Ordered my first diamond...then did research:/

[Xmodrelic]

So going in I knew cut was most important. So I only looked at triple ex GIA and well, I now know the variation in the grading.
I suspect this is a deep and steep cut diamond.

.74ct
FVS2
Table 58%
Depth 61.5%
Crown 36%
Pavilion 40.6
Medium to slightly thick 3.5%
Strong blue florescence

Heres the GIA
http://i.imgur.com/GK0AAce.png
http://i.imgur.com/1KfZLxg.png

Now the HCA is a 1.9 which looks promising but when I move the angles around the GIA rounding tolerances I can get a 3.0+ or a 0.9
http://i.imgur.com/DIdhvCk.png

Its arriving from blue nile tomorrow so Ill get a look at it, may look great but Im still concerned with the spread which is closer to a .70 rather than the .74 it is. I believe a I paid an appropriate price of ~$3200, I should have red flagged the cheaper larger diamond.

Any opinions on the proportions? Spread? HCA score? Any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[Christina...]

Firstly, color and clarity and very respectable, as is the fact that you purchased a GIA graded diamond. You also had the foresight, or have done enough research to have run the proportions through the HCA. You're next step would have been to ask for an ideal scope image, but BN doesn't offer them, so it wouldn't have been available anyway...one of the reasons that I don't ordinarily recommend them. The good news is that you will have a fair amount of time to view the stone in many different lighting environments and develop your own opinion of the stone. I'd advise taking it to a local vendor that specializes in ideal cuts and compare it's performance to a few others to get an idea of how if stacks up. BN has a great return policy if you decide to keep looking. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you get a chance to play around with it.

edit: BTW, the stone is neither steep nor deep.

 

[Xmodrelic]

Thanks for the reassurance. Its going in a classic solitaire ring and will be very visible from the side so I sprung for the F color and hopefully it will arrive as an eye clean VS2. Like I said cut trumps all for me so I started getting nervous when the specs looked odd, specifically the 36degree crown angle and the 61.5% depth.

Im glad you mentioned going local with it to compare against some nice branded HA cuts. A local place sells HoF so I'll definitely do that and give an update.

Thanks again.

 

[JulieN]

Those numbers are fine.

 

[Marge_C]

With a 36% crown angle it will probably be a fireball! The rest of the specs. look good to me with my layman's knowledge.

 

[Xmodrelic]

With a 36% crown angle it will probably be a fireball! The rest of the specs. look good to me with my layman's knowledge.

Thats great, hope it works out like this. Fire is my favorite part. I've seen plenty of low quality rings with no fire, I want this one to stand out in this way.

 

[Xmodrelic]

It arrived this morning and looks very good, eye clean, very white. Lots of fire around the outside, but a bit dark in the middle. Definitely some light leakage but overall very nice.
http://i.imgur.com/SBZJGj1.png
http://i.imgur.com/NxQ04IS.png
http://i.imgur.com/BFVFHol.png

From the side I see a reflection of the crown. Originally I thought it was a big inclusion, then maybe a small inclusion being reflected then possibly the setting being reflected. Im pretty sure now tho that its an image of the crown reflecting around the pavilion. Is this normal or a result of light leaking out? I liked the idea of being able to see the icy white color grade which is why I picked an open setting but it kinda looks like a big feather running across, and make it difficult to see the full diamond shape. Am I being overly critical? Im planning to compare it locally this week and Ill make my final decision then.
Any insight would be great, thanks.

 

[thecat]

Could it be a girdle reflection? It's pretty common. Lovely ring

 

[Lorelei]

Could it be a girdle reflection? It's pretty common. Lovely ring

Right on the money, typical girdle reflection in the side view. Nothing to worry about.

 

[Lorelei]

It arrived this morning and looks very good, eye clean, very white. Lots of fire around the outside, but a bit dark in the middle. Definitely some light leakage but overall very nice.
http://i.imgur.com/SBZJGj1.png
http://i.imgur.com/NxQ04IS.png
http://i.imgur.com/BFVFHol.png

From the side I see a reflection of the crown. Originally I thought it was a big inclusion, then maybe a small inclusion being reflected then possibly the setting being reflected. Im pretty sure now tho that its an image of the crown reflecting around the pavilion. Is this normal or a result of light leaking out? I liked the idea of being able to see the icy white color grade which is why I picked an open setting but it kinda looks like a big feather running across, and make it difficult to see the full diamond shape. Am I being overly critical? Im planning to compare it locally this week and Ill make my final decision then.
Any insight would be great, thanks.

I honestly cannot tell whether that is light leakage, nor would I try to judge that from those photos. I can see what appear to be arrow shafts showing in one area but as for leakage, no way to tell from those images. Even if the proportions and overall cutting precision had more variations than the rounded values show, it still might not show leakage, the darker areas could be a result of your head or the camera angle, anything at all. Can you see the same darkening in different lights and angles? Give the diamond a good test run in different everyday wearing conditions as you have a good approval period and definitely compare locally as you suggest, but if you aren't happy, change it.

 

[Xmodrelic]

Thanks. Its very typical of me to obsess a bit. Sometimes I just need a reality check. Spending all that time looking at videos of jewelers pitching their signature cut $20+k diamonds on youtube may have made my expectations of my $3k diamond a bit off. It really does have a lot of fire and it does look amazing on my wife's hand.
Few more pics
http://i.imgur.com/L87lvnt.png
http://i.imgur.com/hi6oqna.png
http://i.imgur.com/vPHTVLK.png

Some diffused daylight...the strong florescence only shows slightly in the pic, in reality I cant seen anything but a bit more blue fire.
http://i.imgur.com/Wsb56J6.png

And just for the hell of it I put it next to a black light. I had to put it very close for it to start glowing
http://i.imgur.com/XPejrVn.png

And finally a video under 3 small warm-temp CFL's in a room full of oak furniture and cream color walls. Sorry for the poor quality.
http://youtu.be/Fd3eRg58LnY