Which of 4 diamonds would you buy? Same $s, different 4Cs combos.

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Watch the 59 second video and cast a single vote.

I will furnish all the stones details after the 7 day poll.
After interest and discussions regarding this thread introducing a forthcoming upgrade to HCA to predict the apparent size of a diamond (most are way smaller than they should could be).
And Paul's discussions around the 4C's and value.

 

[Matthews1127]

Just a quick observation: Bottom Left is 1ct HSI1...not GSI2.

 

[Golden_bird]

Wow ! I could never imagine that J will face up quiete yellow in comparison to H! While H and G almost indistinguishable colorwise

 

[tkyasx78]

The inclusions really bother me in the first 3. And the J is too yellow and I am not a fan of the cut (arrows are way too narrow for my liking ) . If I had to pick though I would do the bottom left one maybe as a pendant for a gift, but I wouldn't wear it because it isn't mind clean ( in the video on my computer it looks like there are alot of chips or internal pit type inclusions I don't know the technical word ! ) .

Cut wise under bright lights almost any stone looks sparkly, so I would need more info for any of them. The real test of a diamonds cut shows when you have less than ideal lighting in my opinion.

 

[lovedogs]

The top ones had too many inclusions for my liking, but I liked both the bottom two. I preferred the performance of the bottom left, but certainly wouldn't kick the bottom right out of bed

 

[Rockdiamond]

Great thread Garry!
The video is amazing.
I've always sought out high color I1 stones.
There's a lot of reasons....mainly a price issue.
The difference, in dollars, between KSI2, and KI1 is a lot smaller than the difference between D/SI2, and D/I1.
Conversely, K/IF has always struck me as a bargain grade. Only about 20% more than K/VS1, while a D/VS1 is 65% less than a D/IF

I've never really needed "mind clean" so I've always also sought out certain I1 stones.
Thinking back to my training, and grading/assorting days- it was always more "fun" to assort imperfect parcels as opposed to VS goods- and it took more experience to grade SI/I1 goods too.

The junk in the table seems to disappear when tilted...
As good as the video is, of course, an in-person evaluation would be necessary.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Wow ! I could never imagine that J will face up quiete yellow in comparison to H! While H and G almost indistinguishable colorwise

The scale is not linear GB. The difference between D and F is about the same or greater than the difference between H and I, etc.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

The inclusions really bother me in the first 3. And the J is too yellow and I am not a fan of the cut (arrows are way too narrow for my liking ) . If I had to pick though I would do the bottom left one maybe as a pendant for a gift, but I wouldn't wear it because it isn't mind clean ( in the video on my computer it looks like there are alot of chips or internal pit type inclusions I don't know the technical word ! ) .

Cut wise under bright lights almost any stone looks sparkly, so I would need more info for any of them. The real test of a diamonds cut shows when you have less than ideal lighting in my opinion.

If you take a class room ruler, hold it between your eyes touching your forhead, and slide your finger along you can measure the closest point that you can focus on.
If you can focus from around 6 inches 15cm then you can possibly see the SI1 inclusions. If your focal distance is more like 35cm or greater you would not see the SI2 and the I1 would be hard to see.

 

[HappyNewLife]

H-SI1 for the win for me

 

[diamondseeker2006]

If I had to choose from those 4, I'd have to choose the H SI1. However, in reality, the clarity is not good enough for me. For a ring, I'd prefer G VS1 or even F VS1 (in a mrb) if I could afford the price jump.

The D color is beautiful...(I think I need just one of those )...but if buying D color, I'd buy high clarity. I'd never buy a D or any color with eye visible I1 inclusions.

Oh, and in terms of cut, I am assuming the top two are on the deep side due to their diameter. The H has the minimum diameter I'd want in a 1 ct stone.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

If I had to choose from those 4, I'd have to choose the H SI1. However, in reality, the clarity is not good enough for me. For a ring, I'd prefer G VS1 or even F VS1 (in a mrb) if I could afford the price jump.

The D color is beautiful...(I think I need just one of those )...but if buying D color, I'd buy high clarity. I'd never buy a D or any color with eye visible I1 inclusions.

