Visited an appraiser today

[golovast]

Well, I had my visit today. We looked at this diamond:
Round
1.38 carats
clarity: SI1
color: I
table: 56
depth: 60.9
crown angle: 34.3
pavilion angle: 41.0
symmetry/polish vg/vg
$4600

The report on the diamond is GIA and the other numbers were apparently obtained by running a Sarin report. The appraiser commented that she would have probably graded the diamond an SI2, because of the amount and the placement of the inclusions. They are close together and under the table, particularly the feather running across it. Still, nothing is eye visible, at least not to me. I looked at it with an ideal-scope and certainly its not H&A, the rest of it, to my eye was kind of murky. I did see some arrows I think, and it was mostly pink, but honestly I couldn''t really tell where it falls, even though I did look at ideal-scope pictures. I''ve been reading the forum and I understand the principle that if you like it, then buy it.

Problem is that I haven''t really seen many diamonds and they all look pretty good to me.

The appraiser said that it was a very good cut, definitely not what she would call ideal, but she''d guess that it would get a cut grade 1. She also said that I won''t be able to tell the difference between that and an ideal, unless the color is improved as well. She said she liked the sparkle and the brilliance too.
After all the research, I think I am pretty sure what I want. I don''t care all that much about the color and the clarity, within acceptable ranges of course, and mostly want to maximize the size and the cut quality. I guess my question is if you think I can get a better looking diamond, smaller in size, in the same price range, that would look significantly better? And what do you guys think about this diamond and the price and everything else? Your opinions are much appreciated, because I will be deciding by tomorrow morning.

Thank you.

 

[Mara]

Hmm well it's really hard to say if it would look 'better'...but that stone sounds like a great deal if its eye clean and has alot of pink in the idealscope. If the appraiser characterized it as a very good cut, and you think it's beautiful, $4600 for a 1.38c stone is excellent! You will not be able to get anywhere near that with an excellently cut or Hearts and Arrows stone. If you want to maximize size for low cost and stick with what sounds like a nice cut...this stone sounds like a very nice option--esp since it checked out with the appraiser.




Just for comparison purposes, a 1.38 I SI1 H&A type stone would most likely run you about $6500 online, so this stone is significantly cheaper.




Good luck!!

 

[valeria101]

Is this an EGL stone? The price is very attractive - so it would be hard to match the size (which I don't know, in terms of diameter) with a H&A given that most would be GIA certed and a bit higher prices because of it to start with.

In my opinion, it is better to llook at diameter rather than weight for 'size' - with about 0.2-0.3 starting to show with stones side by side.

Anyway, here are a few..

1.15cts, I-SI1

1.32cts, J-VS2

1.22 cts, J-VS2

There would be more upon further inspection, sure that! Taking those Iscope pics into account, the first looks the best of the three (with no pic available on the last...). And the pic on the second stone seems taken with somewhat different ligting conditions (something that did occur previously for Whiteflash stones...) - so I would not rule that one out.