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Solasfera or Hearts and Arrows

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yialanliu

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Messages
23
Hi guys, I don't think I lvie anywhere with Solasfera to see so wondering if anyone has seen it in person.

I talked to the guys at GOG and they said it does look a bit better than the H&A. The price premium seems to run about 8-10% on GOG site which seems to be reasonable I gues. However, does it really look better in terms of better light return and fire? Or is H&A so good already that the difference won't be noticeable.

Next, there was an SI1 stone and they siad that it's eye clean especially since Solasfera's cut has so many facets that it's much harder to see inclusions. Is that also true?

Basically, I am looking for a 1 carat stone for about 9-10k.
I can probably get maybe 1 level higher for color and clarity with an H&A I think? (Someone tell me if I am wrong)
So does that degradation make the brighter looking diamond not worth it?

I really wish I could see it but I am in China right now and no luck over here.
 
I recently made that choice, and I decided to go with a larger hearts and arrows stone instead of Solasfera. I was only able to see them on video, but even though the Solasfera may slightly outperform the regular ideal cut, I knew I would be completely happy with an ideal cut stone since I had already had one.
 
http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-VS2-Ideal-Cut-Round-Diamond-1436412.asp

approximately 10k H&A stone, J color VS2 clarity


http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/8943/

approximately 11k 1.09ct I VS1 Solasfera Round Diamond

http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=840

http://www.highperformancediamonds.com/index.php?page=view-id-diamond-infinity&id=781 <personal favorite of those i've linked =)

infinity diamond- This is just two of a few that fall into your criteria, and they offer tons of information on their stones. Call Wink up and let him know what you're trying to do and he can assist you is my guess.


The choice is yours.
 
"better" is a relative term. I chose a Solasfera because I liked the extra facets look. I can completely appreciate h&a but for me I wanted something just a little bit different.
Before I made my decision I compared a Solasfera to a h&a (Jared's peerless AGS 0) and while it wasn't a huge difference it was enough that it made me like it better.
Keeping in mind that I have never owned or worn a traditional h&a so I can't compare from daily wear, but I can say that my Solasfera has amazing fire and sparkle in most lighting conditions. It is a branded diamond that is specifically cut to max out all three of the light performance tests of white light (brilliance), colored light (fire) and scintillation (sparkle).
It's also an easy way to make sure you are getting a super-ideal cut and top performing diamond. You can get it with H&A too, but if it's not a branded cut (ex: Lazare) then you have to do a little legwork to make sure it performs as well as you'd like. And Solasfera *is* H&A, just not a traditional 8 main. It's got ten hearts and ten arrows, so the flashes might be a bit smaller but there are more of them.
My diamond is an I1 and eyeclean, so I do think it's possible for your SI1 to be eyeclean especially as they said because of the extra facets. The sparkle can go a long way to hide the inclusion so make sure you look at it in all types of lighting so that if you do happen to see anything you can decide if you are ok with it or not.
These two videos helped me the most when comparing cuts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_DHsCTnrRo&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwiM3COzjFM&feature=fvsr

FYI I bought my diamond from GOG too.

SolaferaSunfire.jpg

IMG_4014.jpg

IMG_4184.jpg
 
SweetAsscher, your ring is gorgeous! I know I'd love a Solafera! I think the key is what they have available and they did not have the specs I really wanted at the time or I probably would have been more likely to chose one.

By the way, I can't see your doggies very well, but we have a girl dog that looks somewhat like your bigger dog!
 
Sweet asscher- love your curved bands!!
 
Thanks Amy! I like my curved bands too ;)
They are actually the bands I was married with so I'm rather attached to them.
I'll change my avatar to a better picture of my doggy. He's an American Bully (aka pit bull) and seriously a big baby. DS, What kind of dog do you have?
 
Thanks so much for the feedback guys. In China right now so no youtube but will definitely look into it when I get back to the states and make my purchase.

To Sweetasscher, when you say eyeclean for your I1, I was just wondering if that was abnormal or can be easily duplicated in terms of finding another I1 that's eye clean? I was also thinking if I1 can be eyeclean, maybe the SI1 might even be eye clean from the sides? If you've checked, can your see if your I1 might be eye clean from the sides as well.
And wow, that ring looks gorgeous, so tempting! Would you mind also telling me the carat and ring size that you wear?

For me, I want a diamond that has good ligh performance and woudl rank it highest. Other than that I think I fall in the middle in terms of color and clarity H and VS2(hoping for eye clean from the sides, if not move to VS1). Now if the Solasfera is eye clean from the sides at SI1, then that would greatly sway my opinion as right now, it's a wash in terms of what I value.

Even if my budget goes up a little, I can tolerate it but it'd be good to stay right under 10k wire price.
 
Eye clean-ness (is that a word?) depends on the diamond and if anyone can find one for you Jon would be the guy. It's somewhat rare to find a clean I1 but Jon thinks its should've been graded as SI2 (was graded at GIA) and I've seen other threads on I1 solasfera that Jon has sourced and appeared very clean (at least in the owner's photos)
I have tons of pics of my ring if you click my name and view my posted topics even pics of the sides. My ring style shows the whole side of the diamond so that was an important point for me.
My diamond is I1 K color 1.64 ct 7.65x7.67mm and size 7 ring.
I would just have Jon make a video of the diamonds you are considering and the macro mode on the camera is usually more adept at picking up inclusions than normal person's vision.
It also depends on your individual definition of eye clean. You should clarify with GOG what exactly you consider to be eye clean such as 12 inches, 6 inches, 2 inches etc.
Hmm too bad no YouTube.
 
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