Newbies-Can you tell diff between great diamond and average one?

[HappyAnniversary]

I went to a local jeweler who brought in diamonds for me to see, I''m looking for .5-.7 carat diamond to update my wedding ring. She brings out several diamonds and I pick one to put on hold that seems brighter, but truely they look very similar. They all look pretty to me. When I ask for angle info, she says that you can''t buy a diamond by numbers, you have to see it and pick one that sparkles, and that she''s seen diamonds that look great by the numbers but don''t perform visually. She had a brilliance scope? and said it showed in the medium range. There was 60 and 60 on the front EGL cert so I assume that was table and depth percentages, and "good'' on something else, I didn''t get a good look. It was $1900 for .54 carats.

I know you experts out there can pick out the average from the great, but for fellow newbies--Have you seen those diamonds picked out by the preferred vendors on this site and are they really better? Have you seen them live and side by side and do the ones with perfect numbers really look better?

 

[MWG]

Date: 4/20/2007 9:34:52 PM
Author:HappyAnniversary
I went to a local jeweler who brought in diamonds for me to see, I'm looking for .5-.7 carat diamond to update my wedding ring. She brings out several diamonds and I pick one to put on hold that seems brighter, but truely they look very similar. They all look pretty to me. When I ask for angle info, she says that you can't buy a diamond by numbers, you have to see it and pick one that sparkles, and that she's seen diamonds that look great by the numbers but don't perform visually. She had a brilliance scope? and said it showed in the medium range. There was 60 and 60 on the front EGL cert so I assume that was table and depth percentages, and 'good' on something else, I didn't get a good look. It was $1900 for .54 carats.

I know you experts out there can pick out the average from the great, but for fellow newbies--Have you seen those diamonds picked out by the preferred vendors on this site and are they really better? Have you seen them live and side by side and do the ones with perfect numbers really look better?

Hi HappyAnniversary,

I have seen these preferred vendors (Whiteflash) ACA diamonds in person and without a DOUBT they are UNBELIEVABLE and will completely blow away a regular cut diamond. And yes, they do have them in your price range!!!! Here are two examples:

http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/a-cut-above-h-a-cut-diamond-114393.htm


http://www.whiteflash.com/hearts_arrows/a-cut-above-h-a-cut-diamond-17884.htm

In fairness to all the other vendors on Pricescope, I would be willing to say that carry quality diamonds as well. I have only seen the ACA diamonds in person.


Good Luck
MWG

 

[BigDiamonds]

I''m a newbie too, and honestly, it depends a lot on the lighting for me. I will be buying my stone from WF, but it''s based on complete faith in the experts around here. I haven''t seen any of the online vendor''s stones in person, let alone next to a regular cut. I did see an Arctic Ideal (Canadian, I think) next to a Good cut in Bailey Banks & Biddle. The difference was barely noticeable under the bright lights, but if I held the stones down in the shadow of the counter it was pretty obvious.

Not an expert opinion by any means, but take it for what it''s worth!

 

[RockDoc]

Most of the WF diamonds, and many others get much higher rating on the B Scope than MEDIUM.

I would suggest you look at the livereport for that stone on Gemex, and view the images in animation, which you can do there. You only need the diamond ID number to access it on Gemex.

Understanding the varying images is a lot better than relying on the "bar ratings".

There is a thread here that shows B Scope reports for some of the WF stones, and GOG's stones have their B Scope reports posted on their site. Maybe Sir John will post a link to it, or you could search the PS site using B Scope or Brilliance Scope to see all the relevant posts.


I'd suggest you look at a lot of the B Scope report images in animation to learn more in depth about their technology.

Rockdoc

 

[Cehrabehra]

define "average". If you''re talking about taking all the diamonds in america between like 1/2 carat and 2 carats then yeah, the "average" diamond is not that great IMO. But if you''re asking if you have to have a superideal to have a stone worthy of being loved, then the answer is no. But it helps