Please Help

[Lanni]

Hi...I''ve been diamond shopping for nearly two months...needless to say, I am tired, especially of people telling me I''m getting ripped off or being able to buy a better diamond with the price I paid for. I cancelled my a loose diamond I bought with a family jeweler bc of those comments. (I might have severed some ties, but I did it bc I didn''t feel good with the purchase.)

The new jeweler I ultimately purchased from said I couldn''t return the I bought with him bc he "gave me a great deal". I plan on getting the rock appraise this week, but wanted to ask the experts on this site first. I''ve read some pretty brutal comments so I hope you will do me the same favor.

So here are the specs of what ended up with. The stone did come with
GIA Papers and Laser Inscription.
Round 1.22 ct, VVSI, E color
6.94mm x6.97mm x4.22mm
Table: 55%
Depth: 60.8%
Polish/Symmetry: VG/VG
Girdle: Thin (all around)
No Flourescence
No Cutlet
Price: $10,500

My question to the experts is:
1) Is this diamond an ideal cut as I was told?
2) The jeweler said it''s almost a Hearts and Arrow. Is it?
3) Do I want a thin-medium girdle or just a thin girdle. What is the ideal girdle?
4) I tried download the diacal but couldn''t use it bc
GIA doens''t specify the pavillion and crown %. How do it get these numbers? (Well I had to purchase the software too)

I want to feel good about this purchase so I hope you will give me as much brutal feedback as possible. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Lanni

 

[pqcollectibles]

Hi Lanni!

You really need to post more information for a good opinion.

Crown and Pavillion %'s would be a big help. Also, if you could get the jeweler to call GIA for the Crown and Pavillion angles, that would be GREAT. If not, you might ask the appraiser to run a Sarin on the diamond when he/she does the evaluation.

The table and depth %'s, polish and symmetry you listed are Cut Class 1A. According to the chart, a Cut Class 1A diamond "should" have a medium girdle. The average asking price of Price Scope vendors for a similar Cut Class 1A diamond is $11,500. If the diamond rates as Cut Class 1B, the average PS vendor price is $10,555.

You'll get a better opinion if you post more info. You'll definitely know after an appraiser evaluates your diamond.

 

[Lanni]

Thanks for responding...for awhile I thought everyone was ignoring me. I'll have my boyfriend call my jeweler for the pavillion and crown %. Could I call GIA myself and ask them for the numbers if it I have the certificate number?

 

[dimonbob]

Hi Lanni

1) Is this diamond an ideal cut as I was told? No, an ideal cut diamond cannot have a very good polish & symmetry

2) The jeweler said it's almost a Hearts and Arrow. Is it?
No, there is no such thing as an "almost" H&A...it is either a hearts and arrows or it is not

3) Do I want a thin-medium girdle or just a thin girdle. What is the ideal girdle? An ideal girdle can be thin, medium or slightly thick or a combination of any of these

4) I tried download the diacal but couldn't use it bc
GIA doens't specify the pavillion and crown %. How do it get these numbers? You will need to ask the vendor for a Sarin report on the diamond. That will give you the numbers you need.

 

[Lanni]

I'm planning to have my diamond appraisal done this weekend but I just realized I don't what kind of questions I should be asking my appraiser and what should I expect from an appraisal? Do all appraisals come with a full report with crown and pavillion %?

I will try to contact Vickie Adams in Irvine, CA to do my appraisal. Does anybody know Vickie Adams and the services she provides? (I'm sure she's good since she's listed on PC.)

Thanks,

Lanni

 

[poorman]

I've contacted Vickie Adams and discussed pricing and services however the pricing is a little high, $350. I've asked her if she could explain to me why her services are better than others but she didn't really say anything that was different except the pricing.

I think you would be better off going elsewhere.

 

[poorman]

BTW, Vickie Adams does not have a Sarin machine.

