Help Comparing 4 Oval ASETs

William Preston · Nov 8, 2017

Howdy, team.

A few new wallet-friendly ovals have popped up, and I'm considering replacing the one I got with one of them. I have ASETs for them all, but since they seem to be taken in different ways, I'm having trouble comparing them to see which will perform best. They're all comparable Size/Color/Clarity, so I'm really just looking for the ones that will look the best on the finger. Also, are these all good such that any choice would be a good choice, or are some of these terrible options?

Any help would be appreciated!

A)

B)

C)

D)

Thanks!
WP

tyty333 · Nov 8, 2017

Do you have any links to videos of the stones? None of the asets look all that good to me. Number 1
doesnt look too bad but I cant tell whats going on with the faceting pattern.

Asets for ovals are not pretty IMO.

liaerfbv · Nov 8, 2017

I am not an oval expert, but C looks the best to me. A seems like it has a strong bow tie. Hopefully someone else will chime in for you.

pyramid · Nov 8, 2017

I would say only A. White is leakage. Needs Red and Green only with blue being contrast.

liaerfbv · Nov 8, 2017

pyramid said:
I would say only A. White is leakage. Needs Red and Green only with blue being contrast.

I have always referred to this website for fancy asets:

https://beyond4cs.com/2014/12/aset-reference-charts/

Is this chart incorrect? His best ovals have plenty of white.

William Preston · Nov 8, 2017

tyty333 said:
Do you have any links to videos of the stones? None of the asets look all that good to me. Number 1
doesnt look too bad but I cant tell whats going on with the faceting pattern.

Asets for ovals are not pretty IMO.

Here's a link to video for A:
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.00-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-3452889

Unfortunately, the others don't have videos. I didn't want to post only the one because I thought it might skew people's opinions.

William Preston · Nov 8, 2017

@liaerfbv That chart has been my go-to as well, but I'm struggling to use it with the different styles of ASET. I'm hoping some of the Oval experts here can see something I can't.

pyramid · Nov 8, 2017

I think it is difficult to get assets for oval and pears with much red and green. Notice on the link you sent that as their grade goes higher there is more green interspersed with the white in a confetti type of way. I am no expert on this but I believe the more red the better and the solid green is good.

tyty333 · Nov 8, 2017

William Preston said:
@liaerfbv That chart has been my go-to as well, but I'm struggling to use it with the different styles of ASET. I'm hoping some of the Oval experts here can see something I can't.

I dont find that chart very useful.

I really think you need videos to determine whether an oval is nice or not. You want to watch how the facets light up as the stone turns. Particularly the
facets that head down towards the long rounded ends.

The JA stone is lighting up pretty decently as the stone turns. It does have a large table...not sure how you feel about that.

I check JA for nice ones and didnt see too much...I'll check one more time.

BlueNile has this one which is nice (hold shift button down when you click on link)
https://www.bluenile.com/diamond-details/LD09026091

lalala · Nov 8, 2017

Here is a decent reference thread w/ ASET images:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/oval-aset-please-advise.201767/

There is a huge difference compared to the ones posted here.

tyty333 · Nov 8, 2017

Yep, didnt really find anything at JA up to $17k down to 1.85 carat.

One at enchanted diamonds that look interesting...
https://enchanteddiamonds.com/diamonds/view/O201-189Z03062? you should see a real video of the stone...sometimes it came up for me, sometimes not

Texas Leaguer · Nov 8, 2017

As a trade member I am not allowed to recommend or criticize another merchant's stone, so my comments are strictly based on my interpretation of the ASET signature. I would predict that B would be an attractive stone as well. It has a pretty good distribution of green and some red. Leakage (white) is also pretty well distributed without too many large windows. Small bits of leakage next to areas of light return can actually contribute some positive contrast and help with scintillation. It's relative brightness that creates that dynamic effect, more so than brightness alone.
C and D seem to have too much leakage and/or concentrated areas of leakage that may be detrimental.

It's a little hard to say since the images are not captured consistently. I'm assuming they are virtual inventory where different manufacturers are providing different quality images to the merchant.

William Preston · Nov 8, 2017

Thanks for the input, everyone.

