HCA score vs 360 videos

[Parkma]

I was talking with a gemologist on JA and they directed me away from a diamond I was interested in to another that looked better to them on the videos. When I plugged in the Numbers for HCA Calculation, the one they directed me to was actually 4.6 and the calculator advised me to steer clear of this one. That it will look smaller and not perform well. But when looking at all the options on the 360 video, this one “seemed” to perform the best to the gemologist. Now I’m confused. What is more important?

 

[MissGotRocks]

What are the specs on the stone? Do you have a copy of the cert?

 

[lovedogs]

JA customer service isn't great. They often recommend stones that arent actually ideal cut. It's not an either/or choice. You should get a stone that performs well in the 360 and has an HCA of under 2

 

[Parkma]

It is this stone here:

2.02 Carat round diamond

This 2.02 carat round diamond I color vs1 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Specs:
Table 57
Depth 62.5
Crown angle 35.5
Pavilion angle 40.8
Medium slightly thick faceated
2.02 ct
8x8.05x5.02mm

Hm didn’t know their customer service was poor!

 

[OoohShiny]

It is this stone here:

2.02 Carat round diamond

This 2.02 carat round diamond I color vs1 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Specs:
Table 57
Depth 62.5
Crown angle 35.5
Pavilion angle 40.8
Medium slightly thick faceated
2.02 ct
8x8.05x5.02mm

Hm didn’t know their customer service was poor!

HCA Score 2.6

Light Return: Very Good
Fire: Very Good
Scintillation: Very Good
Spread: Very Good

Very Good - Worth buying if the price is right

Looks Like size Beta - Small

Probably sparkles OK but it will look small for its carat weight. If the carat weight is important and the price is right it might be worth sending to an appraiser.

 

[OoohShiny]

I think it looks pretty good, personally speaking.

Make sure to plug your budget and preferred specs into the search bar at the top of the forum and then select 'Excellent' in the HCA part of the Filters - that will pull out stones that will perform well and give you some options to compare to.

 

[lovedogs]

I think you can find better options by using the search function as @OoohShiny said.

 

[Parkma]

Sorry. New here. How do you get to this search page?

Thanks everyone for the input!

 

[flyingpig]

It is this stone here:

2.02 Carat round diamond

This 2.02 carat round diamond I color vs1 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Specs:
Table 57
Depth 62.5
Crown angle 35.5
Pavilion angle 40.8
Medium slightly thick faceated
2.02 ct
8x8.05x5.02mm

Hm didn’t know their customer service was poor!

Not bad. Decent. Not great. Leaky.

 

[Parkma]

Gotcha.

Are you able to tell that it is leaky from the Images on the website? Or the numbers? Trying to learn.

 

[flyingpig]

Gotcha.

Are you able to tell that it is leaky from the Images on the website? Or the numbers? Trying to learn.

Both. 35.5/40.8 nearly always has minor leakage. For this stone, leakage at 1 and 7 oclock under the table.

 

[Parkma]

Oh I see! Very helpful!

also, if a stone has a great HCA score, IS looks good but the measurements are a little off the ideal proportions, what do you go by?

 

[OoohShiny]

Sorry. New here. How do you get to this search page?

Thanks everyone for the input!

I'm not sure how it appears on a phone but it's just below the dropdown menus at the top of the forum.

I've put some parameters into the search tool as a start:
<$16k
2.0ct+
D-I
FL-VS1
HCA Score - Excellent

There's 20-something to choose from, including some IGI-graded stones (which some would caution against, or at least advise to consider that they may have a 'generous' colour/clarity grading):

Diamond Search Results | Real-time Information on 1,000,000+ Diamonds | PriceScope

PriceScope's Diamond Search is the best place to find the best diamond prices. Search and compare over a million natural, lab and fancy color diamonds.

www.pricescope.com

I'm intrigued as to why this 2.18ct is only a little more than the stone you linked to:

2.18 Carat round diamond

This 2.18 carat round diamond I color vs1 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

 

[Parkma]

I'm not sure how it appears on a phone but it's just below the dropdown menus at the top of the forum.

I've put some parameters into the search tool as a start:
<$16k
2.0ct+
D-I
FL-VS1
HCA Score - Excellent

There's 20-something to choose from, including some IGI-graded stones (which some would caution against, or at least advise to consider that they may have a 'generous' colour/clarity grading):

Diamond Search Results | Real-time Information on 1,000,000+ Diamonds | PriceScope

PriceScope's Diamond Search is the best place to find the best diamond prices. Search and compare over a million natural, lab and fancy color diamonds.

www.pricescope.com

I'm intrigued as to why this 2.18ct is only a little more than the stone you linked to:

2.18 Carat round diamond

This 2.18 carat round diamond I color vs1 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

Does this explain why?

