Find your diamond
Find your jewelry
shape
carat
color
clarity

Thoughts on this diamond

In my opinion, it is probably the most attractive 3ct+ cushion in JA's inventory right now. =)
 
drk14|1465255675|4040914 said:
In my opinion, it is probably the most attractive 3ct+ cushion in JA's inventory right now. =)
Click to expand...

I agree, something about the faceting really appeals to me.

I wanted to get some of the experts to weigh in before requesting an ASET. Since they will only do 3, I did not want to wast one on a dud.
 
Be VERY firm that you need an ASET on it before purchase. Do not spend 50k on a stone without one.
 
Gypsy|1465258736|4040934 said:
Be VERY firm that you need an ASET on it before purchase. Do not spend 50k on a stone without one.
Click to expand...
The stone is in NY, and they will provide an ASET upon request. They do however limit the ASET's to 3, so I wanted to get feedback if it was worth looking into further.

JA's "diamond expert" gave conflicting info. He said that it has a very bright elegant performance because of the way it is cut almost like an antique cushion, but then said it would not perform well because of the large facet pattern on an ASET.
 
Tell them you just want the one ASET.

There are MANY antique faceted stones that DO ASET out well. And just looking at that one, I know it's going to meet the minimum threshold, or I wouldn't have advised you to waste your time. JA's "experts" have been known to be... wrong.
 
*Calling all cushion lovers and experts*

I have requested an ASET. Now, I am getting cold feet. I am feeling like this is very overpriced compared to other diamonds in this size range. I know that the cut is king and clearly the vast majority of stones in this size range have been duds or to square for my preference. I feel that in this price range, I should not have to settle, but this stone is over what I had intended to spend. Are my concerns warrented or is this just sticker shock? Maybe, my expectations were to high.

I know that the VVS1 is overkill, but I had to expand my search criteria to find a stone that I liked. I assume that is a big factor in the price jump over similarly sized stones.

My wish list is a 9ish mm cushion(not crushed ice) with a slight rectangular shape (doesn't have to be a high L/W, but not square). I would like to place in a platinum halo so I feel that I need to stay at least an H color.

Things I like about this stone are: Interesting shape, nice spread (it is 9.7L), I find the faceting to be very interesting, wether that will translate to good performance remains to be seen. Looks very beautiful in the video
 
Hi Octo - have you tried contacting Yekutiel at IDJ? He's good at sourcing stones that are in NYC. And he will provide the ASET and all images you need for any stone you're interested in. He's very customer service oriented and will go the extra mile to please you. This is a huge purchase - don't settle; and if James Allen isn't willing to give you better customer service, then you should take your business else where. I'm not an expert however I can advise you that a purchase of this size needs to feel good, not the feeling of settling for what's out there. Good luck. :wavey:
 
I'm not convinced the price is out of line. You pay more - a lot more - for a well cut cushion. This one is not a branded cut, but there's so few of these stones (with this type of facet pattern) on the market in general that you may not get to be picky about clarity.

Canera doesn't have any over 9mm in any dimension, and the one that is close is $76k.

Goodoldgold has one G/VS2 for $99k.

Brilliantly engaged has a 3.22 H/vs2 but it's not 9mm in any dimension and that is listed at $45k wire transfer price.

So there may not even really be a comparable stone out there but the price of $50k certainly doesn't seem that outrageous to me with this info.
 
Queenie60|1465400755|4041680 said:
Hi Octo - have you tried contacting Yekutiel at IDJ? He's good at sourcing stones that are in NYC. And he will provide the ASET and all images you need for any stone you're interested in. He's very customer service oriented and will go the extra mile to please you. This is a huge purchase - don't settle; and if James Allen isn't willing to give you better customer service, then you should take your business else where. I'm not an expert however I can advise you that a purchase of this size needs to feel good, not the feeling of settling for what's out there. Good luck. :wavey:
Click to expand...


Thank you for the suggestion. I am not very familiar with IDJ, but have seen him mentioned in other threads. There website is not as user friendly and does not have photos/no videos for most of the stones (at lest the ones I clicked on) and from the descriptions, they seemed to be predominantly Modified brilliants. I am not strictly opposed to that (some can be very nice), however, most that I have seen have that crushed ice look especially in the elongated L/W's
 
Queenie60|1465400755|4041680 said:
if James Allen isn't willing to give you better customer service, then you should take your business else where.
Click to expand...
:confused: I haven't seen anything in this thread suggesting that JA is unwilling to provide good customer service.
 
drk14|1465419384|4041832 said:
Queenie60|1465400755|4041680 said:
if James Allen isn't willing to give you better customer service, then you should take your business else where.
Click to expand...
:confused: I haven't seen anything in this thread suggesting that JA is unwilling to provide good customer service.
Click to expand...

