Should I select a depth larger than 61.0 if the HCA is good?

[rsilvers]

I am selecting a stone and I printed out all of the stones with tables between 53 and 58 and depths from 59 to 61. I computed the HCA for each one, and sorted the list by dollars-per-width in mm (better than dollars-per-carat in my book!) The goal being to find the cheapest stone that has a good HCA within the color/clarity range that I want (D-F and VS1-VS2). Polish/sym are all vg to ex.

But I noticed that some stones with low HCAs (like under 0.6) had depths of 61.2 or 61.3.

So if a stone has an HCA of 0.4 but a depth of 61.2, should I want it even though some people have said that a depth more than 61.0 was like walking off a cliff? Or did those people mean 61.9 was the limit?

 

[Tarams]

Sounds like a job for CutNut!

 

[rsilvers]

But I do think I am smart to look for value in dollars-per-spread (width) rather than dollars-per-carat. In the 1.0 to 1.1 carat range I have found prices from $850 to $1500 per mm wide. And this was all within D-E VS1-VS2 limits. The value comes with the occasional AGS 000 with an HCA of 0.8 or lower that has occlusions on the side and a dollar-per-mm wide less than all of the lesser stones.