someone please explain "spread" on the HCA

[okaynow]

I was wondering what the spread rating on the HCA meant.

What is spread and how does it affect light return? Also what is the difference between an "excellent" spread vs. a "good" spread?

I kind of asked a similar question below, but I think it got lost in the thread.

Thanks.

 

[cowboystu]

The short answer is that spread means:
How big does the stone look for its weight. If the stone is too deep, it will be heavy, but small from the top, or shallow, it will be really wide for the weight.

I am not sure about the difference between good/excellent, but I think both are good enough for me. I was more concerned about the other ratings.

Stu

 

[Mara]

Spread that is very good or good most likely means that the stone looks to be what it should for that carat size if it was well cut. I do not often see 'excellent' on spread for HCA's unless its a shallow stone or a real looker such as a .5TIC or similar. It seems around 90% of the stones I plug in that get an excellent score of around 1.0 or similar have all EX's and then spread is VG. It's minimal in the scheme of things, the other 3 are what you really are interested in, spread is like a perk.