HCA Score 2.4

[blingcrazed]

It looks like https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD08756582 sold.

I also consulted a diamond expert (he runs a popular diamond blog) and he asked me to send a bunch of videos of my diamond with different lighting conditions. He said that the fire performance is even better than a true super ideal he compared mine to and the brilliance/white light was just fine too with no noticeable light leakage. He seemed a bit surprised at why I'm not happy with my stone. I guess after seeing the HCA score (2.4) and the fact that the crown angle and depth is a bit off the super ideal spec made me think this is not that great. It seems the numbers are just half the story?

I'm thinking of just keeping this one. What do you guys think?

 

[gm89uk]

With such an expensive purchase, I'd strongly recommend you comparing your stone to a super ideal in real life. Go to a HOF supplier and look at both stones in a variety of lighting environments.

I question the validity of the assessment from your videos.

 

[blingcrazed]

Who is a HOF supplier?

The fact that he could have easily said this is a bad stone and told me but buy something else and make a commission on it makes me feel his opinion was honest.

 

[blueMA]

Hearts On Fire -Google for a nearby H&A diamond store location.

If you like the stone and happy with its performance then keep it.
You wanted a stone as close to H&A optimal performance, but as we've pointed out, the stone falls out of the ideals for better balanced light performance. Since you want something close to the superideals, you won't know for sure until you compare with one IRL.

 

[gm89uk]

Who is a HOF supplier?

The fact that he could have easily said this is a bad stone and told me but buy something else and make a commission on it makes me feel his opinion was honest.

I'm not questioning integrity, I'm just saying the assessment is what anyone could assume due to the numbers of your stone, but to make a comparative comment on fire and brightness on a none standardised video, without a comparison stone is in my opinion, next to useless in terms of accuracy.

You were unhappy with its performance initially, maybe you had unrealistic expectations for diamond performance, or maybe your diamond isn't performing as well as it can. The only way to assess this is to compare against other diamonds that are well cut. If you notice a difference in a variety of lighting environments, then there you go, if you spot minimal difference then that's that.

But I wouldn't take the opinion of this assessment of videos as closure that you have a great performer, if you are unhappy in its performance.

 

[blingcrazed]

He did compare my videos with an actual super ideal. I will go to a HOF store and do a comparison.

 

[blingcrazed]

Ok, just got back from a HOF store. We compared 4 stones, 3 of them were true HOF stones, what I noticed was the HOF stones had more scintillation in general but smaller sparkle and more dispersed than my stone. Although the sparkles on mine seemed brighter and more noticeable, possibly because they were bigger sparkles. Also, my stone seemed clearer than the HOF stones, maybe because the HOF stones were H & G color. We also used an Ideal scope and I was able to see the fully formed arrows on my stone just as clearly as the true HOF stone. Did not see the hearts on my stone because it was mounted on the ring.

What do you guys think?

 

[tyty333]

Did the idealscope show any leakage? Was it an idealscope or an H&A viewer? Sounds like you
are talking about an H&A viewer.

Edit...sounds like you are happy with your stone? You did the comparison and if you are happy with
it then by all means keep it and enjoy! I'm assuming you have looked at it under various lighting
conditions and have been good with the way it has performed.

 

[blingcrazed]

Sorry, it was a H&A scope, it looked like this http://www.jewelrywarehouse.com/assets/images/jw/IdealWithScope.jpg

I don't know how to tell light leakage

 

[blingcrazed]

tyty333, that's the thing, I'm not sure if I am happy with my stone. The main difference is the scintillation I saw, the HOF stone seemed to sparkle more, small sparkles, more dispersed. I do like that.

 

[blueMA]

Sorry, it was a H&A scope, it looked like this http://www.jewelrywarehouse.com/assets/images/jw/IdealWithScope.jpg

I don't know how to tell light leakage

You can't tell light leakage from H&A scope that you saw - it only shows the patterning for cut quality and symmetry.

You need Idealscope image (black arrows) to tell whether there's light leakage.

I've also noticed recently that my local HOF inventory qualities are quite lacking, so they can't compete with your D VS1 stone on that regard. They'd have to order one and shipt it to match the clarity level, and this is how most local retailers operate nowadays.

