Help deciding on a round brilliant diamond - thank you

[oli]

Hi everyone
I was hoping for some input from you experts to work out whether a diamond I have found is actually a good diamond or not, particularly in terms of it's cut and capacity to "sparkle".
I have attached the GIA report, HCA result and a photo of the diamond.
I do not have an ASET or Idealscope image at this time.
I had actually already bought a diamond through a diamond broker but could not decide on how to set it so left things for a while. When I contacted him this week to make an appointment to discuss my setting he told me he sold my diamond to someone else.
Suffice to say I am feeling pretty disheartened about it all.
So the diamond broker has said he will try and find me a similar diamond. He has sent me one but it has feathers (as well as crystal, cloud and needle inclusions), is smaller in the measurements and I don't like the proportions 61% table, 59.8% depth, 33 degree crown and 40.8 degree pavilion, even though it does get a 1.8 TIC HCA score (very good light return and scintillation excellent spread and fire).
I am in Australia and the dollar has gone down from about 95 cents when I bought my diamond to 70 cents now, so the price of diamonds has increased by about 25%!
I am trying to find something similar so hopefully the broker will honour the price of my other diamond.
The diamond I had was:
Round brilliant;
Excellent cut, polish and Symmetry;
GIA;
1.50 ct (7.46-7.50 x 4.45 mm);
F colour:
VS1 (with one small crystal, a very small needle and some pinpoints);
Faint Fluorescence;
HCA of 1.0 (TIC) Excellent light return, fire, scintillation and Spread.
I have searched on pricescope but there does not seem to be much that matches the diamond I had except that which I have attached, which is 0.04 ct more but has more inclusions than my other diamond and has an HCA of 1.4 (very good scintillation and spread).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KobiD]

60/60 style has a different flavour about them that does not appeal to everyone.

What are your requirements/constraints? Budget, colour, clarity, size. With this information you may find a few more people chipping in with suggestions.

Do you intend to have the stone shipped to Australia and set here locally? or having everything done and then imported?

I wouldn't get too hung up on the HCA scores. A 0.9 isn't neccessarily better than a 1.8. Anything under 2 (and a few over) are worth further investigation.

 

[oli]

60/60 style has a different flavour about them that does not appeal to everyone.

What are your requirements/constraints? Budget, colour, clarity, size. With this information you may find a few more people chipping in with suggestions.

Do you intend to have the stone shipped to Australia and set here locally? or having everything done and then imported?

I wouldn't get too hung up on the HCA scores. A 0.9 isn't neccessarily better than a 1.8. Anything under 2 (and a few over) are worth further investigation.

Although I am sure this seems weird, my requirements are to try and find a similar diamond to the one I had so an F, 1.5ct, approx. 7.4-7.5mm, VS1 (no feathers or graining), 3 excellent GIA with faint fluorescence and an HCA under 2.

I will have the stone shipped to Australia and then get it set in Australia.

Thanks.

 

[KobiD]

If you are willing to drop to a G colour this would be a beauty! It has a feather as its clarity setting flaw, but the image and documents both look good.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut/1.51-carat-g-color-vs1-clarity-ideal-cut-sku-645116

Another beauty from WF - 1.545 ct G VS1 - few pin points
http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2708991.htm

Fairly significant price difference between the two though.

 

[oli]

Thanks

I am reluctant to go to a G colour for a AGS though as I have read they can be a little more lenient in terms of colour grading.

Attached is another diamond that has been proposed. The image does not look that great but the hearts and arrows and ASET seems ok and it gets an HCA under 2 within the BIC. What do the experts think? I don't have ideal scope.

 

[oli]

Sorry I forgot the image

 

[JDDN]

Yikes! I would stay away from that diamond as it's crown angle is 32 degrees- very shallow. The table is rather large as well.

This may not be helpful to you, but are you sure you want to keep working with your "diamond broker"? For me, if he sold the diamond I owned, that would pretty much preclude us from working together in the future. That seems really unethical to me. Is there any reason you won't buy online? I assume he'll be charging you some amount to source a stone, so maybe that will off set buying online?

