WEBINAR PS In the Loupe: GCAL 8X® and Why Diamond Cut is Important

[bcmacdonald]

Most of us have heard about the 4Cs - Clarity, Carat, Cut, and Color. While some of them might be more straightforward, others get overlooked or intimidate shoppers by their seeming complexity.

Cut is one of the 4Cs that mystify consumers the most. If you're one of them, join Dave Atlas, our Diamond Concierge Lead, for an educational breakdown from the experts at the Gem Certification & Assurance Lab (GCAL) on symmetry, proportions, how cut quality affects a diamond's light performance, and GCAL's 8X® Ultimate Cut Grade.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER​

 

[Karl_K]

Awesome, looking forward to it!

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Looking forward to it!

 

[DejaWiz]

Been hoping to see something formal about GCAL 8X - my wish has been granted!

 

[GCAL-Angelo]

Good afternoon everyone - looking forward to next week - let me know if there is anything specific you want us to address?

We will try to incorporate all questions into our presentation (time permitting).

We are looking to get much more involved with the pricescope community, and we know that we have to earn the respect and trust from everyone. Next week will hopefully be step one in the long journey ahead

-Angelo Palmieri, GCAL

 

[DejaWiz]

Good afternoon everyone - looking forward to next week - let me know if there is anything specific you want us to address?

We will try to incorporate all questions into our presentation (time permitting).

We are looking to get much more involved with the pricescope community, and we know that we have to earn the respect and trust from everyone. Next week will hopefully be step one in the long journey ahead

-Angelo Palmieri, GCAL

First question that comes to mind:
Is painting and digging a consideration for the 8X criteria and, if so, what is the degrees tolerance if either are allowed? Is painting and digging discernable in any of the assessment images that GCAL publishes on the certificate site for each diamond?

 

[Wink]

Wow, the day before Veteran's day. I will be there both events...

 

[crbl999]

How are the PA and CA calculated? What rounding is used? If so, any consideration to using more exact numbers similar to AGS?

 

[DejaWiz]

How are the PA and CA calculated? What rounding is used? If so, any consideration to using more exact numbers similar to AGS?

Here are the rounding tolerances:

Diamond Proportions

The physics of light-behavior within a diamond are reliably consistent, which means proportions measurements can be useful.

www.pricescope.com

 

[Karl_K]

I like the 8x report, it is a step forward for a lot of dealers.
Some of the issues I would like to seen addressed over time are:
The tests are closed source, the model of opening the foundation and reasoning for tests and images is much preferred.
How does one convince a claims adjuster that any GIA EX stone is not like kind or even an upgrade?
Is raising awareness of the premium selectivity of the report with insurance adjusters something you are working on? This is less of an issue with mmd.
Any smaller lab faces this issue with GIA being ingrained as the "best" in the US market its not specific to GCAL.

 

[GCAL-Angelo]

Thank you all for the great questions and comments thus far - we are incorporating them into our presentation

 

[PriceScopeKayti]

Hello PriceScopers!

Just a friendly reminder to leave any questions or comments you might have about diamond cut, cut quality, diamond assessment or certification, or about GCAL, their 8x, or any other service they offer down below.

We look forward to having you!

 

[oldminer]

For more than 40 years, the cut of diamonds has been on my mind. This webinar ought to answer many questions and shed some new light on this often discussed subject. Please plan to join us.

 

[awessum-possum]

Unfortunately missed this. Will it be posted anywhere?

 

[DejaWiz]

Unfortunately missed this. Will it be posted anywhere?

It's today at noon CST

 

[headlight]

Is there a way we can get our questions answered that we wrote in the Q & A during the Webinar?

 

[bcmacdonald]

Thank you to all of those who joined us today - we hope you enjoyed it. If we did not get to your question, Angelo and Dave will answer it here. We will also update everyone here when the webinar is available on-demand.

 

[DejaWiz]

Huge thanks to oldminer and GCAL-Angelo for this outstanding presentation and discussion!
Massive appreciation to the PriceScope team for bringing everyone together to make this happen!

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Great job David @oldminer.

Excellent presentation Angelo @GCAL-Angelo ! Very impressive what you and your family and colleagues have developed at GCAL.

