ideal-scope recommendation

[mrmarius]

Hi everybody,

I went out to a couple B&M stores this weekend armed with my new ideal-scope. Wanted to relate one stone that I looked at... it had "ideal" depth and table of 61 and 57 respectively. The woman who brought it out was saying things like "now THIS is the KING of stones!! you need sunglasses to look at this one!!! you will not find a more well-cut stone anywhere! all the other stones run for cover when he comes out!" She actually was saying stuff like this.

I looked at it through the scope and it had nasty white areas in a few places on the upper girdle and a fair amount through the center. It also had a big white dot in the middle (does that mean a large culet?)

I didn't want to hurt her feelings and seem obnoxious about it, so I just kind of nodded my head and said, "oh yes, it is very nice."

At any rate, from someone who has nothing to gain by this plug, if you don't have one already you should get one. It really simplies things for an ignoramus like myself. I am actually getting a tad frustrated though, since I haven't yet seen anything that looks close to the pictures of excellent images.

Marius

 

[oldminer]

The white dot in the middle may well be a large culet. Be careful with your lighting. Try a diffused white backgound and not a direct lamp. Once you see a fine example, you will know how to make the best use of the I-S. they look a lot like on the www.ideal-scope.com website... Not exactly, but very close.

 

[mrmarius]

Your point about the lighting reminded me of something... I haven't seen any deep red in any stones I have looked at thus far. I have seen a lot of dark pink, almost fuschia, but no red, like on the ideal-scope.com pictures. Even when I looked at a HoF diamond.

Is this because the lighting I am in isn't quite what it should be, or some other reason?

Or maybe I have red-green color blindness.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Dark intense pink will do
Comupter screens and all that stuff - the color is the color of the pink reflector.

Thanks for sharing your story. The hOF should have only had a few small white bits near the girdle and maybe a slightly pale pink center area?

 

[mrmarius]

Yes, is what I remember for the HoF diamond. It had what I call "tick marks" around the girdle and a little bit of the pale pink you mention in the center. Still was not the ideal image I was looking for, probably close to the "slight leakage" picture on ideal-scope.com, excellent cut diamonds page. Am I being a bit too picky here?

At any rate, I won't get an HoF diamond... don't want to pay for all that marketing.

 

[CP]

Just to clarify on colour seen through the Ideal-Scope.
When we take digital pictures with the Ideal-Scope for posting on our site, the process tends to turn the pink colour seen with the idealscope to shades of red. Technology.... I will look into correcting the colour.

The thing to look for when using the Idealscope is the consistency of colour you see. You will always see a strong pink colour somewhere in the stone. Even the worst stones have some region of strong light return (strong pink colour). Find the strongest pink colour in the stone and see if it is even throughout. If there are great differences in the colour throughout the stone then you are seeing strong light return and strong leakage.
An excellent stone will be evenly coloured all over (pink in reality, red in pictures). The colour doesn't matter, it's the consistency of the colour you see.
Small white knicks around the girdle aren't a great concern, leakage through the centre (around the table reflection) has a greater overall effect.
I have just revamped the excellent page - have a look there may be some stuff there you haven't seen before. The bad page is also useful on this topic of colour consistency.
Dave's point on lighting is also important - see the how to use page at www.ideal-scope.com for a description of this.

Hope this clears things up

Regards
CP

 

[chughes555]

mrmarius,
not to change the subject for too long, but did you not think that the HoF looked spectacular? i thought about it for a while and have decided not to buy one because i'd have to go too small to stay in budget, but man did that thing look good.

overpriced maybe, but pretty.

i just ask to see if anyone will say anything good about a HoF on this site. they get beat up pretty good on this forum i think.

 

[CP]

I've never seen a HoF diamond so can't comment sorry.
The ideal-scope should enable you to find a very nice stone without the "brand name" price. It could take a bit of looking though...
Most cutters, wholesalers and retailers are pretty smart when it comes to Hearts and Arrows so it is not likely that you will find a real Hearts and Arrows stone at a bargin price. Hearts and Arrows is far from the be all and end all though. Look for a stone with high symmetry (good star pattern - forget the hearts) and excellent light return and you'll be onto a winner. You will also not pay through the nose...
Take a look at http://www.ideal-scope.com/symmetry.asp for info on hearts and arrows stones and the idealscope. Also http://www.ideal-scope.com/diamond_cut_excellent.asp for info on excellent cut.

Regards
CP
www.ideal-scope.com

 

[mrmarius]

I agree with CP about the HoF and hearts and arrows diamonds. Yes, the HoF diamond was nice and gave the best scope image I have seen so far. But it was also $11,000 for a 1 ct. stone. There are other diamonds out there that will also give that type of scope image and look great, which aren't technically h&a or hof and therefore won't be so expensive.

Once you have the stone set, you won't ever be able to see the hearts anyway, and in reality, you won't be looking at the stone through an h&a viewer or even an idealscope once it is set.

Thanks for the info CP.

Marius

 

[DiamondJoeQuimby]

FWIW this thread has pictures of an idealscope image and the set stone http://makeashorterlink.com/?V24445BF1