Question about H&A vs Cut to Ideal Proportions

[plummiecat]

I am interested in a couple of diamonds that have proportions in the ideal range and an HCA score of 1.6 (3 ex and vg for spread). How will these diamonds differ from an H&A one? Will they look the same to the naked eye? They are from BN so I don't have access to an idealscope or asset. Thanks so much.

 

[milton333]

They will have excellent light performance, and will be bright, shiny, sparkly. They may have slightly different faceting patterns.

For example, here's a hearts & arrows stone: http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2696774.htm You will sometimes see the arrows when you look at it.

Here's a stone that's not specifically sold as H&A, but will show the arrows: http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-2671395.htm

With the standard modern RB faceting pattern, you'll probably see something like the arrows. The symmetry grade on the stone will be a factor in whether they line up like in the examples above.

It's possible to have different faceting patterns, though, typically because of a different number of facets. See this for example: http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8830/

This has arrows, but it's not exactly the same appearance as the classic H&A: http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8402/

Is any of that going to matter to you in looking at the diamond? How important to you is H&A? The HCA will give you a bright, sparkly, good performer. You may not specifically get that symmetrical, well-defined arrows look. The arrows aren't always visible (you need to hold the diamond still, and just right), and I can see an argument that they may detract somewhat from the appearance - I think it's reasonable to say that you don't necessarily want to see bold patterns in a diamond. That is to say that you can have a lovely stone that isn't sold specifically as H&A (and it might actually be, anyway).