course you can, its just up to preference and how much you wish to spend. But my thoughts would be this should be a nice stone.
You saw it in person and with an IS - was it pleasing to your eyes? In person evaluation is always more valuable than "crunching the numbers" so to say - don''t get hung up on the numbers or certificates - these are helpful things to assist our choices, but diamonds are about their real life beauty!

 

[Siamese Kitty]

I can''t speak to your original question, but I did want to point out this stone:

H SI 1

I''m working on a 1 cttw earring project myself right now and almost bought this as one of my pair. (I ended up going with a pair of beautiful J''s because of my budget.) With the PS discount you''re at the same price and this is an AGS 000 H & A.

 

[strmrdr]

A 34/40? is that the right numbers? would be great in a earring or pendant but not for a ring which is why the HCA and Gia disagree.

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/ideal.asp

 

[Moko]

Arjunajane, Siamese Kitty and Storm,

Thank you so much for your replies and advice.
I guess I want a “ring quality” stone for earring. I don’t know why.
Somewhat I become a perfectionist when it comes to jewelry.
Siamese Kitty, I looked at the stone you linked for me.
After I saw it made me feel more wanting EX/EX/EX with HCA high score for the same price range. The only problem is I bought a stone #1 from my local jeweler because I had their gift cert. So I have to find a stone to match.

The WF stone you showed me is much bigger than my stone #1, so I found another WF stone (0.534CT)
http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-912965.htm

But I guess this WF stone is still little bigger than my stone#1, so I am not sure if it would match with my stone #1.

My stone #1 is GIA certified Round Brilliant
and specs are:

Measurements: 5.07 - 5.09 x 3.14 mm
Carat Weight: 0.50
Color Grade: H
Clarity Grade: SI1
Cut Grade: Excellent
Depth: 61.8 %
Table: 57 %
Crown Angle: 33.5°
Crown Height: 14 %
Pavilion Angle: 41°
Pavilion Depth: 43.5 %
Star length: 55 %
Lower Half: 80 %
Girdle: Medium to Slightly Thick, Faceted
Culet: None
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Fluorescence: None
Clarity Characteristics: Feather, Cloud


Anyway, my dilemma is:
I am leaving early next week for travailing overseas and won’t be back until August.
The local jeweler said it is really difficult and too much work for them to find what I am asking for; a EX/EX/EX stone in certain criteria, such as table%, Depth%, Crown angle, Pavilion angle, etc. They said it would be wiser for me to go for the “Very Good cut”(Not excellent cut) stone they have found than keep waiting for finding a triple EX stone. Because the price WILL keep going up and I have to pay extra $$$ in August for the same quality of stone. Mabe it is a good point? Hmmm.

I still have Gift certificate from the local jeweler, which I can buy platinum settings, so I am getting the setting from there. So, if I decided to go for a WF stone, I am wondering if WF would set the stones for me if I ship everything to them after I purchased their stone.

Another questions, when I used Ideal Scope to look at the “very good cut grade” stone, it looked “Ideal” (like the picture in the box), but it looked different from different angle. I used an Ideal light, so if I saw it from the straight top, it looked almost perfect, but from different angle, the symmetry looked different. Is it normal?

I should better start packing for my trip, but this rapid diamond/metal price increase drives me crazy and gives me a pressure to decide quickly…

.

 

[Moko]

Arjunajane, Siamese Kitty and Storm,

Thank you for helping in finding a matching stone for my earring.
I end up ordering from White Flash. Yay!
Siamese Kitty, thank you for mentioning WF stone.
I e-mailed them last night and I received a phone call this afternoon.
I was very impressed with their quick response.
So this is what I end up with.

0.534 ct H SI1 A Cut Above H&A $1,392.00
.
HCA Score: 0.8 Excellent
HCA Light Return: Excellent
HCA Fire: Excellent
HCA Scintillation: Excellent
HCA Spread: Very Good

Report: AGS
. Shape: A Cut Above H&A
. Carat: 0.534
. Clarity: SI1
. Color: H

. Depth %: 61.2
. Table %: 56.8
. Crown Angle: 34.6
. Crown %: 14.9
. Star : 56
. Pavilion Angle: 40.6
. Pavilion %: 42.7
. Lower Girdle %: 76
. Girdle: Thin to Slightly Thick Faceted
. Measurements: 5.20-5.22X3.19
. Light Performance: 0
. Polish: Ideal
. Symmetry: Ideal
. Culet: Pointed
. Fluorescence: Negligible

I was worried about if this stone would be too big compare to my stone#1, but they said those stones will match fine. I still don’t know how to read the diamond measurement…..
Is it Length – Width x Height????? Hmmm?

Stone#1: 5.07 - 5.09 x 3.14 mm
Stone#2: 5.20 -5.22 X 3.19 mm


It cost me $92 more, but I think it worth it and hope I will love the stone.
I am bit nervous, because I won''t see the stone until August because I chose their 90days-hold policy.

 

[Moko]

here is the Ideal scope image

 

[Moko]

and Hearts...

 

[kcoursolle]

It looks like a great stone to me that should be very pretty in person!

 

[Moko]

Thank you, Kcoursolle!!

Bob at White Flash was so nice and polite. He took his time explaining why this stone is better than the other WF stone we looked at, by going over the Ideal Scope image and Heart'' image together while we were on the phone. Every time I emailed them, they returned my e-mail right way!

I have been complaining about customer service in the US all the time, however
White Flash has excellent customer service. I understand why people here love them so much. I have not seen the stone yet, but somehow I have a confidence in the stone already and I am sure they will try their best to fix any problem if there is any. If I could ask more, I wish they had 6-months layaway, in stead of 90 days!