Looking at an emerald cut

[cadarn]

My first post after reading through the forums quite a bit in looking for a diamond. So thanks to anyone who's posted about emerald cuts in the last year.

I'm going to have this stone appraised and ideal scoped in LA next week. If it doesn't meet my expectations it can be returned, but it looks decent on paper.

Emerald cut, GIA
1.34 carat
7.91x5.60x3.45mm
Color D
Clarity vvs2
Polish & Symmetry very good
No fluorescence
No culet
Depth 61.6%
Table 65%
Girdle thin to slightly thick

 

[Gypsy]

Can't tell you anything about it that's really substantive from the numbers. It's shallow but with Emerald Cuts that's not an auto-disqualify. We would need picture to tell you anything else. It could be stunning or it could be a dog, we just don't have enough information. With that depth and table I would check the crown height and make sure it's over 11% (I have a preference for 14% and over but 11% is a good minimum) if your vendor has a Sarin and can run one for you.

 

[emeraldnewbie]

I'm totally curious to hear more about your stone. You might have seen my recent post having second thoughts about my EC? It's also 1.34 f vvs2 and what I thought was spready at 7.53x 5.45x 3.50! I haven't seen anything like it, which is one reason I decided to keep it. All the other potential replacements were smaller. Hope it's the stone for you!

 

[cadarn]

I'm having Charles Carmona in LA take a look at it this week. Having some trouble finding someone to do a sarin on it in LA. Am I wrong in believing that crown height can only be found through sarin? Patrick Davis told me he doesn't do them for his private appraisals.

 

[cadarn]

I'm totally curious to hear more about your stone. You might have seen my recent post having second thoughts about my EC? It's also 1.34 f vvs2 and what I thought was spready at 7.53x 5.45x 3.50! I haven't seen anything like it, which is one reason I decided to keep it. All the other potential replacements were smaller. Hope it's the stone for you!

Did you find something lacking in it to your eye?

 

[Gypsy]

No they can calculate it with the angles. Math. But otherwise Sarin is best. Get an ASET that will suffice.

 

[cadarn]

I was able to take some really bad pictures, but the center appears quite dark when viewed top down.
Maybe I'm not understanding the emerald cut, but this seems much much too dark.

 

[cadarn]

One more bad picture.

 

[TitanCi]

I assume that's a cell phone pic? You should steady it by letting it rest on a few stacked books or a can of soda then snap the shot. It'll come in nice and crisp!

 

[cadarn]

Couldn't quite get a better photo, but regardless, in looking at other stones I didn't notice as much dark grey when viewed straight on, I will probably return this one. I'm looking at another with a smaller table and a little more depth, 62/65.

 

[bgray]

i am a big fan of emerald cuts and have owned several. i finally have the keeper! there is NO exact formula. Emerald cuts do not have to be deeper to perform. it is usually just a collection of data points that assembled together result in a good stone. I passed over many stunning EC's that were 68% depth but the face up was too small. My stone is 62.5 depth and 62 table with a 11.5% crown height. good polish and good symmetry. many will tell you to never ever get less than very good and thats just silly. the marginal differences are nil. the numbers should be a guide. my stone is vs 2 and is so clean that i have had gem dealers say it looks like a vvs stone--they find the GIA designation baffling. this is as much art as science. trust your own eye and dont make a hasty decision and use the numbers as a guide but not as a bible.

 

[Gypsy]

I'm not a fan of that one. Even with the bad photography I think there are brighter stones out there and that you should shoot for one of those.

 

[cadarn]

Thanks for the replys. I looked at about a half dozen other stones in person yesterday. I brought that one so the lighting would be the same, but yes most of them had a much better visual. I don't really know the terminology, but they all had light reflected in more facets to break up the dark plain I see in this diamond.

 

[bgray]

all step cuts can black out under bright light but typically an EC should be distinct bars of light with some graying a bit as the stone is tilted or moved

 

[cadarn]

all step cuts can black out under bright light but typically an EC should be distinct bars of light with some graying a bit as the stone is tilted or moved

Right, this one kept more of the dark bars even when tilted than several of the others I looked at.

 

[bgray]

keep looking then. you have probably read all this but a rule of thumb is depth equal or greater than the table and a crown above 10. doesnt guarantee you a great stone but somehow the math works. good elimination tool.

 

[cadarn]

I got this aset for another diamond, any opinions?
I think the center looks good, the corners are a little dark.