whit prowdy
Rough_Rock
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2022
- Messages
- 26
Hello!
I'm a long-time lurker but have never posted before. All the info I gleaned from this site helped me buy a 5-stone ring (natural, ACA stones) from Whiteflash for my wife 10 years ago for our 25th anniversary. I had a great experience with them so was planning to make this purchase from them as well.
I'm going with a single 2.5 carat lab-grown stone this time but I didn't love the settings I was seeing online (not just at WF, but James Allen and a number of others, too) so I found a local jeweler who has one that's perfect. I told him I'd be bringing him a stone to set and during our conversation he asked if I wanted him to show me a "super ideal lab-grown stone for comparison." I said sure, thinking why not?
I saw his stone today and, to my untrained eye, it was very nice but lacked the sparkle that my wife's 0.45 carat ACA stones have--they are really dazzling! Here are the stats he shared (he has not shown me the certificate yet):
GIA certified
2.50 carat
G
VVS2
Triple excellent
Fluorescence: None
Table 56%
Depth 62%
CA 34.5
PA 41.0
medium (faceted) girdle 3.5%
culet: none
I ran the numbers in the HCA and got a score of 1.7 so I was encouraged. But, again, when I saw it today I was disappointed. Of course, no ideal scope (I didn't plan ahead and try to buy one in time to use for our meeting) or ASET images and he has all the negative opinions about internet diamond buying that you can expect. He's holding the stone so I can compare it with the other(s) I bring to him.
WF has two stones for me to consider right now, but I only have the certificate for one of them at the moment. They are bringing both in-house to get light performance images for me.
Here's the data for the first stone:
IGI certified
2.50 carat
F
VS1
Cut grade ideal
Polish excellent
Symmetry excellent
Fluorescence: None
Table 57.5
Depth 61.9
CA 35.4
PA 40.7
Medium (faceted) girdle 3.9 (I think--it wasn't on the certificate but I subtracted crown height and pavilion depth from the total depth)
culet: pointed
Also has "Hearts and Arrows" on the certificate
Just comparing numbers with what I read on ideal cut diamonds I was pretty hopeful about the local jeweler's stone. The numbers for the WF stone don't seem quite as "good" to my newbie thinking, but I did plug them in the HCA and it returned a score of 1.9.
Some of the questions I have include:
Should I care about IGI vs GIA for the WF stone?
Does the size of the stone affect the fire or scintillation I'm (not) seeing vs my wife's smaller ACA stones?--or should a great cut perform well no matter the size?
Should I care about the pointed culet vs none?
Should I care about the girdle--seems a bit thick?
If the light performance images check out from WF should that be enough of a green light to purchase the stone for comparison with the local jeweler's stone?
Prices: $5900 local guy's stone; $7800 for WF's
Sorry for the long post!--I really appreciate any opinions you can offer. I'm happy to try and provide any additional info I may have omitted.
I'm a long-time lurker but have never posted before. All the info I gleaned from this site helped me buy a 5-stone ring (natural, ACA stones) from Whiteflash for my wife 10 years ago for our 25th anniversary. I had a great experience with them so was planning to make this purchase from them as well.
I'm going with a single 2.5 carat lab-grown stone this time but I didn't love the settings I was seeing online (not just at WF, but James Allen and a number of others, too) so I found a local jeweler who has one that's perfect. I told him I'd be bringing him a stone to set and during our conversation he asked if I wanted him to show me a "super ideal lab-grown stone for comparison." I said sure, thinking why not?
I saw his stone today and, to my untrained eye, it was very nice but lacked the sparkle that my wife's 0.45 carat ACA stones have--they are really dazzling! Here are the stats he shared (he has not shown me the certificate yet):
GIA certified
2.50 carat
G
VVS2
Triple excellent
Fluorescence: None
Table 56%
Depth 62%
CA 34.5
PA 41.0
medium (faceted) girdle 3.5%
culet: none
I ran the numbers in the HCA and got a score of 1.7 so I was encouraged. But, again, when I saw it today I was disappointed. Of course, no ideal scope (I didn't plan ahead and try to buy one in time to use for our meeting) or ASET images and he has all the negative opinions about internet diamond buying that you can expect. He's holding the stone so I can compare it with the other(s) I bring to him.
WF has two stones for me to consider right now, but I only have the certificate for one of them at the moment. They are bringing both in-house to get light performance images for me.
Here's the data for the first stone:
IGI certified
2.50 carat
F
VS1
Cut grade ideal
Polish excellent
Symmetry excellent
Fluorescence: None
Table 57.5
Depth 61.9
CA 35.4
PA 40.7
Medium (faceted) girdle 3.9 (I think--it wasn't on the certificate but I subtracted crown height and pavilion depth from the total depth)
culet: pointed
Also has "Hearts and Arrows" on the certificate
Just comparing numbers with what I read on ideal cut diamonds I was pretty hopeful about the local jeweler's stone. The numbers for the WF stone don't seem quite as "good" to my newbie thinking, but I did plug them in the HCA and it returned a score of 1.9.
Some of the questions I have include:
Should I care about IGI vs GIA for the WF stone?
Does the size of the stone affect the fire or scintillation I'm (not) seeing vs my wife's smaller ACA stones?--or should a great cut perform well no matter the size?
Should I care about the pointed culet vs none?
Should I care about the girdle--seems a bit thick?
If the light performance images check out from WF should that be enough of a green light to purchase the stone for comparison with the local jeweler's stone?
Prices: $5900 local guy's stone; $7800 for WF's
Sorry for the long post!--I really appreciate any opinions you can offer. I'm happy to try and provide any additional info I may have omitted.