Why is this diamond an Expert Selection? 5.5 HCA

[butterfly 17]

Okay, I am not trying to get Whiteflash, I love them and I have purchased diamonds from them in the past as well as other jewelry,
but, I am baffled as to why this is considered an exceptional stone.

I posted about wanting to upgrading and this is a stone I had originally considered, nice carat weight and cherry picked. 3.03 I VS2. It is from Whiteflash, an Expert Selection. But, it looks terrible to me and it scores a 5.5 on the HCA.

The Arrows look so awful and I see even more light leakage than the stone I am about to pick.

When I inquired about it with Bob, he told me he could not recommend it because it scored poorly.

So, how can a stone be an ES if they won''t even recommend it.


Link- http://www.whiteflash.com/round/Round-cut-diamond-680212.htm#

What do you guys think?

 

[sugarplum]

whoa...i don''t see how that can be an ES stone either. perhaps it was an error and it wasn''t supposed to be listed as an ES??

 

[diamondseeker2006]

My guess is that there isn't a plentiful supply of 3 t. stones, and they probably have customers who want a large stone at a good price and they aren't cut fanatics like we are!

 

[Skippy123]

I just looked at it out of curiosity and it does not say it is an expert selection, maybe it was a glich or something??

 

[butterfly 17]

Yes, I just think it''s weird. I should have asked Bob when I inquired about it, but I just didn''t.

Skippy, it is listed under their expert selection. It''s actually the only 3 carat listed as an ES and the one that I thought I wanted until I saw the pictures.

And I think one of the pictures has a pair of cherries in the right corner, indicating that it is an ES.

 

[cutes814]

hrm... weird too, with the table and depth being at 62, i wouldn''t think it''s an ES as well. my guess is it was a mistake?

 

[cutey TT]

just a thought but perhaps someone traded it in for a larger, more expensive (better cut) upgrade stone? it doesn''t look like one of whiteflash''s regular offerings, but if it was a trade-in, they would still have to sell it, right?

 

[iheartscience]

I noticed a bunch of less than perfect diamonds in the ES section, too. My guess is they''re trying to have more in house inventory for all customers?

 

[Venice]

It has to be a mistake. The GIA report lists the cut as only "good."

 

[sna77]

arrows all over the place on that one...

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 4/3/2008 8:42:50 PM
Author: butterfly 17
Yes, I just think it''s weird. I should have asked Bob when I inquired about it, but I just didn''t.

Skippy, it is listed under their expert selection. It''s actually the only 3 carat listed as an ES and the one that I thought I wanted until I saw the pictures.

And I think one of the pictures has a pair of cherries in the right corner, indicating that it is an ES.

It does pop up in ES, sorry.

 

[february2003bride]

And how did it get a 4 out of 5 stars on their WF ranking?

 

[butterfly 17]

Thanks guys! I tried to call Brian a few minutes ago, but he won't be in until Monday, so I will wait until then.

 

[strmrdr]

blecky, gota be some mistake there someplace.
there is a nice looking 2ct diamond hiding in there someplace thats the best that can be said of it.

 

[february2003bride]

Butterfly-
I apologize for hijacking your thread for a minute, but can I ask you a question about your Lauren Klein bands? I asked DH for 2 wg gold pave bands for Mother''s Day (the exact one''s VesperGirl has) and while she said her''s are great, she mentioned that you have had some problems. Could you tell me what they were? Which bands did you get? Did you keep or return them?
Thanks so much!

 

[butterfly 17]

Hey guys, I decided that when I speak to Brian on Monday, hopefully that is, I will inquire about this diamond.

Diamondseeker2006,

I purchased two rose gold bands from Lauren Klein, the same ones Vespergirl bought, and one was missing a diamond and I returned it right away. The other one I wore for one day and when I looked at it the next morning, the rose gold looked white in some spots. So I took my jewelers cloth to polish it and the rest of the rose gold wore away. The whole ring turned white gold before my eyes. I then tried the same cloth on my other rose gold jewelery and they stayed the same color.

I emailed her to let her know that I thought the rings were rose gold plated and I wanted to return them. She did not respond to the rose gold plated "accusation", she just said to mail the second one back as well and when she received both of them, she would refund my account.

I mailed the second one back almost two weeks ago and she now says that she never received.

I am still waiting for a pending refund. I checked the tracking number and it says the ring was received on 3/27/2008, so I don''t know what is going on.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 4/3/2008 8:13:41 PM
Author: diamondseeker2006
My guess is that there isn''t a plentiful supply of 3 t. stones, and they probably have customers who want a large stone at a good price and they aren''t cut fanatics like we are!

I think that is the correct answer DS, but it might not be the ''right answer''.

3ct plus are very thin on the ground just now and there is a lot of trade people hold back goods waiting for prices to peak.

I have been very careful too about what i buy in bigger stones - but it does seem odd for WF to go this low - although the price is very very good.

 

[Mara]

ES''s are typically along the lines of ''best bang for the buck''...as Garry points out the price is pretty darn good for that hard-to-find size.

Personally, I think that us PS''ers are so spoiled with the typical excellence of WF ES goods (I know I sure am after buying a few)...that we are just so used to seeing wonderful stones in there that almost match the ACA brand. So when you see something like a 5.5 HCA with an IS like that right next to something that just missed the ACA cut, it is surprising.

But as long as long as *I* can remember, WF has had stocked a few stones that might be questionable to us PS''ers. While PS''ers are uber-discriminating, the general public is not always so precise--someone will just want a 3c at a good price. So I guess I''m not super surprised to see something like that in there. If it was $10k more for that same stone, sure that would be ODD.

 

[cara]

WF used to have two very different types of stones in ES: near ACAs, and then good "bang for buck" stones as Mara called them that might appeal to people for other reasons than ideal cut.

Recently I hadn''t scene any/many of these second type of stones in Expert Selection, it seemed they were trying to focus on the near ACAs and other extremely well cut stones, maybe to improve the branding and specificity of the WF ES category. But this one is either a mistake or an intentional "Expert Selection" choice of the second type ie. selected for a combination of characteristics appealing to some customers but not ideal cut or near-ideal cut.

 

[Lynn B]

Hmmmm... wow... quite interesting, for sure!

 

[Lynn B]

Another thought... is every (RB) diamond *in stock* at WF either an ACA or an ES? Or is there a third category ("other" stones, etc.?) Because if there''s only two categories, then I guess I would understand better why this one was labeled as an ES... but if there''s a third category, then I guess I would have expected this particular stone to maybe go *there*?