JA has been very helpful and I love the video option that allows you to turn the diamond to view from many angles. Most other sites that I have looked at, the video is so fast and you can't slow down or manipulate the image. I think that is very important because it's not just finding a diamond that is beautiful and performs well, it has to "speak to me". That is something that is very hard to articulate when searching or getting assistance in my search because I can't really link it to one specific attribute(i.e. faceting cut pattern or color, etc).

That being said, there are a few things I have found disappointing with JA:
1.Their "diamond expert" did suggest a stone that after plenty of feedback on the forum was a dud.- We spent a good 40 minutes going over stones that fit my requirements and it was a stone that she picked and said was a great performer. (Glad I got help on this forum before purchasing!)

2. I understand that ASET's cost money, but I have also learned of their importance in selecting a fancy cut. JA will only provide 3 total, and most of their stones are not in-house and are unavailable to ASET unless you purchase.
 
I don't think the price is bad at all. Seriously. I would have said so.

And with cushions with large facets SI1 is hard to get eyeclean. And Vs2 and Vs1 will just limit your pool. Cushions and fancies aren't rounds. You have to leave the pool of possibilities as open as you can. I would even buy an IF in a fancy.
 
Octo2005|1465414245|4041789 said:
Queenie60|1465400755|4041680 said:
Hi Octo - have you tried contacting Yekutiel at IDJ? He's good at sourcing stones that are in NYC. And he will provide the ASET and all images you need for any stone you're interested in. He's very customer service oriented and will go the extra mile to please you. This is a huge purchase - don't settle; and if James Allen isn't willing to give you better customer service, then you should take your business else where. I'm not an expert however I can advise you that a purchase of this size needs to feel good, not the feeling of settling for what's out there. Good luck. :wavey:
Click to expand...


Thank you for the suggestion. I am not very familiar with IDJ, but have seen him mentioned in other threads. There website is not as user friendly and does not have photos/no videos for most of the stones (at lest the ones I clicked on) and from the descriptions, they seemed to be predominantly Modified brilliants. I am not strictly opposed to that (some can be very nice), however, most that I have seen have that crushed ice look especially in the elongated L/W's
Click to expand...

Hi Octo - you can't go by what's on their website, it's best to give Yekutiel a call. He will provide any and all images that you need for decision making. Good luck, I hope you find what you're looking for. You're in good hands with Gypsy. :wavey:
 
Gypsy|1465435188|4041954 said:
I don't think the price is bad at all. Seriously. I would have said so.

And with cushions with large facets SI1 is hard to get eyeclean. And Vs2 and Vs1 will just limit your pool. Cushions and fancies aren't rounds. You have to leave the pool of possibilities as open as you can. I would even buy an IF in a fancy.
Click to expand...

Update: Today I received an email from a JA rep asking if I had any other options that I wanted to request ASET's. In the email the rep commented on the stone. I have pasted it below. Is this a heavy sales tactic. I was not sure how to take it, anyone have a similar experience?

"I have seen thousands of diamonds over the years and I must say that this is a beautifully cut diamond! I am sure that our NY gemologist will have wonderful things to comment about. Since this is a service we offer for up to three eligible stones, I wanted to confirm that this is the only diamond you are interested in at this time. "

Any questions I should ask while they have the stone in hand?
 
Only thing I would ask is about that slight bow tie. It's not a bad one and not on all facets but I would want to know what they see.
 
Octo2005|1465528003|4042501 said:
Update: Today I received an email from a JA rep asking if I had any other options that I wanted to request ASET's. In the email the rep commented on the stone. I have pasted it below. Is this a heavy sales tactic. I was not sure how to take it, anyone have a similar experience?

"I have seen thousands of diamonds over the years and I must say that this is a beautifully cut diamond! I am sure that our NY gemologist will have wonderful things to comment about. Since this is a service we offer for up to three eligible stones, I wanted to confirm that this is the only diamond you are interested in at this time. "
Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry about it. Salesreps gonna sell. Might even be a sincere remark (it is an attractive diamond!), but doesn't matter, since you will use the gemologist's opinions and not the salesrep's opinions to make an informed decision. If it puts you more at ease, here is a copy of what my own JA salesrep had emailed me when I was at this stage of the process (requesting ASETs):
I see that we have diamonds xxxxx, yyyyy and zzzzz on hold for us to take an ASET image and have a gemologist review them. I took the liberty of looking over each diamond and I can see why they caught your eye! I am confident that we will get ASET images and inspection for these three diamonds. Before I process your request, I want to make sure that you share my confidence; as this is a onetime courtesy. If we are all set with these three, just let me know and I will get this processed for you.
Click to expand...

My only advice would be to doublecheck with JA that they will still grant you the 2 additional ASET requests if this stone doesn't work out for whatever reason.
 
Update: The ASET is back.

I am hoping our PS experts would chime in, especially Gypsy and all of my fellow cushion lovers.

