In search of the perfect SI2: 3 stones, magnified photos.

[uiggu]

I am in touch with B2C Jewels (a dropshipper), whose diamonds are mostly located in India. I requested images of three diamonds which all scored under a 1.8 on the HCA, and got these photos back.

All of these stones are around the $3000 mark.

1. 0.9 H SI2 GIA 3Ex
HCA: 0.9 (Light return, Scintillation, Fire, Spread: All Ex)
Inclusions: Crystal, Feather
http://www.b2cjewels.com/Images//Certificate//3299047.pdf


This was and is my favourite based on the stats (the colour, the excellent HCA score, etc). But that inclusion. Ouch. Am I crazy to be wondering if the fire and sparkle will make that inclusion less noticeable? I should mention I don't have great eyesight and am not very inclusion sensitive.


2. 0.92 J SI2 GIA 3Ex
HCA: 1.8 (Light return, Scintillation, Fire: VG; Spread: Ex)
Inclusions: Twinning Wisp, Crystal
http://www.b2cjewels.com/Certificate.aspx?StockNo=3265352


This is probably the stone with the fewest obvious inclusions (to my eye). It also has a great spread. But I'm concerned about the darkness on/brownish appearance of the table. Is this just lighting or a brown cloud? It also scores lowest of the three on the HCA.


3. 0.90 I SI2 GIA 3Ex
HCA: 1.0 (Light return, Scintillation, Fire, Spread: All Ex)
Inclusions: Twinning Wisp
http://www.b2cjewels.com/Images//Certificate//3337878.pdf


This again has an excellent HCA score and appears to be very white for an I (could be lighting?). The inclusions are off to the corner and not too black. However again the table seems to be a dull brown. What is causing this?

Are all of these duds, or is there one worth pursuing?

Any opinions and advice very gratefully accepted. I'm getting precisely nowhere with vendors (not too surprising given the season, but still).

 

[yssie]

Re: In search of the perfect SI2: 3 stones, magnified photos

Some thoughts as I have them..

1A. Are you the one who is going to be wearing it? That's a pretty dramatic inclusion - yes, sparkle and "life" helps, but they work like tinted moisturizer which doesn't solve the problem if what you really need is tattoo coverup.

1B. I always hesitate to suggest buying stones on the premise that you can't see the flaws now, because I've found that you can become more sensitive to those sorts of things on close inspection over time. It'd be one thing if you didn't care, people don't notice what they don't care about, but the fact that you're on PS at all suggests that you're at a disadvantage in this regard

2A. Unfortunately you really can't judge visibility of inclusions from pics - sometimes it's pretty easy, like w/ stone 1, judging by size and location, but you'll definitely want to have it shipped out or at least inspected by trusted eyes before having it set.

2B. It's an interesting stone. LGF70 w/ the larger table and steeper pav/lower crown height combo - a bright stone with lots of big, white flashes would be my guess, and more visible colour in more types of lights than a stone w/ similar proportions w/ longer LGF (wide mains = big bold high-energy flashes). I like the proportions on this one.

2C. No worries about the colour in photos - photography setup, post-photography enhancing/cleanup, compressing to print to web, what the guy is wearing... all make a difference! You generally want to compare artifacts within a single photo rather than compare photos to each other.

3A. Again - no, can't judge body colour from these photos.

3B. Inclusions are very nicely positioned - right near the girdle under the kite facet at 10 o'clock - this facet is low and flat and it's the preferred position to put a prong, so given the size of the stone there's an excellent chance of pronging those inclusions

 

[ame]

Re: In search of the perfect SI2: 3 stones, magnified photos

none of them is particularly winning me. But I can say that #1 is for me a NO. The size of it right away is a no for me. I couldn't handle it. Why are you sticking with the SI2 mark?