How noticeable is the difference in Excellent+ cuts?

[DiamondDealHunter]

My girlfriend is obsessed with size, she thinks my sister''s ring, which is a "good" cut is just beautiful, where me on the other hand have seen a lot nicer since I started looking around. I have been searching for Ideal+ stones now that I am getting closer to buying, but I want to be sure that when she see''s others'' rings after she gets hers she appreciates the quality. With that said, I don''t want to get anything lower than an Excellent cut, so how much difference is there between a H&A cut to Ideal to SuperIdeal to Excellent...etc? I am assuming that the exact specs of a particular diamond would determine that, but I am just speaking in general.

Thanks

 

[jenntheten]

If the girl is obsessed with size----give her what she wants----she's the one wearing it! I agree that quality is VERY IMPORTANT, but from a girls perspective I think you should compromise and give her the size she is hoping for and maybe adjust your very-high-end quality preference some in order to do this.
I bet you can find a wonderful balance of BOTH---and needless to say, any DECENT girl would be happy with whatever you picked out!

 

[Mara]

H&A, Ideal, SuperIdeal, etc are just branded names for 'really nice stones'. H&A exhibits hearts and arrows when viewed under an H&A viewer and some say have great symmetry. Ideal is just a word that people use to brand their stone as a 'great cut'. Not all ideal stones are true great cuts. It's more of a marketing gimmicky word. SuperIdeal is a branded word as well, to mean...better than Ideal. Blue Nile also has their Signature Ideal.

Basically I wouldn't focus so much on the brand names attached to the stone, but focus more on the characteristics that go into making the stone beautiful. Determine what you want in the stone, you really need to prioritize before looking at the stones. If your girlfriend wants the high carat weight (and I remember your last post on this too!), and she will be happy with a 1.35 mall-cut okay stone, then go for it. But if that bothers you, then you need to prioritize and think about how to compromise so that you both get what you want in the end. My boyfriend used to tell me 'hey I am buying the stone so I'll get you what I want!'. Of course he was just joking to try to get a rise out of me...but he did have a point. I knew I wanted a stone and ring that we both loved, as I didn't want him to look at the piece he bought me and go..'ew thats a horrible cut, I really wanted to get something nicer but she wanted the big rock'...or whatever. Instead I wanted us both to love the ring when we looked at it. That is what we achieved in the end with the stone we chose. You get my jist. Sure the ring is for her, but you ARE purchasing it, so I think some of your priorities should be mixed in there as well. Also--we started out looking for an 'ideal' stone..but in the end our stone is far from an ideal, and we love it. It really spoke to us. It's an AGS 7, but it got high marks from the appraiser...its one of the large tabled, shallow stones that has very high brilliance return and less fire inside the table. In the end it's definitely a preference thing. The numbers on paper and the excellent/ideal markings mean nothing if the stone does not speak to your heart when you see it.

That said...determine what you want to have above all else. Is it cut? Is it the ctw? If its both..those are your top two priorities. Color and Clarity come last (though not least as you can get a great cut, decent ctw H, SI1 for within your budget I am sure). If you are focusing on cut and have a tight budget (which I think I recall you do), my opinion would be to definitely do not go for a branded stone. You will waste some of your money in the markup that accompanies such stones. Try to use what you have learned, and the ongoing advice from the forum peers, to determine which stones really meet your criteria. I think we posted some possibilities in the past.

Also just as an FYI...I have seen some pictures on here posted of people's excellent cut stones after they bought and man it blows you away. You can definitely see the difference between a well cut stone and an okay cut stone. If you end up with something excellent, I really doubt your girlfriend will mind if her ring is a little smaller than your sisters...esp if it blows your sisters away when compared side by side. Size is not everything!

I guess this big rambling post really means to me is...that you need to figure out what you are really looking for. If you want cut but in your heart you feel your girl will be unhappy with a smaller ring, you may have to find that compromise somewhere in the middle where you both will be pleased with the outcome. Then start your search with a vengeance and see what you find. If things are not popping up in your price range, you may have to reorder the priorities a bit. Bring the cut quality down a notch to stay within price, etc.

 

[barry]

DDH;

Mara is on target with her comments.

Also keep in mind that a superbly cut diamond will
look bigger compared to a same carat weight mediocre
cut stone. That should help to solve your
"size" problem.

Not all ideal cuts are created equal. Having a AGS-0 or GIA
EX-EX-VG designation is a great start, but there is alot more information you should avail yourself of in order to make an informed decision.

Barry
www.superbcert.com

 

[DiamondDealHunter]

Thanks for the replies. I think my problem is that I am very technical by nature and love need to know the details on everything I buy, where I think most women when looking at others' rings don't usually ask how the cut rating is as opposed to "how many carats is that". And I think most women don't even know the 4Cs about their own ring. I only ask this question because it is very difficult to get all the details about what you are seeing in a store vs online, where it is the opposite, so I can't say that I have seen an "AGS 0" next to say an "AGS 2 or 3" to see how big a difference there is. Reading about the H&A stones make it sound like it wont be mistaken for anything less, but hearing some of the comments make it sound like that's not the case. Just being anal I guess.

Thanks

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Hi There,
I completely understand your need for #'s & the need to know everything.

I'm the same way. I wanted both size & quality (cut) & thats what I got. But for both of these I had to give up something & I chose to compromise on colour (got a G) & SI-1 clarity. Let me tell you though, my stone is completely eye clean. I had to refer to my cert to find the general area for the crystal/cloud inclusion. I found it only with my loop. As for colour, G is still very white. AGS had it listed as G, the local grader here listed it as F.

You will have to decide what compromises you can live with. Maura's post is a very good one. My stone is ideal, non-branded. See my Testimonial for Diamond Brokers of Florida for my BScope result. Its a knockout stone.

Judy