DS there is no way to conduct an equivalent price comparison across such a wide range of the Colour Clarity spectrum and also demonstrate common cut variances.
So, these diamond are not for sale, but they have had some thought put into them for a learning experiance

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I added a note about cut on my post above after you replied, Garry. Oh, I wasn't expecting the prices to be equal. I was just saying I'd like F color other than pricing. But in reality, since I prefer G-H and up and VS2 and up, none of those stones would be in my personal search zone. The H SI1 is the closest and likely the best cut.

 

[whitewave]

Well, I bought a G si2 so I chose that one lol.

Are we supposed to put a lot of thinking into it? It’s not that much smaller than the H and I’m partial to a G color. Inclusions generally don’t bother me.

 

[cflutist]

@Garry H (Cut Nut)

Does color drive prices more than clarity?
If so, was the cutter trying to hit 1ct with the D rough by cutting a deeper stone?

 

[Luce]

I chose the H SI1. The cut looks better. My second choice would be the J.

 

[Andelain]

Hands down, the H. I'd have considered the D because I'm so color sensitive, but the cut doesn't look good. Cut knocked out the G, too. J is just too tinted for my tastes.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

@Garry H (Cut Nut)

Does color drive prices more than clarity?
If so, was the cutter trying to hit 1ct with the D rough by cutting a deeper stone?

As RockDiamond David said Cflutist, higher combo's drive higher prices.
This is Rap price list from about the time I purchased these stones.
These 4 stones at the time of purchase were of similar value. There were no options for the D I1 stone (it has a big price drop) however it is a border line SI3 so the stone chosen was as close as possible to the cost of the other three while being the top colour.

 

[Sparkles88]

I voted for the H SI1, if it’s eye clean it’s good enough for me, particularly because my eye sight is not as sharp as it used to be. I am quite color sensitive and I was surprised that the J showed so much tint, I’ve seen J’s posted on PS and they have appeared less tinted.

 

[Snowdrop13]

Interesting. When I bought my ACA I decided my sweet spot for that was I VS2, which is in the same price ball park as these other stones. If I ever buy a bigger one, that’s what I’m going for!

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Interesting video, Garry, it may be the start of different thinking.

Still, I hope that not too many conclusions will be based upon this video only. In the context of truly assessing consumer-perception of the C's, the set-up of this video by itself may already be influencing the result.

Part of the exercise by itself is already skewed by you revealing already weight, color and clarity. This reduces the difference to Cut only.

With regards to Carat Weight, the video demonstrates various diameters, but all 4 stones are still the same weight. In a true comparison, I would favor more stones in the mix, all with varying C's, including varying carat weights.

With regards to Clarity, I blew up the video to full screen-size, then realized that this totally defeats the purpose of comparing clarity-issues. In that sense, I do not like the recent trend of stressing videos of diamonds, because it automatically takes away the attention from Cut and steers it towards Clarity in an exaggerated way. That again is very old school, like the traditional jeweler with the loupe, mainly discussing Clarity, as it is the only C (aside from Carat Weight) he could even assess.

Even with regards to Cut, I must admit at being a sucker in interpreting videos. Making comparisons in real-life are totally different from video-comparisons. Is it possibly the difference between 3D and 2D?

Finally, I have never seen a J face-up that yellow in real life. I was thinking, if the tone were Pink, this would be sold as Fancy Light Pink. That stone, I would grade it more as Fancy Light Yellow than as a J.

Then again, with all the reservations, I think it is a great step to start comparing diamonds of equal value.

Live long,

 

[Junc80]

I also thought the J looked more yellow face up than ones I saw in person, and the Si2 and I clarity were like the stones I often saw in an average downtown LA diamond district with them sized inclusions. At the end of the day, H si1 all the way!

 

[Rockdiamond]

I agree with most of your post- especially how the videos can distort assessment because clarity becomes more critical than in real life viewing.
I notice how yellow the J looks as well- and I find that shooting in a lightbox will often exaggerate the faint color in a J

I was a bit taken by this Paul....are you suggesting that assessing cut with a loupe is not possible?

That again is very old school, like the traditional jeweler with the loupe, mainly discussing Clarity, as it is the only C (aside from Carat Weight) he could even assess.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Re the J seems too yellow:
5 J's from www.Cutwise.com and one D.
My DiBox images are from an older version. These are presumably from a newer DiBox.
(check out the site - Serg and team are doing amazing things)

 

[flyingpig]

1. D I1: probably high crown, low pavilion combo. Minimal light leakage. Strong reflection from lower girdle facets. I always like this type of cut, but the spread is pathetic
2. G SI2: probably high crown, med/high pavilon combo. the lower girdle facets are dead. My least favourite.
3. H SI1: the closest to "PS quality" or TIC. most "balanced"
4. J VS1: 60/60 type with low crown and high pavilion. good light return. contrast is there.

