The Triple Ex Stone - Certain angles a black hole of light?

[shmurgshmurg]

Hey guys, quick question.

Remember the 2.17 ct triple ex we were talking about the other day (GIA cert attached)?

Is it possible that when a stone has such a great cut (like this one being a triple ex. and getting a .7 on the HCA), that with certain angles, areas in the stone actually look dark, rather than reflecting lots of light? I really could be paranoid and seeing things, and it could be the light of the jewelery store. I didn''t see any black piques in the stone.

 

[Lorelei]

Diamonds can look very different according to the available light they have to work with, again an appraiser is your best bet to judge cut and performance, for us it is very difficult to guess at what you are seeing and whether it is normal or a performance/ leakage issue.

You could buy one of these and use it on any diamond to help you with these types of question.

http://www.ideal-scope.com/cart_zoom_item.asp?Id=2&ShowAdd=Y

 

[shmurgshmurg]

Well, with this particular diamond, I have the following deal with the seller: if the independant appraisal differs in any way from the GIA cert I get my money back. That should cover light performance issues right? Because if the stone has a light performance issue, then I would assume that it should be rates the "excellent" it recieved.

Like I said before though, I could be seeing things (known to happen).

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 10/22/2008 7:44:02 AM
Author: shmurgshmurg
That should cover light performance issues right?

Chuckle.


Experts in gems and optics have some quarrel here about these things.

My personal sense of appraisers work is that it is highly variable. Generally, they are tasked with doing lots of things, good ones are trained broadly...and if you read at the upper right, under resources, where you compare the various comments appraisers have and list under "tools for cut comparison" or whatnot...you''ll see a pretty wide range.

I will say this. If you have a hope that an appraiser will accomplish virtually anything...discuss this with them right now, or certainly before you employ one. Better to be disappointed before the employment than after.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/22/2008 7:44:02 AM
Author: shmurgshmurg
Well, with this particular diamond, I have the following deal with the seller: if the independant appraisal differs in any way from the GIA cert I get my money back. That should cover light performance issues right? Because if the stone has a light performance issue, then I would assume that it should be rates the 'excellent' it recieved.

Like I said before though, I could be seeing things (known to happen).

Specify that it does, that part of the appraisal means that you want a favourable report on the cut quality and resulting optical performance of this diamond. This is subject to opinion of course and the skill of the appraiser. Apart from that, all you can do is to check out the diamond in as many different lights as you can, look at some diamonds of known cut quality such as AGS0 so you have a baseline comparison to see how yours measures up - or just purchase an AGS0 and know that you should therefore have a top performing stone.

 

[shmurgshmurg]

Forgive my ignorance, but I would I want to taint the appraisal by specifying that I want him to give me a favorable light performance analysis or that I want him to do nothing? Shouldn''t I just let him do his thing and hope for the best?

I was even thinking about not giving him the GIA cert just to see if he comes up with the same conclusions as the GIA people! (maybe that''s a bad idea!)..

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/22/2008 7:54:20 AM
Author: shmurgshmurg
Forgive my ignorance, but I would I want to taint the appraisal by specifying that I want him to give me a favorable light performance analysis or that I want him to do nothing? Shouldn't I just let him do his thing and hope for the best?

I was even thinking about not giving him the GIA cert just to see if he comes up with the same conclusions as the GIA people! (maybe that's a bad idea!)..

Just ask him to give his opinion on the cut quality of the diamond and how well in his opinion it performs. As Ira notes, best to ask and formulate your appraisal plan beforehand so that client and appraiser both know what is desired.

I can't remember if NeatFreak linked you to this info concerning appraisers, but in case she didn't this might be useful.

https://www.pricescope.com/appraiser.asp

 

[shmurgshmurg]

Very interesting.

You guys are such a great darn resource I can''t believe that anyone would by a diamond without contacting you folks! Honestly! You guys should charge!

Well then I have two questions based on the above information.

1) In general, should I provide the appraiser with the GIA cert?

2) Have you, in your experience, seen excellent cut diamonds which, under certain angles or lights, appear to reflect no light (almost like when you look at the diamond from certain angles, the arrows or other parts of the diamond look darker - almost like no light is being emitted from that particular facet). Like a combination between:

http://diamonds.blogs.com/.a/6a00d83421e3fa53ef00e55371b0758833-350wi

and

http://www.diamondvues.com/archives/davinci%20diamond-1.gif

Is that ok?

 

[Lorelei]

Thanks! Ira and many of us have been doing this a long time and we get a kick out of helping!

As to the pics, it is really hard to know what you are seeing....Diamonds don't sparkle all the time, they can only work with the available lighting. In direct sunlight, some well cut diamonds can look almost black, no sparkle - this can be something which happens to some stones. In my experience, the arrows often look silvery when observed, not often dark. I think if you met with your appraiser and described what you are seeing while he has the diamond, that would be your best bet. But overall what you want is a diamond which is pleasing to you in many lights, bearing in mind you won't get sparkle all the time such as direct sunlight, on a cloudy day etc, diamonds do go into ' rest mode', but you still want it to look attractive.

I would really try to look at some AGS0 in person if you can to get that baseline comparison, apparently Jareds sell them if there is one near you. Also larger diamonds have a different personality in my opinion to smaller stones, so try to compare some of similar size to the one you are considering.