shape
carat
color
clarity

My Book is out

It is Greenwich mean time in 10 minutes, yet Amazon let me open a Kindle version I bought for myself at 00:03 just after midnight hear in Oz - so BlingMyth you should be able to see it in a few minutes?
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To each his/her own. Some like to develop a nice petina. Others prefer the hammered look. :-o
 
It is Greenwich mean time in 10 minutes, yet Amazon let me open a Kindle version I bought for myself at 00:03 just after midnight hear in Oz - so BlingMyth you should be able to see it in a few minutes?
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Good grief! She must have been feeling very enthusiastic when clapping. That is a shame!
 
Started reading it yesterday afternoon (I had a guest during the morning so no reading then). Back to it shortly.
 
The forward is brilliant, you acknowledgements kind. Looking forward to reading the rest!
 
Purchased, look forward to reading it!
 
Thanks @TXwido @AprilBaby and @Pomelo -you guys can probably skip the 101 diamond buying part and get into the juicy bits.
Here is an excerpt from the foreword - can anyone ID the writting style and hazard a guess who it is?

"One of those starfish, a young music teacher in Texas, was so impressed with Cut Nut’s online advice that he requested a dialogue. Garry didn’t hesitate. He answered his phone a half-world away and taught that kid more in 15minutes than he’d learned in 15 weeks of diamond shopping. The year was1999 and the kid was me. The power of our meeting influenced my decision to pursue a career in diamonds. Two decades later, I am the Senior Director of Education for the world’s largest gemological institute.
 

Great Neil. Please point out errors - I cover a lot of topics and researched to the best of my incompetence.
If the book s popular I would do a separate consumer and trade 2nd editions.
so corrections and inaccuracies could be addressed.
 
Well, the Kindle eBook is available for preorder at only $2.99 for the first week. (Regular price $9.99)
Kindle and paperback come live on in a week July 29th.
Get Kindle here https://rb.gy/qzu85r
(
Amazon do not do paperback preorders)
Foreword from John Pollard, reviewed by Karl StormRider and great back cover blurbs:

“Garry and his book are about sparkle.” Martin Rapaport

“It’s always worthwhile hearing Garry Holloway talk about diamonds.” Rob Bates, JCK

“Cut is King! And Garry Holloway is the King of Cut.” John Pollard, IGI education

“Garry’s expertise in the world of diamonds is rock solid.” James Allen Schultz, jamesallen.com

"Garry got me onto the light performance bug!!" Yoram Finkelstein, Gem Concepts

352 pages starting at buying101 to advanced research. Second half is heavy.
Lots of images and a repository with loads more.

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I also bought your classic book, but there are some parts I can’t understand. As shown in the picture, could you please explain in detail the definitions of each different category? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The names do not seem to be intuitive for non-native speakers. For example, the diamond on the far right of the picture does not have a crown that is too steep and causes light leakage. Is it still a diamond worth buying? Thank you for your work, I learned a lot about diamonds.
 

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I also bought your classic book, but there are some parts I can’t understand. As shown in the picture, could you please explain in detail the definitions of each different category? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The names do not seem to be intuitive for non-native speakers. For example, the diamond on the far right of the picture does not have a crown that is too steep and causes light leakage. Is it still a diamond worth buying? Thank you for your work, I learned a lot about diamonds.

I am not sure about the video. It is not mine. The grid chart is mine. Does it need further explanation?
 
I am not sure about the video. It is not mine. The grid chart is mine. Does it need further explanation?

Yes, I hope you can explain your grid chart further so that I can understand your thoughts better, thank you (the video is just what I want to use to illustrate that although diamonds with steep crown angles have good fire, there may be leakage problems, which will still be a problem ,Is it a diamond worth buying?)
 

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If you do not exceed the angles given and the symmetry is good optically, not just by GIAs standard, then the leakage is not an issue.
 
If you do not exceed the angles given and the symmetry is good optically, not just by GIAs standard, then the leakage is not an issue.

I hope you can explain your grid chart further so that I can understand your thoughts better,(could you please explain in detail the definitions of each different category? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The names do not seem to be intuitive for non-native speakers.)
 
Thanks @TXwido @AprilBaby and @Pomelo -you guys can probably skip the 101 diamond buying part and get into the juicy bits.
Here is an excerpt from the foreword - can anyone ID the writting style and hazard a guess who it is?

