Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Opinions on diamond quality and value

J

Jorgo

Rough_Rock
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
8
Hi all,

I'm new to this forum so hopefully I'm posting this in the right section - apologies if I'm not!

I've been looking for quite some time to find the right centre diamond for my girlfriend's engagement ring. After much looking I think I've found the right stone. However, while I have done a tonne of research, I would really value any feedback from the knowledge base that is this forum!

The stone details are as follows:

Shape: Round
Cert: GIA
Price: $6973 (ex GST)

Measurements: 6.31 - 6.32 x 3.88 mm
Carat Weight: 0.94 carat
Color Grade: E
Clarity Grade: VS2 (more on this later)
Cut Grade: Excellent (scored an HCA grade of 0.7)

PROPORTIONS
Depth: 61.4%
Table: 55%
Crown Angle: 34.5°
Crown Height: 15.5%
Pavilion Angle: 40.6°
Pavilion Depth: 43.0%
Star Length: 50%
Lower Half: 75%
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted (3.0%)
Culet: None

FINISH
Polish: Excellent
Symmetry: Excellent
Fluorescence: Medium Blue

CLARITY CHARACTERISTICS
Crystal, Feather

The main concern I have with this stone is around clarity. Now the wholesaler says it's been confirmed eye-clean by the overseas supplier, and they sent me the attached pic. I guess my main issue is with the black inclusion under the table - will this be at all visible? In addition, it has feathers as part of the inclusion (I haven't seen the placement on the GIA certificate yet, so I don't know their location). Do either of these two issues mean I should walk away from the stone?

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

_9282.jpg
 
Now the other alternative I have is to drop down the colour grade and get a bigger diamond. I found this example, which I know is quite a bit more expensive but I think is still a great deal and scored a 0.8 on the HCA:

http://www.diamondemporium.com.au/search/RB1818970-1.27-Carat-Round-Diamond

And then there's this stone, but I'm worried it's a bit too far down the colour scale?

http://www.diamondemporium.com.au/search/RB1813591-1.50-Carat-Round-Diamond

What are you thoughts? Should I sacrafice a bit of quality for a bigger rock? What do you prefer out of the two options above?

Thanks again in advance!
 
That VS2 should be eye clean. Remember the pictures are really blown up.

My personal preference would be the 1.5 stone (unless she/you are really color sensitive) .
 
Thanks very much for the feedback. Would the size difference really be that noticeable though? I think it's about 0.4mm difference in diameter, yet it's down 1 colour rating and 3 clarity ratings?

I should have mentioned - her finger size is J and a half (I think that's a size 5 in US sizing - i.e. 15.7mm or 0.618 inches).

Thanks again!
 
Clarity: Most people here would settle for eyeclean SI1. VS1 or VS2 in the size you are looking at should probably be eyeclean. Remember that they are graded face-up. If you want to be certain that you can't see anything from the side view or at a tilt or looking at the pavilion, you must ask the vendor if the diamond meet your standards of eyeclean.

Color: I range is where most people can start to see tint. But seeing it is not necessarily going to bother you / she. The I range is considered white. J is where it starts going off-white, to me. D/E/F are very white, G and H are definitely white, to me.

Size: Yes, a 1.25ct is going to look noticeably larger than .94 or 1c. 1.5 will look larger than 1.25. This pic has been on Pricescope for years.
sizes_overview.jpg


left to right:
1.02ct [E/VS1],
1.21ct [G/VVS1],
1.51ct [F/SI1]
2.01ct. [E/VS1]
all SuperbCert H&A diamonds
[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/diamond-size-comparison-in-my-michael-b-setting.30599/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/diamond-size-comparison-in-my-michael-b-setting.30599/[/URL]
 
Thanks very much all! So you think an I colour grade shouldn't really be noticeable unless put side by side with a higher grade? Or would it be worth investing a bit more and getting an H colour (although this would really be stretching the budget).

I've picked four 1.5 carat diamonds, in the link below. I especially like the one third from the left, although looking at the grading report, there is a small feather that reaches the surface. Will that be a problem, do you think?

Any other comments on the other options would be fantastic as well!

http://www.diamondemporium.com.au/compare/RB1813591+RB1885340+RB1556710+RB1676586

Thanks so much all! :)
 
If you do a search for diamond color on youtube, you'll find some very helpful videos where two diamonds of different colours are compared side by side. Some people would disagree with me, but between an H and I, I believe that the vast majority of people would be hard pressed to see the difference in a real life situation, i.e., when the diamond has been set. You might perceive the difference in colour more readily if they were sitting side by side, upside down against a pure white background, but that's not the way your fiancee's diamond will be viewed.

I was considering an L recently, which is how I came to view some of these videos about diamond colour, and I found them very helpful and educational. I hope you do too.
 
Did you read up on fluorescence? It's really not for everybody though some do like it so check out if it's for you before pulling the trigger. For me personally, I wanted none.
 
Hi all,

Thanks for the replies, I really appreciate it! Regarding the question on fluorescence, yes I've been doing quite a bit of research on this area. I was thinking a diamond with a medium fluorescence, in order to offset somewhat the lower colour grade.

Regarding diamond choice, my top pick at the moment is the following diamond (I went off the diamond I posted earlier, as I'm a bit worried about that feather inclusion):

https://myapps.gia.edu/ReportCheckPortal/getReportData.do?reportno=2156686940&weight=1.50#

I had a question about the above diamond, regarding cut. It's a GIA Excellent cut, and when put into the HCA model, it returns score of 1.2 - Excellent and within BIC range. The debate around HCA has unfortunately left me a bit confused. How will this affect light return and Scintillation (Scintillation is the only area which did not score Excellent)? Should I keep looking for something within the TIC range or will this still give excellent light characteristics? I really want something that will sparkle etc as much as possible :)

In additon, I had a further question on the clarity - if you look at the above GIA certificate, it shows tiny natural inclusions and feathers near / on the surface of the pavillion. In addition, under the comments section, it says "internal grading not shown". Is it not shown on the diagram because it's so minor it's not worth including on the diagram, or should I be worried? I guess I just want to OK the clarity.

Thanks again all, I really appreciate the advice and patience! :)
 
Hi all, just giving this thread a bump. :)

I'm very close to pulling the trigger on the above diamond, but I would really appreciate it if anyone else could give me their opinion on the stone, particularly around the cut and clarity questions.

Finally, apart from an Ideal Scope image, is there anything more I should be asking for before I commit to the purchase?

Thanks very much!
 
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top