is A Cut Above H&A diamond

[ShoppingForARing]

a universal term...or is it only specific to one supplier? meaning: so can i go to multiple stores and ask for this and they would know what i''m talking about? do these sparkle more than other diamonds?

 

[mercoledi]

A Cut Above is a Whiteflash trademark. H&A is a cutting style and should be recognizable to jewelers.

 

[ShoppingForARing]

sorry i''m new what does it mean when H&A is a cutting style?

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 8/1/2008 5:23:37 PM
Author: ShoppingForARing
sorry i''m new what does it mean when H&A is a cutting style?

https://www.pricescope.com/hearts_indx.asp

 

[neatfreak]

Hearts and Arrows is a generic term that any jeweler should know. ACA is a Whiteflash term. And their diamonds are superb. There are certainly others out there that rival them, but usually Whiteflash knocks the others to the floor on price.

 

[NeverEndingUpgrade]

It stands for Hearts and Arrows. Those are the patterns you should see in an ideal cut ROUND brilliant diamond. This does not apply to fancy shapes. This tutorial on GoodOldGold will help:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/NewCutGrading/OpticalSymmetry/

 

[ShoppingForARing]

Does Hearts and Arrows shine more? (is return light the correct term? what is it if not)

 

[Allison D.]

Heart and Arrow is a patterning that implies optical symmetry.

It is not used to assess performance in a stone; it merely speaks to the optical symmetry of a stone.

 

[WinkHPD]

Date: 8/1/2008 6:15:57 PM
Author: ShoppingForARing
Does Hearts and Arrows shine more? (is return light the correct term? what is it if not)

Not always, but it is rare when one is less than an incredibly well cut diamond. It is not a guarantee of great light return, but so long as the stone is cut to the right angles to assure the best light return, then the optical symmetry necessary to provide the H&A pattern will make your eyes VERY happy.

There are many threads about H&A cutting on this forum. If you have a few hours it will provide some interesting reading. There is also an excellent tutorial on H&A patterning by Brian the Cutter.

Wink

 

[:)]

Shopping - if you are a first or second year then you don''t have too much time to be researching this and probably have an exam you should be studying for

If you are on wards then you should be doing an H&P or some scut or something

Go find a local vendor that carries Hearts on Fire Diamonds to get an idea of H&A (they are very expensive but they will give you an idea - you don''t need to buy into the sales pitch on them), then go to a nearby vendor that carries ''regular'' stones to get a visual difference. (you are looking at round stones, correct?) This will give you an idea if you want h&a or if it does not matter to you.

While out, look at unmounted GIA or AGS stones to see what your color tolerances/preferences are. Mounted stones can face up differently/whiter and it is possible that you may not even need to know unmounted preferences but it gives you a better yardstick of what you want.

Then we can help you find a stone if you want - if you do, let us know shape of stone/color preference/budget/clarity preference (noting that clarity is graded at 10x, so if you grab a higher powered loupe or microscope you are gonna see something, even on stones graded F - thus is it ok as long as you cannot see anything with the naked eye, or do you prefer a certain clarity) and any size preferences.

I would seriously ask for help from this board in selecting a stone if I were in your shoes. Seriously. There is no possible way you can currently spend the time to learn all of this in the depth that people who go into medicine usually research things!

 

[ShoppingForARing]

Thank you for your post..you're right i don't have the time nor money..(kinda worried about how i'm gonna pay for this)..What stores carry loose diamonds?? not the mall stores right?

i should cut my budget down...unless you can shed light on the financing aspect of purchasing rings other than using personal CC's?

 

[Ellen]

Date: 8/1/2008 11:29:05 PM
Author: ShoppingForARing
Thank you for your post..you''re right i don''t have the time nor money..(kinda worried about how i''m gonna pay for this)..What stores carry loose diamonds?? not the mall stores right?

i should cut my budget down...unless you can shed light on the financing aspect of purchasing rings other than using personal CC''s?

Look in the yellow pages for jewelers who carry Hearts on Fire. Usually they are small/independant/privately owned. But it doesn''t really matter who carries them, you just want to get a look at them to see what a well cut stone looks like!

If money is tight, this is what I would suggest, rather than putting it on a CC. Use one of the vendors here who have a great upgrade policy. Buy what you can afford now, and then when times are easier, go bigger. I don''t know what your budget is, but let''s say you have $1000.00 to work with. This is an example of what you could get.

This setting in WG.

http://www.whiteflash.com/Engagement-Rings/Styles/Solitaire/6-Prong-tiffany-style_993.htm

And this stone.