What you saw - the many small sparkles are the effect of the virtual facets on very well cut stones. Read this old post for a simple layman's explanation

https://www.pricescope.com/communit...-ideal-super-ideal.234434/page-4#post-4224935

 

[gm89uk]

He did compare my videos with an actual super ideal. I will go to a HOF store and do a comparison.

What I mean is lighting is the number one thing that affect diamond performance, as well as a bunch of other things such as exposure, ISO, and technicalities of recording. Unless the superideal was shot in the same environment with the same equipment, the comparison is next to useless.

But regardless you have gone to see HOF stones in real life, which is a far more useful comparison. I doubt you'd have noticed the nuisances of well dispersed sparkle in a video. You can purchase very well cut stones that are very close to superideal quality with patience and perseverance, but depends how long you have, particularly with D colour requirements. Your stone certainly sounds nice.

Did you see them out of spot lights, in diffused lighting? that is when cut quality matters most.

 

[blingcrazed]

Yes we mostly looked at them under diffused lighting. One thing I am now certain is my stone is a Arrows stone lol, not sure about the hearts part, but I'm assuming the hearts would line up if the arrows are well formed and clear?

 

[blingcrazed]

Looks like this one came back on sale: https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD08756582
Would you consider this as very close to super ideal?

 

[blueMA]

Yes we mostly looked at them under diffused lighting. One thing I am now certain is my stone is a Arrows stone lol, not sure about the hearts part, but I'm assuming the hearts would line up if the arrows are well formed and clear?

Most decently cut stones with ex symmetry will display arrows image, and just because you see the arrows patterns does not qualify a diamond as a H&A. A H&A stone must meet very strict criteria as you've seen on the link I've sent you earlier. Your LGF being 80% means the hearts probably have clefts, which would disqualify it if not for the PA/CA angles.

However, just because a stone is H&A doesn't mean that it's more beautiful than other stones that do not meet the criteria. What's most important is that you like the stone and happy with its light performance IRL, and people's taste in how a diamond should look vary greatly.

 

[gm89uk]

Just to clarify, is your objective to have a stone that performs closer to the HOF you've seen?

 

[blingcrazed]

Yes, but I hear the H&A performs the same as HOF indoors but better with natural lighting.

 

[blingcrazed]

Bump

Do you think this https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD08756582 would perform as good or almost as good as a HOF stone? Would there be a somewhat significant difference between this and my stone https://www.bluenile.com/build-your-own-ring/diamond-details/LD10302397

Edit: What about this stone: https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD10095171

 

[blueMA]

Yes the other options will probably perform better as we've pointed out earlier.
You want to search out the stones as close to the middle of the ideal spot as possible to account for cut angle variances.
https://agslab.com/docs/pbcg/AGSLProportionCharts.pdf

 

[blingcrazed]

Thanks, this is very helpful

 

[blingcrazed]

Ok, I've decided on https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09100849 which is the most recommended one (thanks rockysalamander for finding it!). The cut seems as close as it could get to a super ideal. I have it on hold right now. Also got it price matched with b2cjewels (thanks blueMA, you saved me almost $1200!). I'm a bit concerned if it would be eye clean though. Thoughts?

 

[blingcrazed]

Just got it, wow it's beautiful! It's got a really great balance of fire and brilliance and it's blinding! I also selected a different setting (https://www.bluenile.com/ca/build-y...ing_55261?elem=img&track=product&vtype=sample) and it really makes the diamond look bigger when facing up. Totally eye clean, it was hard for me to even spot the inclusions with a 10x loop. Will post pics soon. Got to go over to the proposal ideas section now

Thanks so much for the help guys!

 

[WinkHPD]

Also, my stone seemed clearer than the HOF stones, maybe because the HOF stones were H & G color.

I find this an interesting comment and wonder why this is happening. There would not be any difference in the clearness of the D and the H & G colors caused by the difference in colors. I wonder if the stones were presented to you clean, as if they were handled and then put back into diamond papers, they would look less clear next to a clean stone.

At this point it no longer matters, as it seems you have found a diamond that pushes all your hot spot buttons. Congratulations!

Wink