 

[OoohShiny]

Does this explain why?

You got an IdealScope image from JA on a round? I thought that was difficult to get! Or that might just have been ASETscope images, I can't remember... lol

Either way, with IdealScope / ASETscope images, IIRC it is fine as long as nothing is whiter/lighter than the central circle - so in this case, the lighter 'ring' is mostly the same as the very centre, so it should be fine and the image is just overexposed.


I think...


There are a couple of lighter areas in the ring that suggest some leakage, but we'd need the angles etc. off the grading report (if they've sent it to you) so they could be run through the HCA tool.

 

[Parkma]

What do you all think?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

You got an IdealScope image from JA on a round? I thought that was difficult to get! Or that might just have been ASETscope images, I can't remember... lol

Either way, with IdealScope / ASETscope images, IIRC it is fine as long as nothing is whiter/lighter than the central circle - so in this case, the lighter 'ring' is mostly the same as the very centre, so it should be fine and the image is just overexposed.


I think...


There are a couple of lighter areas in the ring that suggest some leakage, but we'd need the angles etc. off the grading report (if they've sent it to you) so they could be run through the HCA tool.

JA do not show Arrows photos on their True hearts diamonds - they are all Ideal-scope images for face up. Best of both worlds in my humble opinion.

As Karl points out - the way to identify the amount of / strength of backlight is the color / shade of the very inner ring (table reflection boundary).
This area has around 86% light return of the light that has enetered the table (about as good as it gets).
So in all cases you can see that the inner table reflection is on the pale side.

 

[Karl_K]

As they say a picture is worth a 1000 words.
This is a theoretical perfect diamond model with just a back light. Anything the same shade or darker as the reference point area in IS/ASET white is not meaningful leakage. The reference point varies it's the whitest area in the inner circle that is not the exact center(in case the culet is not perfectly closed)

 

[Parkma]

I’m confused. So do I need to compare the very central circle to any other area within the rest of the diamond and as long as the color is not LIGHTER than the circle at the center (bulls eye) then it means there’s not significant light leakage?

In this case, since there is a lighter ring outside this central circle, there may be significant light leakage?

is this the right way to think about this?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I’m confused. So do I need to compare the very central circle to any other area within the rest of the diamond and as long as the color is not LIGHTER than the circle at the center (bulls eye) then it means there’s not significant light leakage?

In this case, since there is a lighter ring outside this central circle, there may be significant light leakage?

is this the right way to think about this?

read Karl and my posts carefully

 

[Parkma]

I was talking to another JA rep and they provided an IS for a diamond that visually (on the video) looks really good and informed me not to trust the IS. the HCA for this diamond is 2.6 — I think this supports the IS?

This brings me back to the question. What should I be trusting more. The IS or the 360 videos? HCA 2.6 isn’t terrible and I’m wondering if an everyday look at the diamond will show a difference between HCA 1.5 and 2.6. Any experience comparing those 2 HCA groups?

 

[Mlh]

I don't understand. Was the IS bad?

 

[Parkma]

I don't understand. Was the IS bad?

he commented that the IS Looks like this due to the angle (?). To my untrained eye, it also looks not so good. Thoughts?

 

[lovedogs]

he commented that the IS Looks like this due to the angle (?). To my untrained eye, it also looks not so good. Thoughts?

Between the HCA and IS I would not buy this one

 

[flyingpig]

he commented that the IS Looks like this due to the angle (?). To my untrained eye, it also looks not so good. Thoughts?

Is this 8091243?

 

[Parkma]

Between the HCA and IS I would not buy this one

Thanks for your input!

Is this 8091243?

no it is this one:
Doesn’t it look nice in the video?

2.01 Carat round diamond

This 2.01 carat round diamond I color vvs2 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

 

[flyingpig]

Thanks for your input!




no it is this one:
Doesn’t it look nice in the video?

2.01 Carat round diamond

This 2.01 carat round diamond I color vvs2 clarity has Excellent proportions and a diamond grading report from GIA

www.jamesallen.com

It is about the same as 8091243.
With HCA 2.6, I guess it has 35.5CA and 40.8 PA?