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/A-Cut-Above-H-A-cut-diamond-1148679.htm#


Something like that would be a very nice ring to start off with. You will get much more bang for your buck online.

 

[dockman3]

You''re right, mall stores (or maul stores, as we call them) probably won''t have what you are looking for. Look for small, local shops that have been in business for a long time. They will be able to bring in nice diamonds for you to look at. You can also go to the hearts on fire website and look for a jeweler in your area. That should give you a starting point.

As for the money side of things, I would not, under any circumstances put it on a cc. However, that doesn''t mean you can''t finance it. Many people here will tell you that this is a bad idea, but if you can get 0% interest for a year, I don''t see the downside to it. Yes, you''ll be paying it off over time, but if you have enough money to buy it now and choose to pay it off over a year, you can keep the money you have now in a 6 month CD and earn something like 5% on it in that time. Also, financing can help you get more than what you tought you could. I ended up financing a large portion of my ring because I didn''t want to completely drain my savings, I got a much nicer ring! I would never have been able to afford the setting I bought if I didn''t finance. I had just paid off my car not long ago and my ring payments are now almost equivalent to my car payments, so it wasn''t a big deal to me. I treat it as just one more year of paying off my car. I''m not paying any more for it than if I had paid cash and I have the luxury of not completely draining my savings. Its just something to think about.

Good luck with you search, and bring back any specs you find and we''ll let you know what we think!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Date: 8/1/2008 11:29:05 PM
Author: ShoppingForARing
Thank you for your post..you''re right i don''t have the time nor money..(kinda worried about how i''m gonna pay for this)..What stores carry loose diamonds?? not the mall stores right?

i should cut my budget down...unless you can shed light on the financing aspect of purchasing rings other than using personal CC''s?

Many of us on this site thankfully found out that we can buy the best cut diamonds at a better price from some very reputable vendors/jewelers that we learned about here. I have bought hearts and arrows stones from both Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash, and recommend them highly. Wink Jones also carries a selection of hearts and arrows stones. I wouldn''t consider buying a diamond at a local jeweler after seeing the better quality and prices I can get from these guys.

 

[:)]

Date: 8/1/2008 11:29:05 PM
Author: ShoppingForARing
Thank you for your post..you're right i don't have the time nor money..(kinda worried about how i'm gonna pay for this)..What stores carry loose diamonds?? not the mall stores right?

i should cut my budget down...unless you can shed light on the financing aspect of purchasing rings other than using personal CC's?

Shopping, I looked through your other posts - I agree you should cut your budget down - 10K is an enormous budget for a med student! No one expects a med student to have the resources to cough up for an extremely expensive ring, and you will find people very understanding of this (and actually people would probably be very surprised if you did have 10K lying around somewhere!) There are so many additional expenses that come up during med school and residency, I am really worried you will get in over your head with that. Extra books you didn't know you would need. Each one of the steps for the USMLE. The actual board certification at the end of training (and ideally you should try to save some $ up to be able to take a little time off to study before them so that you aren't buried under trying to adjust to a new practice and trying to study), etc, etc. A car that breaks down when you don't have any income...falling asleep at the wheel at a red light post call on the way to another hospital and crashing your car into the one in front of you... you get the drift

What I would recommend you consider (and I won't be offended if you don't take the advice - it is coming from my sincere wishes for you to do well so I will offer it for consideration!) is to get her maybe a half carat diamond (maybe an eyeclean G color?) for <2K, and then a beautiful plain simple solitaire setting to let it pop (a well cut diamond will have great sparkle no matter the size).

Then, without telling her, start a little savings account and put $50 a month (if you can swing it during med school) into it, and if you can swing $100 a month during residency. Then, when you finish your residency, you could celebrate by thanking her for all she has helped you to go through and cope with over the years with a beautiful diamond to celebrate her. If you purchase from somewhere like Good Old Gold then if you had at least $500 you could 'upgrade' her diamond to a larger size if you wanted, or you could give her a pendant, or earrings, or a right hand ring, etc, etc. It would be a great way to acknowledge all of the stuff she is going to have to put up with! (even if she is in medicine too! sometimes that can be even harder for two people to do residencies at the same time!) It would make her feel appreciated and be a very kind gesture on your part to acknowledge all she has sacrificed for you.

Then, if you wanted to, after a few years of practice you could do it again.

