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Polish and Symmetry in a Pear

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
Hi everyone,

Just curious as to the importance of both polish and symmetry in a pear cut diamond. I am looking for a small pear to finish off a custom piece, but am confused a bit with polish and symmetry with pears. I see pics of pears with minimal bow-tie that look well cut etc, but have good for one of the two characteristics. Rarely do you see two excellents and on some, the stones look worse then those graded lower.

Anyone give me some quick insight on this? Thanks.
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
Here is my understanding...these things tend to be more important with round brilliants than in fancy cuts like pears. With fancy cuts stick to VG OR above for polish. With symmetry stick to good or above.

Here is the logic I believe...
The cut of the stone is way more important than the polish or symmetry. It's relatively easy to find a well cut round so polish and symmetry get more emphasis in judging a round stone. It's much harder to find well cut nice pears so symmetry and polish take a back seat.

Concentrate more on finding a pretty pear (nice faceting pattern, minimal bow tie and nice light return). Accept the Polish and symmetry if it's decent. I know when I'm helping people find pears I don't even look at the Polish and symmetry.

If you need help let us know. That's my 2 cents. I have no experience comparing fancy cuts with different symmetry or polish.
 

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
tyty333|1462829607|4029466 said:
Here is my understanding...these things tend to be more important with round brilliants than in fancy cuts like pears. With fancy cuts stick to VG OR above for polish. With symmetry stick to good or above.

Here is the logic I believe...
The cut of the stone is way more important than the polish or symmetry. It's relatively easy to find a well cut round so polish and symmetry get more emphasis in judging a round stone. It's much harder to find well cut nice pears so symmetry and polish take a back seat.

Concentrate more on finding a pretty pear (nice faceting pattern, minimal bow tie and nice light return). Accept the Polish and symmetry if it's decent. I know when I'm helping people find pears I don't even look at the Polish and symmetry.

If you need help let us know. That's my 2 cents. I have no experience comparing fancy cuts with different symmetry or polish.

Thanks a lot!

I am pretty good at looking at rounds, reading ASET images etc, but fancies is a different story. I like nice faceting on pears with a 1.5-1.6 ratio. Basically I'm looking for a smaller stone and actually am intrigued by some warmer ones (as is the fiance). Price isn't an issue really, because after going to my local jeweler to scope out some pears (and talking to the SO), I find that I will likely be going with one at .4-.5 carat for a small, simple, classic pendant.

I actually was scoping out a really nice H colour, .5 a couple months back. REally nice looking pear, but I posted the link up here and life got in the way and the purchase was put on hold. Needless to say that it's gone.

How does this one look to everyone? Again, price isn't really a focus, just happens I luck out and the SO is simple and doesn't like 'bling' and likes the look of a warmer stone, although her ER is a 1.07 H colour.

Thanks again

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/0.40-carat-k-color-vs1-clarity-sku-850564
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
I wouldn't go to K color in a pear because color tends to concentrate in certain areas due to the cut. With the small size, you need the stone to be as white and bright as possible so it will show up well. I'd stick with G-H and maybe I color but no lower.
 

Gypsy

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
40,225
What's the pear for? Is it for a pendant? If it's for a pendant, you might want to look at some Si2 and even I clarity stones and go up in color.
 

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
Ya it's for a pendant. When we went to my local store my SO liked the smaller stones between j-k. We asked about the fact her ER is an h and 1.07 should factor in to the pendant stats but he said its preference (cop out answer haha).

Anyways. Reason I look at James Allen is for the ease of seeing the diamond in the 360 and making a somewhat informed decision based on the images and numbers. Since I live in Canada returns are just more of a hassle, especially st this price point.


Does this stone aside from colour look like a nice pear? Other suggestions? Thanks a lot everyone.
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
The light return on that JA stone is so-so. What is your budget?
 

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
Haven't really set an official budget. Figure since her likes seem to be towards more inexpensive stones (lucky me) that if look for a good balance of quality and value but certainly not going warmer colour for price.

May I ask how you can judge the light return off the stone by just the numbers and images?
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
Stive85|1462883443|4029712 said:
Haven't really set an official budget. Figure since her likes seem to be towards more inexpensive stones (lucky me) that if look for a good balance of quality and value but certainly not going warmer colour for price.

May I ask how you can judge the light return off the stone by just the numbers and images?

The numbers dont do anything for you. You have to have images (aset images are good for fancy cuts) but I find the
rotating images the best way to judge. You see what the stone is going to do when it moves. The aset image is a static
one time shot straight on while the rotating images are more closer to true life (even though they are very close up).

Look for well defined (not fuzzy) facets that are reflecting light (go on/off as it turns). Bright facets that do not look shadowed.
Fuzzy areas will not return light well (in other words, point of a pear).

Here is the pear that you picked. The green show areas of fuzziness and shadow. The orange shows some facets that will return
light.


Here is one that I like. Again, the green shows area of fuzziness and shadow that will not return light well. The orange shows
bright, crisp facets that will return light well. Probably should have circled the point in green but this point is actually not as
bad as most pears so I didnt circle it at all. Does that help? Points of pears are almost always fuzzy. Plus you need to find
a stone where the facets feather out from the center nicely. The stones you are looking at are on the smaller sides so we're
probably over analyzing it. I'm basically telling you about pears in general.

his_pear_with_lines.png

pear_1.png
 

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
Thanks a lot! I see what you mean.

May I ask the link for the stone u like? As well as other considerations? The one you picked is chubbier which I don't know if she'd like as much as a 1.5-1.6 ratio stone.
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
It's also much smaller...with pears you need to look at the mm. I looked at JA for a nice pear but anything I find is much higher
than the stone you linked. :(sad

Here is the one that I posted above...
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/0.41-carat-h-color-si1-clarity-sku-813161

A decent I colored stone
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/0.40-carat-i-color-vvs2-clarity-sku-1085837

Here is another one that looked decent. It's almost twice your budget, not in your ratio and shallow...but it looks like it has decent
light return and would make a nice pendant.
http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/0.40-carat-f-color-vvs1-clarity-sku-614597

There is really no stone that stands out that I would say "this is the one" you should get.
If I were to advise, I like the "I" but again, may not be in your budget.

Edit...I'm checking another site to see what they have

Well, nothing on the low end budget wise...
Pretty stone
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-7976313-0.42-carat-Pear-diamond-G-color-VVS2-clarity.aspx
may be decent
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8297460-0.41-carat-Pear-diamond-F-color-VS2-clarity.aspx
This is probably nice if eye-clean (I'm thinking it probably is)
http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8226524-0.51-carat-Pear-diamond-G-color-SI1-clarity.aspx

Anyway...take a look at b2c...filter on pictures GIA/AGS and Actual Pictures so you can see the stones.
 

Stive85

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Feb 13, 2014
Messages
330
Thanks again! Very insightful. With the budget, it really isn't a major issue to go up a bit. To be honest, I'd say my SO would be more hesitant to spend more than I would.

I sound crazy, but I've learned to be a good listener and she did seem to like warmer colours. That being said, I am not opposed to just going with one up to an H.

I came across this one too.. I know.. another K ... It looks great, but what is with that black inclusion.. VS1?! what am I missing?!

http://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/pear-shaped/0.42-carat-k-color-vs1-clarity-sku-764864

Going to scope out other sites now. JA is just so easy to get a good look at the stone. Shocked other sites haven't followed suit yet.
 
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