shape
carat
color
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My oval solitaire arrived!

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
Hi everyone!

My new ring (to replace my lost engagement ring) arrived yesterday. I've not decided if I'm keeping it. Sometimes it looks beautiful, sometimes all I see is bow tie, and sometimes it has that crushed ice look. It's from James Allen and I'm in Canada so it's a real pain to return, with trying to claim back the customs fees and all. But then I will hopefully wear this ring for the rest of my life! I'd love to know what you think?
It's an E VS2 1c. Table is 60 and depth is 60.7. Polish Ex, Symmetry VG. Faint fluorescence. My priorities were colourless and facing up as large as possible, while trying not to lose out on everything else.
Pics are just taken on my phone. I could dig out my DSLR if that would be better. I've also added links to videos at the end of this post.
Thanks in advance to anyone who offers an opinion!
(I'm in desperate need of a manicure - please try to imagine my nails look lovely.)

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Big Fat Facets

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
1,468
Hi there!

I think your new oval ring looks great on you!! it has a lovely lengthening effect on your finger. Are you happy with it?? that is what matters most.
ovals are prone to bow ties. as long as it doesn't bother you. if it bothers you even a little, consider returning it because that bothersome feeling rarely goes away.

just my opinion . hope it helps
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
Hi there!

I think your new oval ring looks great on you!! it has a lovely lengthening effect on your finger. Are you happy with it?? that is what matters most.
ovals are prone to bow ties. as long as it doesn't bother you. if it bothers you even a little, consider returning it because that bothersome feeling rarely goes away.

just my opinion . hope it helps

Thank you very much for your response! I went for oval because I hate my fingers and I was hoping for that effect, so thank you! I've been seesawing all day between loving it and hating it. I think I will give it a couple of days and decide. It took so long to find this one, I dread the thought of starting again!

Thanks again :)
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
I just took this one with a flash
20200909_210519.jpg
 
L

lydial

Guest
You have been told to not like the bow tie. Ask yourself if it really bothers you... or were you told it should bother you. It doesn’t bother me. I think the ring is beautiful and looks very at home on you. Is the overall effect sparkling and flashing colors? If not maybe you need a new stone. But the setting is perfect.
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
@motownmama thank you. That's my main concern - that I keep it then start to really hate it when it is too late to return.
@lydial that's a good point, thank you. In some lighting I think it's the prettiest diamond ever. It could sparkle a little more, but I knew I was giving some of that up to face up larger.
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,196
See-sawing back and forth between loving it and hate it is not where you should be. You've only got one chance to get this right (or spend double
to replace it with JA). You need to realize though usually, the longer (length) you go the harder it is to get good
light return. I think you should look for a 6 main or an 8 main (through the center) where an arrow goes through the center. The one you have
is an 8 main offset (no arrow through the center). Try to worry less about length (I know its hard to give up length).

This last photo you posted with the flash is because it is returning so much light through the center (those are actually good facets). It would do
the same in bright sunlight. There are lots of threads on this. Somewhat difficult to explain/understand. The flash acts like the sun. In an Ideal cut
pretty much the whole stone goes dark because all the facets are good facets. Depending on the lighting you may see some darkness through
the center. It almost always shows up more in pictures than in real life (at least that's what I find...I own a pear).
A little bit of info on that.

Live with it a few days. View it in different lighting conditions and see what you think.

I would rather see faceting like this (these arent in your specs but just trying to show you the faceting pattern). These arent easy to find and I believe
cutting new stones was put on halt due to covid-19. Not sure if they are up and running like usual.
 

Gemly

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2020
Messages
293
See-sawing back and forth between loving it and hate it is not where you should be. You've only got one chance to get this right (or spend double
to replace it with JA). You need to realize though usually, the longer (length) you go the harder it is to get good
light return. I think you should look for a 6 main or an 8 main (through the center) where an arrow goes through the center. The one you have
is an 8 main offset (no arrow through the center). Try to worry less about length (I know its hard to give up length).

This last photo you posted with the flash is because it is returning so much light through the center (those are actually good facets). It would do
the same in bright sunlight. There are lots of threads on this. Somewhat difficult to explain/understand. The flash acts like the sun. In an Ideal cut
pretty much the whole stone goes dark because all the facets are good facets. Depending on the lighting you may see some darkness through
the center. It almost always shows up more in pictures than in real life (at least that's what I find...I own a pear).
A little bit of info on that.

Live with it a few days. View it in different lighting conditions and see what you think.

I would rather see faceting like this (these arent in your specs but just trying to show you the faceting pattern). These arent easy to find and I believe
cutting new stones was put on halt due to covid-19. Not sure if they are up and running like usual.

