Shopping for loose Oval 1.0ct+ advice needed!!

bcr83 · May 13, 2017

Hi All,

Been a while since I've been on PS and had tremendous help on here sourcing and buying a beautifully proportioned Brilliant cut G VS2 1.6ct for my Fiance. I am in Australia and suggested to a friend to consider options in the U.S particularly as he has close family living over there and could potentially have a stone sent to them.

I personally don't know too much about Oval diamonds in terms of ideal proportions etc, I was quite in depth with my Brilliant cut purchase and sourced ASET / Idealscope images and then a Sarine report done as well..

Hoping someone in the know can review the report below and let me know if this is reasonable stone for the $ or recommended better stones for the money. My friends budget is between $5500-$6500 and is hoping to get over 1ct but something with above average fire and scintillation.

I am aware that generally the GIA xxx parameters leave a lot of room to move hence why I am hoping someone out there can recommend better stones that may be available online and maybe copy in a few examples.

I have attached a GIA report my friend has received from a local Aus jeweller for a 1.01ct D SI1 - I have no idea if this represents good value, I think the D colour is overkill and would probably be better having a better cut/proportioned stone VS2 or better?

Looking for Oval 1.0ct+ F-G colour - VS1/VS2. GIA XXX

https://www.gia.edu/report-check?reportno=1229422565 - $5620 (USD)

Thanks in advance,

ecf8503 · May 13, 2017

D isn't overkill IMO - it's just personal preference. I had a D, and loved it - so beautifully icy white. That said, I have had several G's in various shapes, and they are plenty white - just a bit "softer" than an icy D.

Ovals need to be seen - you can't judge them by the cert at all. GIA doesn't issue a cut grade for ovals, so the best you'd expect would be XX for polish / symmetry.

bcr83 · May 14, 2017

ecf8503 said:
D isn't overkill IMO - it's just personal preference. I had a D, and loved it - so beautifully icy white. That said, I have had several G's in various shapes, and they are plenty white - just a bit "softer" than an icy D.

Ovals need to be seen - you can't judge them by the cert at all. GIA doesn't issue a cut grade for ovals, so the best you'd expect would be XX for polish / symmetry.

Thanks, I didn't mean D as overkill in general but for my friend who wants good proportions and a good size stone going to D colour really limits his budget and an E or F would be hard to pick up the difference when on its own. If he could have a D in the size he wanted his budget I would definitely be looking at that!

Surely there are good/bad proportions for Ovals? The one attached has VG symmetry so not sure how much better an excellent would be? I noticed the attached link from another post

https://www.pricescope.com/community/attachments/img_1755-jpg.496706/

tyty333 · May 14, 2017

You can have "good" ovals by the numbers with bad light return/bad bow-ties and you can have ovals with numbers that are not
good but have nice looking light return and lovely faceting pattern. There is no guarantee one way or the other. Ovals have to be
seen (up close pics and videos) to be able to evaluate.

Good light return/nice faceting pattern takes precedence over everything else...you cant just go pick your specs like a round and viola you
have a stone (lots of nice cut rounds, not so many nice cut ovals).

bcr83 · May 16, 2017

Thanks for clarifying, in terms of a US vendors (online) who would you typically recommend that provides face up pics of actual stones rather than sample images etc?

I'd like to grab a few options and get some input from PS members

Thanks