Hearts and arrows - observations

[PhillipSchmidt]

I am finding that with some cuts in larger stones the pattern is so strong that it alters the look of the stone, more obvious in certain lights.

It was just something I noticed at work. Some people who view a very nice H&A looked at it like it was darker, especialy in contrast to other stones. It looked about as good as any diamond I have seen when bright lights hit it.

 

[strmrdr]

I find h&a diamonds with too short lgf like the 8* to suffer from that.
Too much dark area under some light conditions.

 

[belle]

just curious, at what ''larger'' size are you noticing this?

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

edited: I think anything around 1ct+. Who cares what cut at this size. Would anybody frown at a nice and clean 2ct baguete.

It is definately a dark area storm. Our theoetrical diamond takes in all the light and brings it back out again nicely where there is any full spectrum light, but where there is only white light for example different diamonds react a lot differently with the shallow ones being the brightest - deeper stones bring out a higher spectrum of colours. I am not sure we can confine it H&A stones. People who own them and wear them in every occassion would know better.

 

[Maxine]

which kind do you prefer????

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

More of a question for a cutter. The better the cut the better the performance of the stone.

I am not in the position to play around with a lot of diamonds like some people around here can. My oppinions come from setting them. I work with the naked eye.

Any stone thats lists in the highests attributes off any well known certs, egl included will look great. After the best are considered it can be hard to distinguish the good from the bad and you need an appraisal of the actual stone, or a very good vendor to cut away the good stones from the bad.

I have a list of diamonds, in my head that really impressed me in the past and each of them were different. Some flash smartly, some flash colourfully, some bright white and others were just huge

 

[diamondsrock]

if someone is interested more in brilliance than fire, would a non H&A diamond be preferred? I have noticed many H&A''s score very high in fire and moderately high in brilliance. What if you wanted the most white light return and weren''t as concerned with colored flashes? Is there an "ideal" cut for this?

 

[JohnQuixote]

Phillip, I think you would find recent studies on contrast and obscuration very interesting, and very pertinent to these observations.

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 6/16/2005 12:53:18 PM
Author: diamondsrock
if someone is interested more in brilliance than fire, would a non H&A diamond be preferred? I have noticed many H&A's score very high in fire and moderately high in brilliance. What if you wanted the most white light return and weren't as concerned with colored flashes? Is there an 'ideal' cut for this?

DR,

Much of this depends on lighting. Rounds cut for optimum light return will have a robust balance of these factors and you don't have to 'sacrifice' one for the other. What you see more of in a well-cut diamond depends largely on lighting conditions and surroundings.

Almost any diamond performs well in direct light - particularly spotlighting like you may see in common jewelry stores. You're seeing much WLR, and see DCLR (chromatic, or colored flashes) as well. The balance of these depends on the cut, but since so much light is entering/exiting the stone the 'fine-tuning' of what you see does not impact your eye as much as the sheer 'volume' does.

Diffuse light, like you may encounter on a cloudy day or in an office with fluorescent lights, is the environment in which you will see the lest dispersion (fire or DCLR). Well-cut diamonds return white light well, so the diamond can appear very bright. The amount of fire you will see depends on specifics - and is muted in this lighting condition. Scintillation is also muted in diffuse light, however, I've noted that a diamond with great patterning has more elements of DCLR through a normal range of tilt (AGS calls this dynamic fire) due to optimization & contrast.

Soft light, like candlelight, lantern, or many small distant light sources, is where the patterning of a diamond really stands out. When alignment of the facets is optimized and minor facet construction is of a design that is well-balanced (esp lower girdle/pavilion main relations) these diamonds maximize the return of available light they are taking in. These are the sparklers in which you will see broad flashes from a diamond on someone's finger across a restaurant in candlelight.

 

[PhillipSchmidt]

Thanks John