@lalala it's tough for me to compare the ASETs in that thread to the ones here because they don't seem to be taken the same way as the ones I have. I almost feel like I'm comparing apples to pears.

@Texas Leaguer That is correct. They're all from different merchants and I assume they're all getting their images from different manufacturers/cutters.

In case it helps, here are images (not videos

) of all 4. It may help to see the facet patterns, but I know it won't do much. Also, if it helps, they all have "Excellent" cut grades by their respective merchants (though, not sure what that means since GIA doesn't rate ovals on cut).

A)

B)

C)

D)

Hoping some old friends @rockysalamander and @Matthews1127 can weigh in as well.

Thanks!
WP

Matthews1127 · Nov 8, 2017

I like A & D in static photo. Reason: facet pattern is most consistent across the stone, and there is little to no mushiness involved in either of them. I love A most; she has a broad belly, and she looks bright (could just be lighting in the photo). D does seem to show more darkness (not leakage) due to the broad facets, but, I believe those facets will certainly create a lot of fire flash, while in motion. A will likely do the same. No matter what, both of these diamonds will produce a lot of rainbow flash, rather than tiny, white scintillation, which will be a show-stopper. I don’t know l x w ratio, but they are both lovely, and seem on the elongated side, rather than the squatty side. Good coverage. The clarity is fabulously eye clean.
I hope this is helpful....

Matthews1127 · Nov 8, 2017

Compare your above ASETS to these:

Karl_K · Nov 9, 2017

Matthews1127 said:
Compare your above ASETS to these:

I dont like that chart,
Ovals can indeed have much better ASET images than that.
I would rate them by row.
bleck
ewwwww
so-so

diamondseeker2006 · Nov 9, 2017

I agree with Karl, just because the ASET chart couldn't locate better ovals as examples doesn't mean that they don't or can't exist! Jonathan of August Vintage is working on ovals with a bettter cut and light return right now, but I don't think he has any 2+ ct stones yet. Well cut ovals are badly needed, and I am excited some will be produced eventually.

I am not in love with any of those stones, but if I had to choose one with the information we have on the thread, I guess it would be B. I don't like the facet pattern of A, and C and D had way too much leakage.

I didn't go see your previous thread, but I assuming the recipent wants an oval the most? If not, I'd choose a stone with better light return.

Matthews1127 · Nov 9, 2017

Karl_K said:
I dont like that chart,
Ovals can indeed have much better ASET images than that.
I would rate them by row.
bleck
ewwwww
so-so

lol!!!

They seemed really white to me I wondered if there could be something better for comparison...

Matthews1127 · Nov 9, 2017

WP: a little research....

https://www.prosumerdiamonds.com/oval-brilliant-cut/

I, myself, am still learning. I found the above link to be rather interesting....

William Preston · Nov 9, 2017

Thanks for the input, everyone. It sounds like I should leave all 4 of them alone and stick with the one I have, which I know has great light performance.

A little disappointing, since they were larger and wallet-friendly, but I guess that's the reason they were available.

Thanks for the link @Matthews1127 Great information! Interesting to see the difference in light performance depending on depth/eliminating bowtie/L-W ratio. Interestingly, C has a 1.4 ratio whereas the others are 1.34 or 1.35. It's also a couple percentage points deeper. The link you sent explains why it's likely I'd see more leakage with those specs than with the others.

William Preston · Nov 15, 2017

tyty333 said:
The JA stone is lighting up pretty decently as the stone turns. It does have a large table...not sure how you feel about that.

Sorry for resurrecting the old thread. Is there an issue with a large (63%) table? I ordered it because the price was right to take a look at it and use my own ASET scope (I'll post it for input if I think it's good; if not, I'll send it back).

William Preston · Nov 21, 2017

A came in today. https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/oval-cut/2.00-carat-h-color-vs1-clarity-sku-3452889
Thinking about sending her back. No bowtie, but she has some pretty big windows on the sides.
@tyty333 @Matthews1127 @rockysalamander What do you all think?

Disregard the asymmetry in the ASET. I wasn't able to get her evened out on the light source, but she's the same on both sides. My concerns are more with the windows on the edges.

I took some videos of her in oscillation on the ol iphone, but I can't post them here

She looks good, so I was surprised to see the holes. In case it matters, she'll be set in a rose gold halo.