I''m trying again.. Opinion?

[texas_26]

I have been looking around for a little while now, and have found this diamond -

http://www.niceice.com/certcopies/123isi1_gia12158757/index.htm

I did a search here on "niceice" and didn''t come up with much. They seem to do a lot of reporting on the diamond, and I emailed them and asked if this was eye clean and they said it was. That close-up looks like a lot of stuff on it though.

Any comments? Do you think I could do better for the price?

Thanks,
John

 

[DiamondOptics]

Hi Tex,


The stone must be seen by an expert!

With that said, my opinion would be
that this diamond looks like a borderline
SI-1...

Gemology 101, would advise that if your
caught between 2 clarity grades, than always
give the diamond the lesser of the 2 grades.

GIA has been accused of being a little lax
in there clarity grading.

It would not surprise me in the least,
that if this stone were graded by
the GIA 20 years ago that it may
have received an SI-2 grade.


Buy Informed!

Kirk Konst

 

[caratgirl]

Hi John,

You know, I've seen a lot of SI1 diamonds with more 'crap' in them than this

Keep in mind that they are extreme closeups. Also, other dealers won't take the time to shoot that many pictures due to turning off potential buyers. I personally like to see all the flaws. If you feel that this stone has too many inclusions, may I suggest visiting a jewelry store and checking out a good sampling of SI1 stones. That way you will feel way more comfortable with any choice that you end up making. Take care that you see them with enough magnification, however. Some jewelers will only have a 10X loupe for viewing, so check how this particular one was enlarged.

Enjoy the hunt!

 

[Mara]

Sorry but unless I am blind I missed the price on that one.

It looks like a pretty clean SI1 actually! If you go by the plot anyway.

Keep in mind that the enlarged image as noted by Nice Ice is making the diamond appear the size of a tennis ball. That's alot of magnification!!!

Also from what I have heard Nice Ice has a pretty good reputation, I don't recall any posts that say anything negative about them or their stones. In fact I think I read a few positive reviews. Did you search for both Nice Ice (2 words) and the one word version in the search archives?

 

[Sierra Nevada]

Try a search on google, or you could also try DiamondTalk , for NiceIce. They have been around for years, which is a long time by internet standards, and have a good rep. For an Si1 you could always email them and ask for a specific evaluation on whether it is eyeclean or not. Close-ups can be deceiving- remember it way, way magnified and you will never see it that way in actual use. Remember you can always return the diamond during the specified period if you find you don't like it.

 

[texas_26]

Well, I went ahead and got this one. Hearts and Arrows, Nice spread, scored very well on the HCA. They assured me it was 100% eye clean, and was a very beautiful stone. I should get it fairly soon, and I will let everyone know what I think.

I ended up paying $4750.

John

 

[trichrome]

If those black dots are not seen with the unaided eye.....you
got a pretty good stone. In SI grade, getting a stone without
carbons is always better, if you can.

Trichrome.