Radiant Shopping

[cmcwill]

Hi PS!
Well we went shopping for radiants yesterday in NJ. It was fun but a lot different dealing with sellers out there than in CO, I began to feel intimidated but then realized that I had to get the information I needed whether they thought I needed it or not! LOL.
The first place we went to had about 7 to look at but they were all poorly cut...and my IdealScope helped show me that!! Yay! They were all EGL graded with huge tables and G/G on the Pol and Sym. No thank you! But the owner was at least helpful in that he would work with us to get more specific stones in for us.

On to place #2...
My boyfriend had seen a radiant there he liked...
GIA
.86 ct
5.53x5.40x3.72
F
VS1
table 67%
depth 68.9%
Pol EX
SYM VG
GDL STK-TK
IdealScope was much better than the others we looked at and evenly pink all over! Just a few white areas.

We held it up to a .98 princess and it looked just as big! Does my stone have a larger top surface area than is normal for a .85ish stone?
It's very sparkly, but I'm not sure if I love the cut inside. I'm one of those girls who started looking at princesses and likes the triangular facets...this one had a cut similiar to the radiants on GoodOldGold, only mine is square. This makes it appear a little circular inside, and while its super sparkly and a good cut...I'm going to be staring into this thing and I hope that the cut doesnt bother me because its not what I had engrained in my mind for a year. The BF loves it though, esp because he found it. Hehe.

Here's my question- the people there were so oblivious to the fact that we'd done our homework and they were kinda rude about answering our questions. I asked if they could calculate the crown height for me by the next day and she came back and said "the gemoligist can't do that for a fancy cut." Then why do all the EGL stones have crown height measurements?? Did they just not want to take the time to do this or is it impossible because they didn't have the equipment?

But the boyfriend wants to take over now so I think I'm out of the game...it was fun while it lasted though, and at least my learning experience at PS helped nudge him to start doing his homework as much as I did!

Thanks Pricescope!!
Colleen

 

[valeria101]

The second radiant sounds like a very nice stone. It could be that the princess cut you compared it with was extremely deep (not uncommon, unfortunately) which makes it look smaller face up. The radiant itself is on the deeper side, but not all that much.

You have seen the AGA charts... but there is no indication there of what the 'spread' of a radiant should be for a certain weight. There is such a 'standard' fro the branded radiant cut (HERE ). According to their spread chart, your stone should roughly be between 27 and 33 square milimeters, which it is. If the stone was much shallower (with more spread for the weight), say below 65%, I would start worying, actually.

I have seen some 'cut-corner princess cuts' ( like the "hip square" here) sold under the name of 'radiant' but, unlike you, I am not a fan. However, I am no the buyer here. Why weren't you shopping for a princess cut instead if you like the look? Just curious...

 

[cmcwill]

Hi Ana!
I really don't know why I'm looking for radiants as opposed to princesses except for the fact that I've heard so many people say that the radiants are 'sparklier.' If my boyfriend found a dazzler of a princess I would be happy with that too. I know it takes a lot of work to find a good radiant, but I can easily see that it takes a lot of work to find a good princess, especially one with a small table and heigher crown height. Being a fan of individuality, I liked that the radiant was 'different' and I think I should stick by my original gut feeling with this stone.
I've got a lot to think about...
Thank you for your opinions! You guys are always helpful in my sorting process and a great source of knowledge!

Colleen