Opinion needed on 2 diamonds (please help!)

[johncapecod]

Hi everyone,

I've been a lurker for a while now and am finally in the process of choosing a diamond for my girlfriend! I'm having a hard time choosing between two GIA stones - it would help if I could compare them side by side but that is not possible. I need everyone's expert opinions! I think both stones are beautiful and I know my girlfriend will love either one... but the first stone is $1k more... is it worth it based on what is provided?

1.01 H VS1 -beautiful H&A
6.39 - 6.44 x 3.97
Cut: Excellent
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Florescence: None
Depth: 61.9%
Table: 58%
Crown Angle: 35
Pavilion Angle: 40.8
HCA: 1.8 (TIC)
Light Return: Very Good
Fire: Excellent
Scintillation: Excellent
Spread: Very Good
My Notes: The diamond is clean looking through 10x loupe except for a very small white inclusion on the edge. ideal-scope shows very minimal light leakage (in between excellent and very good)

1.00 G VS2
6.53 - 6.58 x 3.95
Cut: Very Good
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Florescence: Faint
Depth: 60.3%
Table: 53%
Crown Angle: 32
Pavilion Angle: 41
HCA: 0.8 (BIC)
Light Return: Excellent
Fire: Excellent
Scintillation: Excellent
Spread: Excellent
My Notes: The diamond is clean looking through 10x loupe except for small black inclusion on the edge. ideal-scope shows almost no light leakage (excellent)

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I'd choose #1. I want excellent cut, polish, and symmetry. I don't like the extremely low crown angle on the other one. What is the girdle on the second one?

 

[johncapecod]

Oops sorry forgot to include that. The girdle for the first one is Thin to Slightly Thick (4%) and the second one is Very Thin to Medium (2.5%).

If it helps, here's the rest of the stats:

H VS1
Star Length: 55%
Lower Half: 75%

G VS2
Star Length: 55%
Lower Half: 80%

 

[TitanCi]

between the 2 and going off of what's written, I'd go with #1.

 

[johncapecod]

Thanks Titan, is there a reason why you would choose #1 over #2?

 

[johncapecod]

Can anyone else share their opinion and why they chose one over the other?

 

[diamondqueen]

Hi,

I would go for no2 because you get a higher colour grade and a bigger diameter which will make a huge difference.
And besides that there is normally not such a great difference between excellent and very good.
Good luck

 

[TitanCi]

OP - I like the depth and angles on no. 1 better. The other stone is sorta shallow (for PS'ers) compared to the first. But this is just based off numbers. I'm sure both will look stunning, but if I had to choose solely off of NUMBERS, that's what I'd go with. Can you get images of the stones and IS images for light performance?

 

[TitanCi]

Hi,

I would go for no2 because you get a higher colour grade and a bigger diameter which will make a huge difference.
And besides that there is normally not such a great difference between excellent and very good.
Good luck

1) Color grade, yes. Better, perhaps he can or cannot tell between G/H. D vs H, oh yeah.
2) Larger spread... meh.. arguable in this case. Slighly larger (~0.20 mm is so minute you won't be able to tell). Plus the way the diamond was cut/crafted can have a certain "look"/make to the stone that may or may not be desirable (shallow) vs. the no.1 stone.
3) Untrue of ex vs. VG. I'd stick with GIA XXX or AGS 000 all the way. The difference can be great.

 

[johncapecod]

I found another stone that may make things harder for you expert PS'ers to choose one over the other hehe. This stone has a better crown angle and has excellent cut. CHOOSING DIAMONDS IS SO DIFFICULT!

1.01 G VS2
6.40 - 6.45 x 3.99
Cut: Excellent
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Very Good
Florescence: None
Depth: 62.1%
Table: 56%
Crown Angle: 34.5
Pavilion Angle: 41
HCA: 1.9 (TIC)
Light Return: Excellent
Fire: Very Good
Scintillation: Very Good
Spread: Very Good
My Notes: The diamond is clean looking through 10x loupe except for small black inclusion on the edge.

 

[johncapecod]

I'm guessing the 2nd one (1.01 G VS2) got a VG cut rating because of the very thin girdle and/or it's crown angle? Still registered a 0.8 on the HCA with excellent rating on all four categories... it looked good through an ideal scope and I noticed it didn't have the darker areas in the diamond compared to others - probably because its BIC?

would people on here agree that it's best to try to find a diamond where the HCA falls within both the AGS ideal and GIA excellent range? Because some diamonds I've seen have <2.0 score but doesn't fall inside the AGS ideal.

 

[johncapecod]

Here's a picture of the first stone. Anyone see anything wrong with it?

 

[0-0-0]

I think the first stone looks great based on the picture and info provided. I wouldn't even consider the second stone due to the shallow crown and very thin girdle. It's much more likely to chip.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

The first stone is the best of the three. I asked about the girdle on #2 because I suspected it might be very thin. That rules it out unless you are setting it in a bezel.