 

[chialea]

----------------
On 6/3/2003 8:16:12 PM dimonbob wrote:

Hi Lanni

No, there is no such thing as an 'almost' H&A...it is either a hearts and arrows or it is not
----------------

There is such a thing as "displays an imperfect H&A pattern", and what people claim is H&A varies from person to person... So if they were as picky as, say, NiceIce, about what constitutes H&A, it's more than possible to have "almost". Of course, that also means that 'almost' H&A will vary a lot between people as well, and the only way to figure it out is look through a viewer and check it out for yourself. (Compare against some of the example pictures at GoodOldGold.)

It doesn't matter in the greater scheme of things, most likely, as long as the diamond is beautiful on its own

 

[JC]

You should definitely feel good about your purchase. You got a great diamond at a fair price. I wouldn't be too concerned about the quality of that diamond. You obviously have GREAT taste. Congrats!

 

[Magnum]

1) Is this diamond an ideal cut as I was told?

As others have said, you need more information to make this determination. You can get the information needed from a full sarin report, and then you'll be able to determine if it's an ideal cut or not. The Depth and Table percentages are in the ideal range, though, so it's definitely possible (but not 100% certain) that the rest of the proportions will be ideal. it's just impossible to tell with the information you've provided so far. The other thing to note is that a full sarin report will give both crown/pavilion angles and percentages, but angles are more important and accurate to determine if it's an ideal cut. So, while crown/pavilion percentages have been thrown around in some of the previous posts, it's acutally better to use crown/pavilion angles to determine the cut of the diamond.

Oh yeah, one more thing. While it's true that a stone will not be AGS triple-ideal (AGS0) without ideal polish and symmetry (equivalent to Excellent as graded by GIA, since Excellent is their highest grade and they don't use the grade ideal), that doesn't mean the proportions can't be ideal. to me having ideal proportions is the most important factor, as it's nearly impossible, even to experts, to tell the difference between excellent (AGS ideal) polish/symmetry and Very Good polish/symmetry.

2) The jeweler said it's almost a Hearts and Arrow. Is it?

Again, impossible to tell with the info you provided. Not all ideal cut stones display H&A, and not all H&A stones are ideal cut. They are two different things. Ideal cut has to do with the proportions and their relationship to one another, while H&A has to do with the optical symmetry of the stone and the placement of the stones facets (not necessarily just the angles of them). The only way to tell if it's a H&A stone is by looking at it through a H&A viewer. Could it be "almost" H&A? I think that's a fair term. If the H&A symmetry is perfect in every way, except for the fact that one heart might be a little different size than the others, it would be disqualified as a "true" H&A stone. Does that mean it's the same as every other randomly cut stone that's not H&A? I would say, no, it's closer to a H&A stone, and probably impossible to tell the difference to the naked eye. So would I call that an example of an "almost" H&A. Yeah, I think I would. And in my opinion, while I have bought a H&A stone, I don't think it's esential to have perfect H&A, especially if the imperfections are in the hearts. The arrows are what give off the biggest flashes of fire and can be seen with the naked eye, so if the stone has nicely formed arrows, along with a nice idealscope image, than I wouldn't be worried if it was just an "almost" H&A. Unfortunately there's no way to tell if your stone is an "almost" H&A without some pictures of how it looks in a hearts-and-arrows viewer.

3) Do I want a thin-medium girdle or just a thin girdle. What is the ideal girdle?

A thin girdle should be fine in an ideal cut stone. No worries there.

4) I tried download the diacal but couldn't use it bc
GIA doens't specify the pavillion and crown %. How do it get these numbers? (Well I had to purchase the software too)

As has been previously said, it's probably a good idea to find an appraiser that has access to a sarin machine, since that is some of the information you're looking for.

Along those lines, the things I would ask an appraiser for are first, simply his expert impressions on the cut/color/clarity of the stone, since it's his job to be an expert and give you an expert opinion. Secondly, since I'd like a little more info for myself, I'd ask for a full sarin report, and evaluation of the stone with an idealscope (or similar) and evaluation of the optical symmetry with a H&A viewer. I'm sure there are other things to ask, but those are a few that I'll throw out there.

Anyway, from the information you gave, and if what the vendor said is accurate, it sounds like you've gotten a nice diamond for a nice price. Congrats, and enjoy.