Opinions on TAKARA (BTD)

[Pinklioness91]

Hi All,

I am very new to the diamond world. We are searching for a center stone to put in an engagement ring. Originally we were considering Brian Gavins Blue Diamond line but after much research on this forum saw the consensus was they are over priced. I don't really care if the stone is laboratory vs. natural. My biggest concern is the stone having a lot of fire & brilliance. I saw a lot about Takara Hearts & Arrows and decided to take a look for myself.

The site is a little strange to me. I am used to seeing the diamond inventories with a 360 degree video or photo of the diamonds. For Takara I can only see the inventory on its search engine or the drop down menu. How am I supposed to assess the stone outside of using the HCA, reading the IGI, and looking at its specs? They don't provide ASET or Idealscope images which is also troubling, how can I trust they are really H&A and have good light performance?

Has anyone here recently purchased from their site? If so, how did you select the best stone for fire & brilliance from the H&A inventory? More importantly, how was the purchase experience and are you happy? Just because they are cheaper than natural diamonds doesn't mean they are "cheap" we are looking for something 1ct or up and they start around 2.6K so I am not taking this purchase lightly.

Thank you for any help and advance! I am new, if my post is repetitive or not using the right terminology... please cut me some slack

 

[OdetteOdile]

Hello there! I do not have experience in this myself, but I have been in the lab grown section long enough to know that Jonathan (Rhino) at August Vintage sells lab grown diamonds (including Takara) and is able to assess the diamonds and provide you with additional imaging. It sounds like the reassurance of having an experienced eye on your potential diamond might be helpful to you.

 

[Tekate]

Don't know about this company but in addition to Jonathan, Brilliant Earth is a good company to check, it's been on the forefront of the MMD word.

 

[OoohShiny]

Hi All,

I am very new to the diamond world. We are searching for a center stone to put in an engagement ring. Originally we were considering Brian Gavins Blue Diamond line but after much research on this forum saw the consensus was they are over priced.

Would you have any links to those comments?

I don't recall seeing anything saying the BGBlue diamonds were overpriced, although they do carry a premium due to their better-than-usual cut standards.

 

[lovedogs]

Would you have any links to those comments?

I don't recall seeing anything saying the BGBlue diamonds were overpriced, although they do carry a premium due to their better-than-usual cut standards.

Agreed. I dont think they are overpriced.

 

[dabrain230]

I recently had a Takara lab grown that I returned. On paper the stone was excellent in every way but when I had it in my hands i noticed several issues. The surface seemed grainy despite excellent polish (when looking at the stone with a loupe it almost looked milky) and the H&A patterns were not really convincing despite being mentioned in the certificate and the stone being sold as a H&A.

 

[OoohShiny]

I recently had a Takara lab grown that I returned. On paper the stone was excellent in every way but when I had it in my hands i noticed several issues. The surface seemed grainy despite excellent polish (when looking at the stone with a loupe it almost looked milky) and the H&A patterns were not really convincing despite being mentioned in the certificate and the stone being sold as a H&A.

Interesting, thank you for posting your experience

Could you have been seeing the 'stria' that are sometimes present in CVD stones, I wonder?