I am a novice to this and was trying to educate myself so that I would understand the feedback info and ask appropriate questions. I have read all that I could find in the threads about how to interpret them, but it's not like any of the other cushion ASET's that I have seen. From what I understand the areas of red are the light obtained from above, the green is light from the sides, the blue is contrast, and white is leakage.

I am concerned as to why there would seem to be a reflection at the lower portion of the photo? What is that about?

This is the email that they sent, The question about the bowtie, was not addressed. If it is worth pursuing I will ask them to look at that again (or maybe she just didn't include in her email).

"The gemologist said that this 3.22 ct H/VVS1 has great performance for the faceting style. The diamond is a true H color, facing up white as well. There are a lot of bright flashes of light return scattered through the diamond as it is moved. It has very pretty fire and sparkle, too. True to the clarity grade it is eye clean and the outline shape is more elongated. This gives it an unusual appeal compared to most antique style cushions."

278417_0.jpg
 
It's a very nice ASET. Not AVC ideal in terms of light performance, but then you weren't expecting that. But for a generic cushion of its type (especially one that is so elongated) it's a very nice ASET. Seriously.

The bowtie didn't ASET blue, which was my concern. So it's should be fine.
 
Gypsy|1465945977|4044078 said:
It's a very nice ASET. Not AVC ideal in terms of light performance, but then you weren't expecting that. But for a generic cushion of its type (especially one that is so elongated) it's a very nice ASET. Seriously.

The bowtie didn't ASET blue, which was my concern. So it's should be fine.
Click to expand...

So is this a stone that you would buy for yourself? (I think I need a little shove, LOL)

I know that I am in the minority on PS, but I am not in love with the AVC. It is too chunky for my taste, although I have not seen in person.

I liked this stone because, I felt that it was a unique mix that I had not seen before when searching and I liked the overall shape. It measured large for most 3's that I had looked at which is a bonus.

I know that you have recommended numerous "modern cushions" on other threads (they have all been gorgeous by the way). They look like they would have outstanding light performance and sparkle, how would you compare this stone, will it still have the wow?

IRL, are the large facets distracting or dark when looking straight on? In many of the still photos (this stone included) I feel a little underwhelmed by the darkness that it creates, but in the videos I don't notice it at all. Maybe some AVC/chunky facet owners can chime in please :pray:

Do you see the reflection at the very bottom of the image, almost like a mirror image, is that a concern in that the ASET technique may not be accurate?

So sorry to ask a million questions. This is a large purchase and I don't think that my DH will agree to any future upgrades, so I am feeling very anxious to get it perfect.


Thank you so much for all of your help
 
Octo2005|1465947565|4044088 said:
Do you see the reflection at the very bottom of the image, almost like a mirror image, is that a concern in that the ASET technique may not be accurate?
Click to expand...
Don't worry about the reflection shown below the ASET. From a post by Garry Holloway:
The post production reflection is added automatically by software developed by very smart engineers. There is no operator decisions and the tools are designed to show diamonds for what they are.
http://www.lexusindia.in/products/gb-dibox.aspx
http://www.lexusindia.in/products/gb-ViBOX.aspx
Click to expand...
 
DRK - Thank you
 
I don't like the AVC either. It's got to strong a maltese cross for me.

Is this a stone I'd get for myself. I would have to see it in person before deciding that. I do think it's a lovely stone, and I really like the outline of it. IF it were me, I'd order the stone unset and then see if it catches my heart.

If it does, then yes I would keep it. If it didn't for whatever reason, then no... I'm a big believer that you have to love fancy shapes as they have personalities that speak to some people, but not others.
 
Update: It here, thoughts please!!! And please be brutally honest, seriously.

Please pardon my bad photography and lack ok a recent manicure.LOL
I will try to take better photos later so please speak up if different things are needed to evaluate this stone.

dsc_373.jpg

dsc_0945.jpg

dsc_0944.jpg

dsc_374.jpg
 
Octo2005|1466790110|4047603 said:
Update: It here, thoughts please!!! And please be brutally honest, seriously.

Please pardon my bad photography and lack ok a recent manicure.LOL
I will try to take better photos later so please speak up if different things are needed to evaluate this stone.
Click to expand...
I'm sure experts here will tell you what they think, but for non-expert eyes, this melts my heart! :love:
 
Thank you Tracy!
 
Looks lovely to me - what does Gypsy think?
 
Thank you Queenie! I would love some feedback from Gypsy and some of the other experts. I have a few concerns and I am not sure if I am blowing it out of proportion.

Just noticed all of my typo's in my update - Sorry. I was so worried about uploading the photos, that I didn't even look at the text. :oops:

I will try to upload video (if I can figure that out). I think it will give a better representation than the still photos.

Thank you again to everyone that has helped and continues to help with this journey!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
GET 3 FREE HCA RESULTS JOIN THE FORUM. ASK FOR HELP
Jewelry Blog
PriceScope-Concierge-Ad
Find prime cuts.
Top