Opinion Please On This Stone?

by aislingmaire » Mar 18, 2002

Hi, usually the advice you will receive on this panel is if you like it then buy it; but, as you have not seen this diamond you have to judge by the numbers. As far as the HCA goes the numbers do not add up like a $1500 purchase should The HCA said this purchase was only advised if it was to fit your budget; however, If you search on price stats, I am sure you will find a diamond that is in your budget. If you look at Hearts and Arrows diamonds on price stat you are sure to find one that doesn't disappoint, but you may need to go closer to .50cts. From what I've seen, 1/2 carats are usually around 5mm; however holding a 5mm hearts and arrows next to a 5.6mm lesser cut will prove the importance of a good cut. Not only will the hearts and arrows look more radiant, but it will also look bigger. I never would have believed this myself unless I had compared two diamonds at a mall jewelry store. One was about 1/2mm bigger, but the other was cut better (and it was a far cry from a hearts and arrows!). You guessed it! The better cut looked bigger. I have rambled on enough I think. Hope this helps.

 

by aislingmaire » Mar 18, 2002

There is a .52ct H SI1 at www.whiteflash.com with a special Pricescope price of $1290 (say you saw it on pricescope!. It is A Cut Above branded hearts and arrows. The spread is 5.2mm. The Holloway Cut Adviser gave it a .3! Now 2 on the HCA means you have eliminated about 95% of lesser performers (big paraphrase) Most Hearts and Arrows are above a 2 rating. Many have excellent ratings on the HCA, but this diamond crossed into the phenomenal rating with its cut! I understand if you want something bigger on paper (although this diamond will look bigger than the one you are looking at!) but this is the best cut for your money that I saw and is definitely worth your consideration. Remember cut can improve spread, making it look like it has a higher carat weight, (what most people are concerned about)cut can increase brilliance making the color grade appear higher. I am no diamond expert so those that are please correct all my mistakes.

 

by lawmax » Mar 18, 2002

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On 3/18/2002 3:11:31 PM

There is a .52ct H SI1 at www.whiteflash.com with a special Pricescope price of $1290 (say you saw it on pricescope!. It is A Cut Above branded hearts and arrows. The spread is 5.2mm. The Holloway Cut Adviser gave it a .3! Now 2 on the HCA means you have eliminated about 95% of lesser performers (big paraphrase) Most Hearts and Arrows are above a 2 rating. Many have excellent ratings on the HCA, but this diamond crossed into the phenomenal rating with its cut! I understand if you want something bigger on paper (although this diamond will look bigger than the one you are looking at!) but this is the best cut for your money that I saw and is definitely worth your consideration. Remember cut can improve spread, making it look like it has a higher carat weight, (what most people are concerned about)cut can increase brilliance making the color grade appear higher. I am no diamond expert so those that are please correct all my mistakes.
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Aislingmaire,

You are becoming quite the cut afficianado! What did you end up buying? As an aside, the most accurate way the use the HCA to get an idea about how a diamond may perform is to use crown and pavilion angles. It does make a difference in the score.

boycorduroy,

If you ask vendors for a Sarin report (many will get this information for you), you will have the crown and pavilion angles and can use the cut adviser on this site. Diamonds with AGS grading reports already have all of this cut information. Check out the tutorial on this site if you haven't already done so. It may help you with your buying decision. If possible in your area, check out more ideal cut diamonds vs. average cut diamonds and see what you or the person who will receive the diamond would prefer in terms of brilliance (white light return), dispersion (fire/colored light return) and scintillation.

Good luck.

 

by Garry H (Cut Nut) » Mar 19, 2002

Good advice Alison.

Remember too that using the %'s is a very approximate method of using HCA.

Garry

 

by lawmax » Mar 20, 2002

The crown angle is the angle measured between the girdle plane and the bezel facets. The crown height percentage is the crown height expressed as a percentage of the average girdle diameter.

 

by lawmax » Mar 20, 2002

boycorduroy,

Sorry you missed out on that one. Surely you can find another one. I'll be glad to help if I can. Whiteflash has some A Cut Above diamonds that may work for you.

lawmax

 

by lawmax » Mar 20, 2002

How about one of these? The first is from www.usacerteddiamonds.com and the second is from www.jewelryzone.com.

.61
H
SI1
60.7%
57%
AGS


id
id
no

$2584
$1576


0.63
H
SI1
60.6%
56%
AGS
0.9-1.9
no
id
id
no
5.54-5.59x3.37
$2572
$1620*

 

by lawmax » Mar 20, 2002

Here's another from www.usacerteddiamonds.com:

0.64
H
SI1
61.9%
55%
AGS
1.0-1.7
no
id
id
no
5.54-5.57x3.44
$2572
$1645*

 

by buttercup » Mar 20, 2002

I don't know if the color is too high for you (maybe you like warmer diamonds)
But, here's a stone from Blue Nile...
usually, i wouldn't recommend them, but since they have this 10% off using a mastercard promotion going on and you can get another 3% off from ebates.com, their prices are actually pretty good. I was looking for a diamond for a friend of mine who wanted to finance her new diamond which was why I was poking around BN. I came across this pretty one...maybe you'll like it.

0.52 E SI2 AGS0 Ideal, HCA 0.3 Ex TIC
$1545 (-10% $145.50) (-3% $41.71) = $1348.79