Looking for Brian Gavin or Infinity but found James Allen instead - oh no! Advice Wanted

[AshNZ]

Folks,

After educating myself on PS and other sites and closely watching the inventory of BG and Infinity (and even viewing a few in person) I have narrowed down my search to these criteria:

- 1.15 and up. Pref 1.2-1.25
- Colorless, Pref D, E
- VS2 (would maybe consider a ''misgraded'' SI1)

BG have an F, 1.232 VS2 that looks great
Wink has an E, 1.16 VS2 that also looks great

However, I have found this diamond at James Allen:
James Allen D 1.20 VS2

What a great price! (10,300) for a D stone. It rates a 1.1 ex ex ex vg on the HCA and has an AGS Cut grade of 000.
The H&A look remarkable
The Idealscope looks ''blury'' due to the average photograph.
The diamond is also very ''round'' at 6.85 x 6.88

I love the Infinity buy back and upgrade program, and Wink has been super super helpful throughout (would recommend extremely highly to anyone) which attracts me to that stone.
I love BG''s incredibly consistancy - every diamond display gorgeous properties in the supplied photos (BG really have the photography process down pat)

Value isn''t the biggest driver to me, Cut, Cut, Cut is to me. But when I compare the JA stone to the other two listed above it is difficult to stay away. I am tentative to purchase a JA stone when CUT is everything to me - but this appears to be a ''diamond in the rough'' in the JA stock.

Do you agree that THIS PARTICULAR JA is on par with anything from BG/Infinity?
Help me find flaws!


Really appreciate your thoughts.
Ash

 

[stone-cold11]

JA stone looks good. Why not buy all 3 and compared them side by side?

 

[Dreamer_D]

There is no particular reason why a diamond from JA wouldn''t have a great cut, as good as some from BGD and Infinity. But the difference in policies is what would steer me to the latter companies.

 

[jet2ks]

The JA diamond is a gorgeous stone with excellent cut precision as shown by the Hearts images.

Keep in mind that cost of the diamond is only part of the equation when it comes to retail price. As you mention, policies are not the same from vendor to vendor and you will pay a bit more for more generous buyback and upgrade policies. You just have to measure the benefits of each vendor in relation to your needs.

Best of luck with the decision.

 

[Bella_mezzo]

I agree with jet-The price is one factor, but if you plan to upgrade, might want to return...there are some other items that are very important. It depends on your unique situation.

 

[AshNZ]

Date: 1/11/2010 1:06:22 PM
Author: Stone-cold11
JA stone looks good. Why not buy all 3 and compared them side by side?

I think I will probably do just that. Having BG and an Infinity dealer locally really helps!

Thank you for the repsonses so far. It looks you are struggling (as am I) for a reason not to buy this stone (other than policy).

My thinking is if I have to use the buy back policy I will have greater things to worry about than 70% vs 90%!

 

[rachelheart]

Who offer a 90% buyback?

 

[JulieN]

the hearts image on the JA stone is fantastic.

 

[AshNZ]

Date: 1/11/2010 4:31:02 PM
Author: rachelheart
Who offer a 90% buyback?

Apologies - that is a mistake. HPD offers an 80% buyback for life, JA provides a 2 year 70% buyback. I''m not sure what BGD offers.

 

[Regular Guy]

Between these, Wink may know more about the source of the diamond. This may not be true, nor important to you. If you are only concerned that it has a non-conflict source as defined by the Kimberly Process, all 3 may be equal, too.

 

[marcy]

The JA diamond looks marvelous.

 

[swingirl]

JA stone looks nice to me. If you are looking for a D I think you''ve found your stone.

I am guessing an upgrade down the road isn''t what you are thinking about right now. Most people do not upgrade in 2 years anyway, unless you are buying on a tight budget and not able to afford what you really want.

 

[Lula]

I admit, I am biased toward Infinity, and Wink at HPD, having bought two (I upgraded) Infinity stones from him. That said, although the JA stone looks well-cut (the hearts) and it is a great price for the size, color, and clarity, keep in mind that the cut quality of the stone involves more than just the hearts pattern. The hearts pattern shows that the stone has been cut to a high level of optical symmetry; however, there is more to cut than that.

If you value cut above all other factors, and if you are becoming what's known around PS as a "cut fanatic," then you'll want to consider cut consistency, and also how well the cutter balanced each of the 57 facets (it's more than just crown angle and pavilion angle). The "tightness" of a stone's cut is best seen in the Sarin and helium reports for the stone, neither of which JA provides. Crafted by Infinity provides this data for all their stones, right on the website, as do several other PS vendors. I'm sure Lesley could get you this data, if it's not on their website (I'm not sure what info is on their site).

JA does not provide this level of detail about cut. You pay more for this level of detail; that's one reason why stones from JA cost less -- you get less info on cut quality.

Once you get to the level of the helium report, you're talking about aspects of cut that go beyond optical symmetry, i.e., meet point or lab symmetry, physical symmetry, and all of the little adjustments that a skilled cutter does as he/she (are there any she cutters?) cuts the stone to maximize the stone's beauty.

If you are a serious cut fanatic, do a search in the archives for posts by John Pollard and Karl K and Paul Slegers and Jonathan from GOG and Todd from Nice Ice that discuss cut consistency, optical versus physical symmetry, lab symmetry, meet point symmetry, etc.

If you compare the BGD, the Infinity and the JA stones in person and one "speaks" to you over the others, then I'd say choose that stone. Its beauty to your eyes will tell you all you need to know, and you won't regret your choice.

But if you really want to compare the finer details of cut among the 3 stones, and make a decision about cut precision -- optical symmetry is but one component of cut precision -- you'll need to look at a helium report to be comparing apples to apples.

As for the ethical issues that Regular Guy touched on, I know Paul Slegers personally oversees the cutting of the stones he sells; I can't speak for sure about BGD's cutting process, but from what I've read on PS, I would guess Brian Gavin is equally involved in the cutting process of BGD stones. I'm not sure about the process JA uses to obtain their stones, i.e., if they are cut in an assembly line manner or in an artisan manner (one cutter per stone).

How the stone is cut, and if the stone is cut in an assembly line by cutters who only know how to cut the crown or only know how to cut the pavilion, may not matter to you, but you should realize that there is a difference in the way diamonds are cut. And, again, you pay for this difference.

Just my .02 as a consumer who became a cut fanatic from spending too much time in the PS archives!

Best of luck to you in your search, and please come back and post pictures once you make a decision!