Spot on.
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
See-sawing back and forth between loving it and hate it is not where you should be. You've only got one chance to get this right (or spend double
to replace it with JA). You need to realize though usually, the longer (length) you go the harder it is to get good
light return. I think you should look for a 6 main or an 8 main (through the center) where an arrow goes through the center. The one you have
is an 8 main offset (no arrow through the center). Try to worry less about length (I know its hard to give up length).

This last photo you posted with the flash is because it is returning so much light through the center (those are actually good facets). It would do
the same in bright sunlight. There are lots of threads on this. Somewhat difficult to explain/understand. The flash acts like the sun. In an Ideal cut
pretty much the whole stone goes dark because all the facets are good facets. Depending on the lighting you may see some darkness through
the center. It almost always shows up more in pictures than in real life (at least that's what I find...I own a pear).
A little bit of info on that.

Live with it a few days. View it in different lighting conditions and see what you think.

I would rather see faceting like this (these arent in your specs but just trying to show you the faceting pattern). These arent easy to find and I believe
cutting new stones was put on halt due to covid-19. Not sure if they are up and running like usual.

Thank you! It is sunny today and the ring does look like the flash photo when in direct sunlight.
I do need to think less about the face up measurements, though it is even harder now I've seen this one on my finger!
This stone looks absolutely beautiful right now with no direct lighting. If it looked like this all the time I'd definitely keep it. However, I've never really considered the bow tie as the best facets, and the way the whole stone might look say it were a well cut round. You have enlightened me again!

Thank you for the links. You linked a diamond to me previously that I almost purchased, and I remember it had faceting like this too. I will definitely look for ones like this if I return this one. I wish we could also search by faceting patterns (and mm).

Like you said - I am going to give it a few days before deciding.
There are only 11 diamonds coming up now on my previous search on JA (none of which I like) and none at all on BN, Brian Gavin or Whiteflash - so you are definitely correct about them being hard to find at the moment. Rare Carat is showing a couple, but I don't know the vendors and the videos just don't give me enough insight to make a purchase. So if I do return this one, I will likely wait until things pick up again before purchasing. I could always ask my husband to just pay into my diamond fund for anniversary and Christmas gifts so that I could up my budget a little and have it all :) I'm happy to wait (I've been ringless since December anyway), but am just a little worried diamonds will be more expensive when things are up and running again.

Thank you again, @tyty333.
 

stonehunter20

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jun 7, 2020
Messages
418
beautiful ring!!! very sparkly! congrats!!!
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
I think I am going to return it.

There really aren't many coming up in my search now, but this one has caught my eye.

Any opinions?

@tyty333 I'd love to know what you think.

It doesn't have the spread I was looking for but perhaps I've learned my lesson. I'm not sure about the F colour but it is still listed at colourless so hopefully not an issue.

This is the report:

Screenshot 2020-09-11 at 17.54.06.png
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,196
I want you to watch this video. Its made by Jon (Rhino) who is now Distinctive Gems. He helped design an Ideal Oval so he
knows his ovals. I just want you to see that in certain lights you are going to see a dark area through the center of most ovals.


So while I think the above stone has better light return in the right light, in other light it will still show a dark area. I'm afraid that
you are going to be disappointed that you are losing length and will still see a dark area through the center in certain light. I'm
not really sure where to send you from here.

I wonder if you should contact Jon at Distinctive Gems. Supposedly he will help you pick a stone at JA (or BN). Tell him that
you want to reduce/eliminate the darkness you see through the center of the stone. Show him your pics.

 

lili87

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 13, 2020
Messages
2
See-sawing back and forth between loving it and hate it is not where you should be. You've only got one chance to get this right (or spend double
to replace it with JA). You need to realize though usually, the longer (length) you go the harder it is to get good
light return. I think you should look for a 6 main or an 8 main (through the center) where an arrow goes through the center. The one you have
is an 8 main offset (no arrow through the center). Try to worry less about length (I know its hard to give up length).

This last photo you posted with the flash is because it is returning so much light through the center (those are actually good facets). It would do
the same in bright sunlight. There are lots of threads on this. Somewhat difficult to explain/understand. The flash acts like the sun. In an Ideal cut
pretty much the whole stone goes dark because all the facets are good facets. Depending on the lighting you may see some darkness through
the center. It almost always shows up more in pictures than in real life (at least that's what I find...I own a pear).
A little bit of info on that.

Live with it a few days. View it in different lighting conditions and see what you think.