I would consider all, except 2. G SI2.
Voted for the H SI1.

 

[AprilBaby]

Without knowing I was drawn to the HSi1

 

[aussiemel]

Hi Garry from a fellow Melbournian

The H SI1 was the most appealing to me, it seemed to have a good balance of everything. The J looked quite tinted in the video.

 

[natasha-cupcake]

I wouldn't actually buy any of them, but if I had to choose the one I like the best, it's the D. The H and J are way too tinted for my preferences. The G color might have been (sort of) acceptable to me, but the cut looks way off, very light leak-y and blah under the table. The H and J cuts seem marginally better than the D cut, but not enough to get me over the color aversion. I'm surprised that the clarity doesn't bother me more than the color. I can see the speck in the D fairly easily but it bothers me less than the H and J color. The D looks obviously smaller to me than the others, and the J looks clearly the largest, but I personally would not go for size over color or even clarity, I think. I'm coming to the conclusion that I'm a color snob almost to the point of competition with the cut snobbery that I already knew I exhibited.

 

[vintageloves]

I'm going to break from the pack and say the D. I hate really yellow tints in diamonds, and all the rest looked very yellow to me. I'd rather get a higher color than a better cut. I know that's ps sacrilege, but it would be boring if we all valued the same things.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Interesting video, Garry, it may be the start of different thinking.

Still, I hope that not too many conclusions will be based upon this video only. In the context of truly assessing consumer-perception of the C's, the set-up of this video by itself may already be influencing the result.

Part of the exercise by itself is already skewed by you revealing already weight, color and clarity. This reduces the difference to Cut only.

With regards to Carat Weight, the video demonstrates various diameters, but all 4 stones are still the same weight. In a true comparison, I would favor more stones in the mix, all with varying C's, including varying carat weights.

With regards to Clarity, I blew up the video to full screen-size, then realized that this totally defeats the purpose of comparing clarity-issues. In that sense, I do not like the recent trend of stressing videos of diamonds, because it automatically takes away the attention from Cut and steers it towards Clarity in an exaggerated way. That again is very old school, like the traditional jeweler with the loupe, mainly discussing Clarity, as it is the only C (aside from Carat Weight) he could even assess.

Even with regards to Cut, I must admit at being a sucker in interpreting videos. Making comparisons in real-life are totally different from video-comparisons. Is it possibly the difference between 3D and 2D?

Finally, I have never seen a J face-up that yellow in real life. I was thinking, if the tone were Pink, this would be sold as Fancy Light Pink. That stone, I would grade it more as Fancy Light Yellow than as a J.

Then again, with all the reservations, I think it is a great step to start comparing diamonds of equal value.

Live long,

With regard the colour of the J Paul, I think this depends to a large extent on the lighting used for examination. In the days of stores with mainly warmer halogen type lighting the differences in colour would be less marked. Today with LEDs and often more like daylight colour temp. think it is easier to see colour differences. But I have these 4 stones in a display box, and in most lighting the difference is less obvious.
I think though that there have been a good balance of respondents comments; some prefer colour, some don't mind lower clarity. Some even prefer the top left type of cut (I am partial to it also).
With regard giving all the info away - it is noticaeable in comments that some people have not observed all the screen comments - especially the diameters.
Re clarity - I agree re videos - and my experience in better stores in USA is the strange use of microscopes. No idea why you need a microscope for a diamond - if it is a high clarity it will have a grading report, and lower clartiy's are easy and faster to show with a loupe. Coloured gem dealers use microscopes for obvious reasons but I have never seen a dealer using a microscope unless they are specialising in Flawless etc.

 

[Karl_K]

If I was going to shop the biggest diamond for x dollars for myself it would be a M,N,O-p or even s-t yellow color, vs+ clarity, well cut in a high light return design.
It would have enough color to be buttery yellow in some lighting but light enough to make sense cutting it in a high light return design that will knock my socks off in the right lighting.