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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.
