Solasfera - IGI VS GIA

[Fireslust]

My apologies if this had already been asked and answered! Heading to the jeweler shortly and need advice!

'm trying to make a "fire", but not size upgrade for my current center stone. I had been looking for an AGS 000 or the like and I ran across a Solasfera that seems like a great price. It is the exact size I'm looking for to replace my current stone. It has an IGI cert, graded F SI1 Ex Ex Ex. I know all concerns about IGI vs AGS and GIA, but am wondering if, on a branded diamond, it is of the same concern. The Light Masters site purports all Solasferas to meet the absolute highest standards. If that's the case, wouldn't it be like buying brand name jeans at a warehouse club?

I would just go straight to GOG and get the GIA version, but I am looking to trade my current center.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[slg47]

are you looking at a princess or a round?

 

[Fireslust]

i'm looking at a round.

 

[slg47]

I am not sure why some solasferas have IGI grading reports. Did you compare the solasfera to your current round and prefer it? If so I would go with it.

If you are concerned you could always ask the jeweler to send to GIA?

 

[Fireslust]

Yeah, any ideal or solasfera would be preferable! My current stone is decent, but just doesn't have the fire I'm looking for. The Solasfera site says they use IGI for their Sterling grading...The stone I'm looking at is at Jared. (I was driving by and wanted to see if they had any AGS 000 that I could look at to see how they compared with my stone, and found that they had Solasferas, which I was considering also). The Solasfera site says their reports are all GIA or IGI. And their stones sold through Sterling (Jared, Kay, etc.) would have IGI certs. This wouldn't be my first choice of retail for a diamond in general, but branded stones, like branded jeans, you should be able to buy wherever the price is best, right? (unless I'm missing something...?)

 

[PenguinIce]

Not sure if it helps but I bought a Solasfera from GoG which was GIA.

As part of the Solasfera packet you get the GemEx brilliantscope certification so they guarantee that it will hit high marks on:
- brilliance (white light)
- fire (colored light)
- scintillation (sparkle)

The area I notice the biggest difference is in the scintillation vs another diamond (as most diamonds will look great in sunlight it's really the dark lights and spot lights where you can differentiate -- at least in my opinion).

So in that regard the diamond will be fine as it's branded Solasfera, where you need to watch out for in the IGI vs GIA is in the other areas:
- color grade
- clarity

The Solasfera cut will definitely make a stone look more "white". What you can do is compare the same color grade with a Peerless diamond that is also available at Jared to see how "off" the color might be for the exact same color grade. You want to compare in ambiant light so the Solasfera cut isn't compensating.

For clarity, you probably need a scope and see if it's acceptable for the grade you are buying.

So you do get the same Solasfera "cut" between the IGI and GIA, but it's the other "C"s you need to watch out for.

As mentioned before you could always pay to get it graded by GIA or independently appraised if you really concern.

Best of luck!

 

[Fireslust]

Thank you for the feedback! I took a look at two IGI Solasferas yesterday - a .56 and a .73. I definitely liked it better in the .73 size. (Big surprise! LOL) Actually, they were both gorgeous, with lots of fire and sparkle, but I am leaning heavily toward an ideal cut. I think I determined two things - that my personal preference is for the bigger flashes (although I can certainly see how many prefer the incredible scintillation all the way to the edges on the Solasfera), and also that seeing the IGI stones under the scope didn't erase my concerns IGI about grading. I'm no expert, but the smaller stone seemed to have much more obvious inclusions (at 10x) than the SI1 photos on GOG.

The search continues!

 

[kenny]

. . . ran across a Solasfera that seems like a great price. . .

IGI has looser clarity and color grade standards than GIA.

If you sent this IGI F SI1 to GIA or AGS it may come back with grades or H I1 or worse.
That means it may not be such a great price.
If fact pros here have mentioned that diamond from the off labs are sometimes overpriced for what they really are.

BTW I have a GIA Solasfera round and it is a fantastically-beautiful cut, so much light and fire!!!
I'd call David So in NY (he created the Solasfera) and ask if some of them are graded by IGI; if so I find this rather disappointing and it lowers the image of his brand IMHO.