I suggested Good Old Gold for their upgrade policy if you need it. You might want to at least just talk to Wink Jones www.winkjones.com as he looks to have some I clarity stones in stock and it has been mentioned before that he has carried 'eyeclean' I1 stones that can be great bang for the buck (and incredibly hard to find). Whiteflash is a great place too. At your price range I probably would just try to get the most bang for the buck. (there have been threads in the past about perhaps the average consumer does not really need total perfection but I won't go there right now!)

My two cents.
Now go back to studying!

 

[smithy617]

I put something together for my GF to read after I propose to her this weekend...maybe it'll help you


Hearts and Arrows

The most important difference between diamonds cut to ideal (range) proportions and hearts and arrows is symmetry. They have been called "super symmetry" ideals. The 8 arrows visible from the crown side are the 8 pavilion main facets, while the 8 hearts visible through the pavilion side are created by reflections of 16 lower girdle facets in the table of the stone. One can see why at all the facets must be exactly the same shape and size. If the cut of the diamond is even slightly asymmetrical the result will be a distorted, crooked, uneven, or incomplete pattern.
Diamonds that show just partial (and not well formed) hearts are not uncommon. Some diamonds may show partial arrows, but no heart pattern. A true hearts and arrows ideal cut is a very rare and beautiful thing to behold!
Less than 1% of all diamonds become ideal cuts. Hearts and arrows are exceedingly rare, as even fewer are cut to this new higher standard. (Fewer than one diamond in a million have hearts and arrows patterning and 'A Cut Above' stand with the most elite. They have been described as the most visually balanced diamonds in the world.)

History of the Hearts & Arrows

In the 1980s Japanese cutters were the first to produce diamonds cut so exactly that facet reflections overlapped, creating kaleidoscopic patterns when seen through reflecting viewers. The techniques spread to other cutting houses and evolved. Hearts & Arrows diamonds reached the US in the mid 1990s. Top quality H&A diamonds are valued for their uniqueness and quality as the ultimate in cutting precision. They are sometimes called superideals.

About WhiteFlash.com

Brian Gavin (born 14 November 1957) is a fifth-generation diamond cutter from South Africa. Referred to as Brian the Cutter, Gavin is best known for establishing a quality benchmark and grading system for hearts and arrows diamonds, a specialized precision-cut form of the round brilliant diamond.
After completing his family apprenticeship and formal education at the University of the Witwatersrand and in London at CLC, Gavin came to the US in the 1980s and began producing precision-cut diamonds. In 1997 his signature line, A Cut Above, became the first hearts and arrows brand to be sold exclusively on the internet.
Debra Wexler joined Brian Gavin in 2000 to create Whiteflash.com, recently crowned Lord of the Online Rings by the respected Kiplinger magazine.

A Cut Above Diamonds (a.k.a. ACA Diamonds)

'A Cut Above' was the first branded H&A diamond sold exclusively on the internet in 1999, and remains the only H&A diamond with a guarantee of true optical symmetry. This is a level of cut precision far beyond ideal. After meeting proven AGS ideal parameters ACA is taken much further. Each is faithfully brillianteered so that all 57 facets line up perfectly with their opposites.

This kind of optical symmetry is not something that is graded by laboratories, but is Brian Gavins specialty. It requires significantly more time, rough material and personal attention than other cuts. In every 'A Cut Above' the most minor facets are crafted to specific proportions. When all of these tiny mirrors are precisely brought into their most effective position the result is a brilliant superideal diamond where every facet is in sharp, focused alignment with the others. The crisp, true hearts and arrows patterning, and optimum light return through all lighting conditions is Brian Gavins design for best Visual Balance

Many diamonds are beautiful and all diamonds sparkle well in bright jewelry store lights. This is because the sheer volume of light returned to the eye overpowers any fine-tuning of the cut. 'A Cut Above' diamonds go further. In diffuse office lighting and soft conditions like candlelight the crisply aligned mirrors in each ACA optimize even subtle or distant light so that it has life and performance where other diamonds do not. With these diamonds you will see broad flashes from across a restaurant in candlelight. Its a logical result of every mirror inside the diamond working in harmony, and the crisp, true optical symmetry that is Brian Gavins signature. This level of fine-tuning is a marriage of old-world knowledge with new-world technology for maximum performance in a diamond.

'A Cut Above' diamonds are designed by Brian Gavin and carefully cut by our Antwerp sightholder. Each ACA passes a set of rigorous tests for craftsmanship and light performance beyond the AGS ideal grade, and each is protected by our guarantee of top optical symmetry Fewer than one diamond in a million have hearts and arrows patterning and 'A Cut Above' stand with the most elite. They have been described as the most visually balanced diamonds in the world.