shape
carat
color
clarity

How important are different diamond characteristics ?

psengineer

Rough_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2015
Messages
41
Hi all,

I am new here and have just recently started hunting for some suitable diamonds to propose to the girlfriend of 5 years. I apologize in advance for the long post as I am very new & am learning. The more I research, the more overwhelmed I am by all the different characteristics and terminologies. I've tried my best to filtered down my selections and reached the candidates listed below. Can really use some help on deciding which is most worth it and will produce the best visual effects. All the candidates being considered have excellent symmetry&polish with thin to slightly thick girdle % . I am not concerned about fluroesnce / cutlet as much as I have not seen much posting stating their importance, but please correct me if that's not true.






















Some of my questions from the data set above, for #3, despite having a 1.0 BIC, will the 32 crown penalize how it looks after being set (seems to be the best pic in terms of HCA / price ratio) ? I was told by an online jeweller that 32 crown is way too shallow. Similarly, for #2, will clarity of VS1 have significant impact on how it looks if the light travels through the inclusions? it's very attractive in terms of being cheaper. There are such a large difference in price from the data set listed, what justifies the premiums from one to another? For instance, #6 is .2 carets more than #7 and in within similar 1.7-1.8 TIC ranges, why does #7 cost 3k more? Are any of the above in danger of "fish-eye" and how do they behave in different light conditions? In general, what would you consider to be the best pick & why?

On another hand, I am having the toughest time trying to understand BIC, TIC, FIC despite fully reading their description.
What is the visual effect differences between more light return&spread v.s. more fire/scintillation? I cannot tell from the pictures available.

Lastly, I am planning to set the stones in a Tacori setting, does anyone have any knowledge/experience on whether local jewelers will be willing to set loose diamonds purchased online? Is it possible to buy the tacori setting & have the loose diamond vendor set it? I am worried about unethical jewelers swapping diamonds during the set process.

Thanks in advance for your help & looking forward to your responses.

Thanks,
-J
 
Use PS approved vendor such as JA, Whiteflash etc and buy a GIA certificated diamonds - number lasered on diamond matches cert no swopping.
 
Thanks Sphene, all of these are GIA/AGS certified, but I am not sure how I can validate the lasered on number after it's set. I am also interested in your opinion on which of the listed options would you consider to be the best.
 
This is what I* would do if I were picking the stone for me.
I would stick with a TIC stone. Sort of gives you a good combination of everything (unless you know diamonds well enough that
you want something specific.)

I would eliminate 3 because the crown angle (BIC)
I would skip diamonds 4, 5 and 7...tables too big. (is the table/depth swapped on 5?)
I would probably skip 2 because of the pavilion height (42.8 is really high).

That leaves 1, 6, 8 and 9.

I would need to see images and idealscopes on the ones I havent eliminated. If you want to knock it down even more I would get rid
of 1 and 9 due to the 36 crown angle. So that leaves 6 and 8. From there if 6 and 8 were both good/comparable, I would take 6
because for $1k more I could get 20 points.

Anyway, do you have links to these stones where we can see pictures of them? That could also help to eliminate some.

To be honest, I would drop down in clarity to VS level. You wont be able to see anything at this level (on rare occasions VS2s
are iffy). You can save yourself some money for something you cant even see. The light return will not/should not be affected
at the VS level or they would not receive a VS rating.

The HCA tool is an elimination tool. You should not compare one HCA score against another (like 1.7 is better than 1.8).
 
I think you are paying extra for going with a colorless diamond with such a high clarity. Are you sure you can't go to a near-colorless in a VS (or even SI1) range?
 
psengineer|1448190074|3952722 said:





















Thanks,
-J

I've updated the posting above w/ links to the diamonds.
Thanks for everyone's input. Can you help me understand the effect of larger crown/ larger table / steeper pavillion a bit better on what effects they have on the visual performance?
I've tried requesting idealscope images for the above, but JA states that most of them aren't in NY and they are unable to provide the images except for #2 & #6. #2 is an H&A and i was considering it as the idealscope is available and it looks nice.
To add, I also really liked #6, just worrid about the VVS2.
#5 isn't flipped, the table is bigger than depth.

I would consider VS ranges logically, but gf mentioned that she wanted less inclusions before. In terms of color, my gf's eyes are extremely keen to color differences being in the medical , we are pretty sensitive to color and i'd stick w/ D-F color ranges.
 
To quickly reply to a couple of your questions, as has already been said, GIA/AGS graded VS1 diamonds are characterized by inclusions that are difficult for a trained grader to see under 10x. They will not affect visual appearance or visual light performance.
Color is something that is possible to see, although most people have trouble distinguishing between 2 or 3 color grades in the real world. Knowing that you and your girlfriend are color sensitive makes it quite appropriate to stay in the colorless range (DEF), but GH look white to most people.

Regarding your question about shallow crown and visual effects. If well proportioned they will tend to return more white light to the eye at the expense of colored sparkles (fire). Fire is a really magical property of diamond light performance and most of us do not want to sacrifice too much in that aspect. You will not see it in all lighting scenarios, even in diamonds with high fire potential. But when the light is right, a fiery diamond does special things.

Regarding the Tacori setting. If you work through a Tacori dealer they will be able to order the setting for the dimensions of your diamond. They will normally send it to Tacori for setting, which is probably the best approach as it will ensure that you retain all Tacori warranties.
 
Hi all,

Thank you all for the wonderful information. It makes more sense now.
I've attached an idealscope image of the 1.7.
Can someone help give some input to see if this is worth it? i've noticed that there is a pretty big white spot near the upper left corner.
645004.jpg

Thanks!
 
Looks tilted.
 
What does tilted mean?
 
Stone was not straight in the idealscope. It was tilted when they took the picture.
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Top