Twinning Wisps - advice needed

[Belle3]

Hi Everyone

I need some advice on a diamond I am seriously considering purchasing. It is a:

Round Brilliant
1.2 carat
F/SI1+
Ex – cut, polish and symmetry
Girdle - Medium – slightly thick, faceted
Nil Fluorescence

It scores 2.4 on the HCA.

My concern is that on the GIA cert it shows 2 long and 1 shorter lines right across the table that are listed as twinning wisps. I have not “yet” seen the diamond, but am purchasing it through a very reputable diamond buyer. I can of course send the diamond back once it comes in if I am not happy with it, but wanted to get some advice on whether or not I should even bother considering it before I go through the whole ordeal. The person I am buying it from knows that I am fussy and I will have no hesitation in sending it back if it’s not suitable, but they are still assuring me that I will not be able to see the twinning wisps and that they do not affect the diamonds durability – can anyone verify this for me? Obviously they look dreadful on the cert, but apparently aren''t that bad?

I am waiting on a better copy of the cert as I only have a fax at present and it is quite difficult to read, but I also belive that the diamond was sent to AGS after GIA for additional grading – why would this be and is this a normal thing to do? I believe GIA graded it SI1 and AGS graded it SI1+? Does this make any sense to you professionals out there?

Your help and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
Belle

 

[cecily]

I have a J SI2 with twinning wisps. Excellent cut. Completely eye clean to everyone including me (and as a myopia sufferer, I have a very sharp eye up close, that tends to magnify everything). I was told when i bought it that twinnning wisps are some of the "best" inclusions to have in your diamond. No durability issues, and eye clean most of the time.

 

[Belle3]

I found this today on the ''niceice'' wensite and am now confused even more about whether or not to purchase this stone??

 

[Belle3]

Woops, forgot to paste this...

We seldom see twinning wisps within the ideal cut diamonds that we sift through for our inventory because most of the cutters that we work with produce higher end goods and thus would remove the intergrowth from their production, however we have seen twinning wisps in lower quality goods which are produced by companies who''s primary focus is larger, inexpensive diamonds in which case they work with less expensive, lower quality diamond rough to shape their production.

 

[crbl999]

I also just purchased a G SI2 with twinning wisps and have been told by Brian that it is eye clean and they are some of the best inclusions to have.

Scroll down to the twinning wisp section.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Clarity/InclusionGallery/

 

[Canadian Cowboy]

Hey Belle3,

I actually just purchased a stone with similar characteristics as the one you are considering (twining wisps)

1.41ct
H
SI1
Ideal cut- 1.2 HCA
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/brought-in-a-wf-diamond-advise-on-purchase-pics-included.142402/

I can not speak to your specific stone, but I can say that my stone is 100% eye clean. I would venture to say no one, without magnification could ever see it.

Happy shopping.

 

[yssie]

just like any other SI inclusion, each stone needs to be evaluated.


white wisps can be "good" inclusions, hard to see and not of structural concern.
black wisps can be easy to see, or not.
an SI with wisp inclusions can suffer from reduced brilliance, rather like SI with clouds.

 

[Dreamer_D]

Date: 6/7/2010 11:31:15 AM
Author: yssie
just like any other SI inclusion, each stone needs to be evaluated.


white wisps can be ''good'' inclusions, hard to see and not of structural concern.
black wisps can be easy to see, or not.
an SI with wisp inclusions can suffer from reduced brilliance, rather like SI with clouds.

Ditto.

Also, AGS does not offer "SI1+" so check the cert carefully when it arrives.

 

[FB.]

Most wisps are whitish in colour, so are difficult to see. They really do resemble a wisp of white smoke from a chimney.
In some instances, wisps can cause haziness in the stone. You could think of a wisp as an elongated cloud - and to be cautious of SI-grade cloud-like inclusions.
However, in practice, most wisps aren''t a problem - I have a 1ct SI2 with twinning wisps are the grade setter, but they do not affect the stone. The wisps in my stone are quite close to the surface. I suspect that if they were deeper in the stone, a lot more light pathways wouild pass through them and risk making the stone hazy.

Just make sure that you have a good returns policy and before buying, that someone checks the wisps for eye clean and that they don''t affect the optical performance (also try in sunlight, which seems the most likely to turn a wisp hazy).

 

[Todd Gray]

Re:

just like any other SI inclusion, each stone needs to be evaluated.

white wisps can be "good" inclusions, hard to see and not of structural concern.
black wisps can be easy to see, or not.
an SI with wisp inclusions can suffer from reduced brilliance, rather like SI with clouds.

Dragging this post up from the archives because a client just forwarded a link of it to me and asked me to comment... our policy was to automatically reject all diamonds with twinning wisps, knots, and cavities, because they have "the potential" to present durability risks, and as such, we simply didn't want to deal with them or the possible fallout that can occur in terms of public relations that goes with a client experiencing a problem with a diamond due to the presence of inclusions which we "cleared" as part of our evaluation process; and I feel that it is worth mentioning that I have no recollection of ever having one of our SI-1 clarity diamonds returned for being cloudy, or not being eye clean, as I see more and more on forum threads these days, so perhaps it was a worthwhile policy.