I would rather see faceting like this (these arent in your specs but just trying to show you the faceting pattern). These arent easy to find and I believe
cutting new stones was put on halt due to covid-19. Not sure if they are up and running like usual.
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For what it's worth, it looks like the links are to ovals of ~1.3 ratio whereas OP's oval is more classically oval (probably 1.45ish like mine)

You probably like the facets more as these are bit more like a round in the way they reflect. If you go more towards a 1.5 exact oval then you will definitely see more bow tie.

I can always see my bowtie, but most of the time at least some of the facets reflect light and often these are the brightest part of the diamond, the only exception being in bright sunlight. OP's bow tie facets almost seem wider at the outer ends so looks more noticeable, which is maybe why they are bugging you so much? Not sure what causes that, as you seem to have more ideal table and depth proportions than mine (58% table and 64% depth), maybe it is your setting because the ring of metal around your diamond is quite thick? Could be blocking the light/casting shadow in the middle of your diamond, which is why you are always seeing the bowtie as black in all lighting conditions.

Pics of mine below, it's a G VVS1 1 carat oval with excellent cut and symmetry in a trellis setting, and almost a year after we got engaged it still makes me smile whenever I look at it (which I have to say, is a LOT :D). It's nowhere near as sparkly as some of my friends' rings who have round diamonds, but I kinda love that it's more of an understated elegance.

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20200913_075038.jpg
20200913_080219.jpg
 
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WillyDiamond

Brilliant_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 7, 2004
Messages
1,452
OP
Diamonds also fall into the age old adage......you get what you pay for.
I don’t know if you looked at Jonathons ovals who claims to eliminate the bow tie effect. As I read the forum post from people who bought from JA, it was based on budget, they seem to come in less expensive that WF or BGD. If this was your budget, you did fine. If you are going to look at that diamond on your finger and be unhappy, return it. I know the customs/duty is a pain, but is it worse to hate it everytime you put it on. Only you know that answer.
 

flyingpig

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Nov 7, 2015
Messages
2,975
I am sorry that you are not loving the E :(

I think the diamond is performing as expected and well for an elongated oval and based in the JA video. Face-up, the diamond shows no bowtie, but when tilited it shows up. The bowtie effect is worsen by the black top you are wearing and non optimal lighting conditions, chunky facets, and viewing distance which is a bit too close.
Having that said, @lili87 explained with photos what I expect from an elongated oval with L/W ratio of 1.4 or greater.
If you expect good flashes of light throughout the entire diamond, an elongated shallow oval will not do that well. Follow @tyty333 guidelines and find something rounder and deeper with the pavilion design mentioned above.
 

Nicm

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jul 27, 2020
Messages
53
Thank you all so much! Apologies for not responding sooner. I decided I was returning the ring, ordered an exchange for the diamond I shared above and then took myself off on a camping and wine tasting trip where I avoided technology and all thoughts of diamonds. The exchange I ordered would not have been one I even noticed had it not been for all I have learned here, so I am very grateful to you all. The original stone I purchased really was beautiful, but that bowtie in the sunlight just meant it wasn't the one for me. I appreciate all of your input in helping me come to that decision!

Unfortunately, I got an email from James Allen today saying that the new diamond I have ordered is now unavailable. I am aware this sometimes happens but it is still very disappointing, especially when I have trawled their website for so long looking for the perfect diamond. I will see what they say tomorrow but I'm not sure I can face starting my search again right now.
 

Big Fat Facets

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
1,468
aaawww, im sorry to hear that the diamond you want is no longer availabe. it does happen. and im sorry that you spent, decent, time to shop only to have it feel wasted. it is really disappointing. but do know that in the process of shopping you were also learning, which is rarely ever time wasted. hopefully, you aren't too discouraged

im glad you took some time for yourself and enjoyed a nice camping trip and fun wine tasting trip. i really do feel taking breaks from being online and technology, is so very healthy and beneficial.

we are still here for you, and happy to be of help.

when you are ready, go ahead and peruse for your beautiful oval diamond

please note that besides the classic oval, there is also the option of the elyque oval at distinctive gems @Rhino (it is mentioned above, in post #13, by @tyty333 ) and he also offers a heritage oval which is larger faceted. but i understand, at this time, it is only available in laboratory diamonds and moissanite. it might be worth your time to ask if he will custom cut a heritage oval, in an earth mined diamond.

there's also martin sheffield, i believe he is based out of the toronto vcinity. he is well regarded and could help you shop for your oval diamond

a few, oval diamond bits and bobs for you to consider, as you, eventually, embark on your diamond shopping journey

hope that helps
 
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