Here's some parameters that will help you (or your broker) vet diamonds:

Table: 55-58%
Depth: 59-62.3%
Crown angle: 34-35 degrees
Pavilion angle: 40.6 to 41 degrees

 

[oli]

Thanks JDDN

I thought it might be fine because of the HCA score.

I have been struggling with whether or not to keep dealing with this person. I was hopeful that he would find me a similar diamond and I would not "lose" out as a consequence of the significantly higher diamond prices in Australia now. I do feel though that he is presenting me with inferior diamonds so he does not lose out by the change in diamond prices. This may not be the case but the reality is, I have lost confidence and trust so I probably just have to suck it up, accept what happened, go back to the drawing board and accept that I will just have to pay more. Hopefully he gives me my money back and I can find something online (which is a little scary being in Australia).

I will use your parameters going forward thank you. I was using a similar one I found on Lumera but they only have Pavillion depth not pavilion angle, which I understand is more accurate.

Thanks for your help.

 

[KobiD]

Diamond above doesn't look bad, but it's of a very specific flavour. As JDDN has stated, it has a very shallow crown and physically while it will have a good spread (better dimensions for weight across the face of the diamond) it will also end up resulting in a very flat low profile - as someone once said, a pancake. Along with the shallow crown you also end up missing out on a lot of dispersion/fire, so while the ASET and IS both look good, this particular diamond will be more inclined to return white light than all the colours of the spectrum.

It's all about compromising something in one area to gain something somewhere else. If the physical face up size of 7.45mm is important and your budget can't stretch to get there with an F VS1+ without going towards a BIC cut, then I'd personally look at dropping a colour range. Then again, if a BIC is what appeals to you, then by all means the one above isn't a bad example.

The large majority of folk here on PS are looking for a real firecracker, and the safest way to achieve a nice balance between good colour return and white light is to stick around the Tolkowsky cut geometry.

Is the broker located within Australia? Jogia by any chance? If so I can understand that you'd have already made a small deposit up front to have them work on your behalf.

Note: in response to your last post, I'm also in Australia and have used James Allen on two occasions now. They are a pleasure to work with, great communication, and everything ran smoothly including having a ring returned for resizing and matching and then brought back into the country again. I'm sure any of the big sellers recommended on PS are well and truly up to date with international export and will complete all the paper work for you. It's as simple as contacting FedEx once the item is dispatched to arrange for payment of the fees (Only GST, fair trade agreement with USA means no duties - which they will process for you).

 

[oli]

Thanks KobiD

My original diamond was a TIC (1.0 - 4 excellent) with measurements of 7.46-7.50.

I am happy to be flexible on the specs.

The problem I have (had) is I was just trying to get something similar on the specs to the one I had, so I felt I was getting something of the same quality, but the original price would be honoured.

I think it is clear though now that this is not going to happen.

The broker is in Australia. I paid what I do not consider a "small" deposit, rather it was 50% of the cost of the diamond - so over $10,000.

Can you clarify - do I have to pay any taxes/duties/GST if I buy a diamond online from American and ship it to Australia?

Thanks.

 

[KobiD]

My experience was only with James Allen, so I can't vouch for the others but I'd imagine they would operate fairly similarly. I also bought a diamond and setting and had the stone set by James Allens jewellers.

They covered the postage costs, completed all required export/import documentation, and advised when the order was completed and in the hands of FedEx.

At my end I had a few options to work with in terms of payment. Depending on what you choose you may have a few associated costs involved (also depends on your bank). Most vendors will offer a reduced price for wire transfer.

So you'll have your bank fees for the wire/exchange processing fee, as well as the hit in the pocket we have with the AUD standing where it is.

When it comes with FedEx they will act as your broker through customs, so you will have a flat $55 fee (from memory). This fee is then added to the cost of the item (cost in AUD at time of processing), and you will then pay GST (10%) on top of the total figure.