The wide ranging experience and specialized technical expertise you bring here is a huge benefit to pricescope community.

 

[Mlh]

I came in bit late but thoroughly enjoyed the talk! Very informative! Thank you for a great presentation!!

 

[finerthings]

I registered but could not attend today. Was this recorded?

 

[Karl_K]

Good job as always Dave A.
Angelo @GCAL-Angelo thank you for being so open with us and I am looking forward to future webinars.
Can you post an image of the slide with the symmetry scope angles? please.
There have been many questions asked about it here as we are using and teaching IS and ASET and can add yours into the mix.
PS also has an articles section if you want to submit technical articles to supplement the webinars.

Blog Archives

Want to know what engagement rings are set to captivate in 2025? As part of our Engagement Ring Tips series, we’re exploring the latest engagement ring trends, helping you find a ring that is as unique as your love story. High-quality diamonds are always on trend, and for the best quality...

www.pricescope.com

Fire and scintillation are very lighting dependent, finding a way that will correlate to the real world is hard.
Something that I believe many will find fascinating is a discussion of your system, why it was chosen and how much and where you feel it maps to real world environments. You covered scintillation briefly which is a good start.

Thanks
Karl

 

[DejaWiz]

Good job as always Dave A.
Angelo @GCAL-Angelo thank you for being so open with us and I am looking forward to future webinars.
Can you post an image of the slide with the symmetry scope angles? please.
There have been many questions asked about it here as we are using and teaching IS and ASET and can add yours into the mix.
PS also has an articles section if you want to submit technical articles to supplement the webinars.

Blog Archives

Want to know what engagement rings are set to captivate in 2025? As part of our Engagement Ring Tips series, we’re exploring the latest engagement ring trends, helping you find a ring that is as unique as your love story. High-quality diamonds are always on trend, and for the best quality...

www.pricescope.com

Fire and scintillation are very lighting dependent, finding a way that will correlate to the real world is hard.
Something that I believe many will find fascinating is a discussion of your system, why it was chosen and how much and where you feel it maps to real world environments. You covered scintillation briefly which is a good start.

Thanks
Karl

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

Will this be on youtube?

 

[Karl_K]

Thanks @DejaWiz
Another one would be the Brilliance image vs the IS image slide.

 

[DejaWiz]

Thanks @DejaWiz
Another one would be the Brilliance image vs the IS image slide.

You're welcome.
I didn't screenshot that one, sorry.

GCAL-Angelo would you be willing to provide the slides from the webinar, if you are permitted?

 

[GCAL-Angelo]

good morning all - thank you all for attending, and thank you for the great questions, feedback, and comments - we will post most of the presentation to our blog this weekend, and i will share the link as soon as that info is published - Pricescope recorded the presentation and it will be available on youtube, pricescope, and the GCAL site...in the meantime, attaching the requested brilliance slides - if there are any other slides you want me to publish today, let me know?

 

[Karl_K]

Thank you @GCAL-Angelo
The other thing we do a lot is painting and digging assessment.
That was covered briefly, what would be useful is a chart of images with painting in .5 degree steps and one with digging in .2 degree steps. Both crown and pavilion out to say 6 degrees painting and 3 degrees digging.
While number limits are good, different combos have different tolerances so images(Imho) are a better way to look at it.
Also uneven painting/digging around the stone can sometimes make a visual difference.
This is one of the things which we are used to using ASET.

Edit: computer generated images are fine for this.

 

[GCAL-Angelo]

Hi Karl - not a problem at all - we will prepare those images - I am attaching one here from the presentation that shows exactly what you are referring to, where there was very uneven pavilion digging (if you look at the average vs max in the image pairing on the right)

 

[GCAL-Angelo]

Good afternoon everyone - couple quick updates

There were some unanswered questions from the webinar, so please see the next post for the additional Q&A

We have also published the slides and rough transcript/slide summary from the presentation here on our site https://www.gcalusa.com/blog/pricescope-and-gcal-webinar-gcal-8x-and-why-diamond-cut-is-important/

And it looks like the recorded version should be published to pricescope's youtube page in the next day or so

if you are looking for any additional information, please let me know

Thank you again for your time and interest
-Angelo