That said, there is a difference in the desirability of twinning wisps which are darker or lighter in appearance, but I learned long ago that the cutters were not to be trusted with their opinion of the impact that inclusions are having upon a diamond, e.g. "Is the (SI-1 clarity) diamond eye clean?" response "Hold on, let me pull the diamond from the vault..." 3-4 minutes spent on hold... "Oh yes, the diamond is beautiful, it is absolutely eye clean..." then I open up the parcel paper the next day, and can see the inclusions staring at me from within the parcel paper which I just opened up on my desk (!) and the response to "What the..." is "But it's still a beautiful diamond, right?" implying that we should buy it anyway, rather than send it back...

I agree full heartily with Yssie that every diamond needs to be evaluated, and would add on it's own merits... which is a service that many of the better known vendors here on PS willingly provide, but there's no way on earth that I would buy a diamond with twinning wisps from a virtual vendor who is basing their opinion of the impact of the inclusions based upon feedback from their supplier.

 

[spicyitalian]

Better be safe than sorry. I happen to fall into the camp that agree with being careful with purchases.

That said, there are many on Pricescope who think that twinning wisps are the "best" form of inclusions to get cheaper deals and there are some dangers to getting advice like this especially if they don't realize that each stone with twinning wisps is different.

 

[zerosky200]

Re: Re:

Todd, I just purchased my first diamond after a lot of research but your comment makes me to think again.. My diamond with SI1 clarity has a lot of twinning wisp on the table, but the vendor made sure it is eye clean from the top and I thought it is one of better inclusions to have.

This is the one I purchased..

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-3063725.htm#

just like any other SI inclusion, each stone needs to be evaluated.

white wisps can be "good" inclusions, hard to see and not of structural concern.
black wisps can be easy to see, or not.
an SI with wisp inclusions can suffer from reduced brilliance, rather like SI with clouds.

Dragging this post up from the archives because a client just forwarded a link of it to me and asked me to comment... our policy was to automatically reject all diamonds with twinning wisps, knots, and cavities, because they have "the potential" to present durability risks, and as such, we simply didn't want to deal with them or the possible fallout that can occur in terms of public relations that goes with a client experiencing a problem with a diamond due to the presence of inclusions which we "cleared" as part of our evaluation process; and I feel that it is worth mentioning that I have no recollection of ever having one of our SI-1 clarity diamonds returned for being cloudy, or not being eye clean, as I see more and more on forum threads these days, so perhaps it was a worthwhile policy.

That said, there is a difference in the desirability of twinning wisps which are darker or lighter in appearance, but I learned long ago that the cutters were not to be trusted with their opinion of the impact that inclusions are having upon a diamond, e.g. "Is the (SI-1 clarity) diamond eye clean?" response "Hold on, let me pull the diamond from the vault..." 3-4 minutes spent on hold... "Oh yes, the diamond is beautiful, it is absolutely eye clean..." then I open up the parcel paper the next day, and can see the inclusions staring at me from within the parcel paper which I just opened up on my desk (!) and the response to "What the..." is "But it's still a beautiful diamond, right?" implying that we should buy it anyway, rather than send it back...

I agree full heartily with Yssie that every diamond needs to be evaluated, and would add on it's own merits... which is a service that many of the better known vendors here on PS willingly provide, but there's no way on earth that I would buy a diamond with twinning wisps from a virtual vendor who is basing their opinion of the impact of the inclusions based upon feedback from their supplier.

 

[Todd Gray]

Re: Re:

Todd, I just purchased my first diamond after a lot of research but your comment makes me to think again.. My diamond with SI1 clarity has a lot of twinning wisp on the table, but the vendor made sure it is eye clean from the top and I thought it is one of better inclusions to have.

This is the one I purchased..

http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/round-cut-loose-diamond-3063725.htm#

Whiteflash is a vendor who does physically evaluate the diamonds that they sell, as such it is likely that they took the presence and impact of the twinning wisps into account in their decision whether to represent the diamond or not, and sell it under their brand name...

As spicyitalian noted, people often purchase diamonds with twinning wisps because they appear to be better deals, e.g. less expensive diamonds, because within the trade twinning wisps, cavities, and knots, are considered to be less desirable inclusions, as opposed to diamond crystals, needles, pinpoints, small clouds, minor feathers, and as such the diamond rough costs a little bit less, which results in a diamond which costs a little bit less, the reality is that every diamond needs to be assessed on its individual merits; and each diamond buyer needs to determine what their personal preference is for not only the clarity grade of the diamond which they are buying, but also their preference for the nature and extent of the inclusions.