"One of those starfish, a young music teacher in Texas, was so impressed with Cut Nut’s online advice that he requested a dialogue. Garry didn’t hesitate. He answered his phone a half-world away and taught that kid more in 15minutes than he’d learned in 15 weeks of diamond shopping. The year was1999 and the kid was me. The power of our meeting influenced my decision to pursue a career in diamonds. Two decades later, I am the Senior Director of Education for the world’s largest gemological institute.

John Pollard!!!

Congrats, Garry! I missed the early price, so I may wait for a signed hard copy!
 
If you do not exceed the angles given and the symmetry is good optically, not just by GIAs standard, then the leakage is not an issue.

I hope you can explain your grid chart further so that I can understand your thoughts better,(could you please explain in detail the definitions of each different category? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The names do not seem to be intuitive for non-native speakers.)
 
I hope you can explain your grid chart further so that I can understand your thoughts better,(could you please explain in detail the definitions of each different category? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each? The names do not seem to be intuitive for non-native speakers.)

These terms have been kicking around Pricescope for years. You can search here for old discussions of FIC (firey Ideal cut), BIC (brilliant ideal cut), and TIC (Tolk ideal cut. The BIC is Garry's far left of the chart. The Tolk is the center, a cut designed for balance between brilliance and fire. The FIC would be the right side of the chart. FICs tended to face up smaller for carat weight, be deep overall, have smaller tables, and taller crowns. The BICs are more like the "60/60" and other "spreadier" diamonds, larger tables, more brilliance than fire, and could be spready enough to face up larger than carat weight. The TICs are intended to more evenly balance fire / brilliance / spread, and provide good performance in a wide variety of lighting conditions. The Pricescope adage is shallower stones are better suited for earrings and pendants than rings, because they tend to look "dark" due to obstruction at close range. The camera or the viewer's head can cause obstruction. Tolk and firey won't have much of that problem when seen up close in rings.

Leakage, I am not sure how that's related to tall crowns. I haven't watched the linked video. But poor cutting will result in leakage. Crown angle and pavilion angles have an inverse relationship: Increase one, you must decrease the other. Discussions on here say that "a little" leakage under the table might still be okay. Leakage as measured by an ASET scope.

I'm sure more expert people can explain all of this better and in more detail. But I tried to speak to that particular chart and steer you to the older discussion topics on here that I think are relevant to spread, uses of stones, and FIC / BIC / TIC.
 
Hi All, I would appreciate reviews from all you who bought the book.
And please share any mistakes you found.
Also what's your favourite bit?
Here is mine from page 55 on the paperback - chapter 3:
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Looking forward to it! I picked it up the other day but have not started it yet.
It was hard to find in the USA using search, so here is the (USA) amazon link:
 
Looking forward to it! I picked it up the other day but have not started it yet.
It was hard to find in the USA using search, so here is the (USA) amazon link:

Thanks MM2 - reviews would be welcome ;-)
 
Will do, Garry. :)
 
Thanks @TXwido @AprilBaby and @Pomelo -you guys can probably skip the 101 diamond buying part and get into the juicy bits.
Here is an excerpt from the foreword - can anyone ID the writting style and hazard a guess who it is?

"One of those starfish, a young music teacher in Texas, was so impressed with Cut Nut’s online advice that he requested a dialogue. Garry didn’t hesitate. He answered his phone a half-world away and taught that kid more in 15minutes than he’d learned in 15 weeks of diamond shopping. The year was1999 and the kid was me. The power of our meeting influenced my decision to pursue a career in diamonds. Two decades later, I am the Senior Director of Education for the world’s largest gemological institute.

John Pollard! I'm probably late to the party. But I just bought your book an hour ago. Paperbook, I want to hold a book in my hand.
 
John Pollard! I'm probably late to the party. But I just bought your book an hour ago. Paperbook, I want to hold a book in my hand.

Thanks PossumCrusader!
Reviews please folk - even bad ones - it gets pretty heavy and has no real pretty pictures apart from this one:
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Ordered! Thank you looking forward to reading it!
 
Ordered the kindle version . Actually I needed this book badly around 20 years ago when I was buying my first diamond . I was looking for sparkly diamonds which I couldn't find in malls . I found PS and lurked a few years before finally joining in .
Thanks for writing this important book !
 
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Just finished Chaper 1, there's stuff in this book you won't read anywhere else.
 
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