Was this a good deal?

[Swirl68]

A little background,
A few years I found Pricescope and purchased a diamond and a couple rings from two different recommend vendors. I got, what I believe, was an amazing deal. I then went on with my life. But another family member and I are hoping to make a couple of diamond purchases in the somewhat near future, so I've been doing some research. (Which is really fun by the way!)

I have been shopping the bargain bins looking for the elusive deal. Obviously, no super-ideals there, but that's ok, I'm bargain hunting! I'm trying to educate myself and really know just what I'm looking at for the price.

I found this diamond and was intrigued by its nice arrows. Looked good in the video too! I know it's best to stay away from "good" cut diamonds. But the size, clarity, color, nice arrows and excellent price drew me in. Here's where it gets more intriguing. The HCA score was .9. (With the med. - very think girdle that may not be entirely accurate though.) Thanks to the cheat sheet that's out there, I've actually gotten pretty good at picking diamonds that will get excellent on the first three categories. It's just that pesky spread category that gets me almost every time. Very Good is as good as it ever gets. I have no idea just how bad very good is, so I got to where I just kind of ignored it. But I probably shouldn't do that, especially on this diamond, I suspect.

1.22 Good/VG/VG H VVS2 $7,300

https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-di...rat-h-color-vvs2-clarity-good-cut-sku-5588889

I posted this diamond on another thread. I thought maybe it was a good deal. (It's showing sold now.) I've been studying it for a couple of weeks trying to understand what I'm seeing.

I have a couple of big main questions for those of you that are not in the trade. If you could please help me out, I would so much appreciate it! (The first one is fill in the blank.)

1. This is a 1.22 carat RB diamond that looks like a _________ carat RB diamond. (I guessed 1.15-1.17)

2. In a nutshell (keep in mind I'm a newbie), what earned this diamond the "good" cut ranking? (I'm guessing the deep cut and big ol' girdle.)

Thanks so much, just trying to learn!!!

 

[Dancing Fire]

1. This is a 1.22 carat RB diamond that looks like a _________ carat RB diamond. (I guessed 1.15-1.17)

2. In a nutshell (keep in mind I'm a newbie), what earned this diamond the "good" cut ranking? (I'm guessing the deep cut and big ol' girdle.)

Thanks so much, just trying to learn!!!

Yup, its diameter equal to a well ct 1.15ct stone. . cut way too deep. . very thick girdle. . the stone IMO is out of round. . Return it!

 

[HappyNewLife]

It looks surprisingly good with those #s. And maybe tinted a little brown?

Would I buy it - no. Not for $7k+. I don’t consider a 7 thousand dollar “just OK” diamond a good deal.

 

[WinkHPD]

Your question is much harder to answer than might be thought. Just repolishing the crown will not improve the poor pavilion angle. Since the 40.4 is an averaged number, some of those pavilion mains are going to be below 40.4 degrees and exhibiting excessive obscuration.

So, in my opinion, the too shallow pavilion is more a problem to the beauty of the diamond than the slightly too high crown angle. Add in the excessive hidden weight in the girdle, the fact that in order to correct the pavilion angle the girdle will need to be made smaller (and rounder as DF pointed out) and it is likely that this diamond would be below 1.10 cts if cut for maximum beauty. How far below 1.10 requires a more thorough examination of this diamond than I want to make, but it is conceivable that it could fall below the one carat mark if cut for maximum beauty.

Wink

 

[Swirl68]

Oh thank you so much for the detailed explanation! That helps me so much. I have so much to learn!