Opinions on this 1.35 D VS2 w/GCAL - Girdle inclusions a problem?

[arrowwilson]

Hi all,

First time poster here. I've found a tremendous amount of knowledge lurking these forums and am hoping I can turn to the community for opinions/advice as I search for the right strone for an engagement ring. I'm of course racking my brain over here tryingto find "the one." This is to be set in a 3 stone tapered baguette style ring.

1.35 D, VS2 - price on this is $5,250.

Gem Certification & Assurance Lab

www.gcalusa.com

How does the light performance look on this GCAL? (I've been doing my best to compare it to other GCALs and often there is some variance, with little details on what the colors indicate other than contrast.)

Would you be concerned about the girdle inclusions? Thoughts on price?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[OcnGypZ]

The inclusions are on the lower and upper girdle facets - not on the girdle itself. I do wish they'd start plotting them. Do you have a video?

 

[SouthernElle]

They seem pretty small, but a video would help visualize them better. As an example, here is the video of my SI2 GCAL stone: https://css.brilliantearth.com/stat...mage.brilliantearth.com/media/v360/&version=2

I was obviously pretty concerned about the largest one but was hoping to hide it under a prong. When I received the diamond, I had to really look for the largest inclusion and it’s so small it could be covered by less than half the width of a prong. The other inclusions cannot be seen at all without the aid of magnification.

 

[arrowwilson]

Thanks so much for both replies.

Video can be seen here:

V360 Viewer

css.brilliantearth.com

Visible on the left side of the stone.

Thanks again in advance for your $.02!

 

[SouthernElle]

Thanks so much for both replies.

Video can be seen here:

V360 Viewer

css.brilliantearth.com

Visible on the left side of the stone.

Thanks again in advance for your $.02!

I think you’ll be super pleased with the clarity in real life. They aren’t even super noticeable in the video. And when you use the zoom out feature, they basically disappear.

 

[OoohShiny]

I agree, that does look super-clean in the video

I think my only concern would be over whether feathers on the girdle in a VS2 would present any risk of increased susceptibility to damage if knocked accidently - although because the inclusions aren't plotted, it's not clear if the girdle inclusions are the feathers or clouds in the inclusions list


Just to ask, though, have you looked at the various other vendors in the 'List of MMD Vendors' thread in this section of the forum, to compare prices?

I hate that prices of MMDs are so all-over-the-place right now, and that we don't have a comparison tool like the PS (Mined) Diamond Search Engine for them - it makes it very difficult to positively recommend one stone over the other, or determine whether a stone represents value for money, and I would hate it if our recommendations on here ever meant that someone was, potentially, substantially out of pocket when they didn't need to be

I totally understand the reasons for PS not having such a search engine right now, and I do appreciate that position, but as a diamond education site, it (personally speaking) does cause me some anxiety that we are not able to offer advice from a well-informed position, and that buyers are effectively purchasing in the same manner as 'the good (bad?) old days' of (mined) diamond buying, where they are 'buying blind' and relying on a vendor not to rip them off thanks to not being able to understand the wider market at a glance.

I believe @John Pollard has argued the case for a MMD search tool, and I hope that one day we will be able to get one (either on here or on a sister site dedicated to MMD purchasing, perhaps?) but until then, 'caveat emptor' is the name of the game!