Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushion?

[geor6cle]

Hi all,

I've been lurking here since the day I decided to buy a ring and this has been the most helpful forum ever. Thank you!

I am set on buying a cushion and have become well acquainted with the different facet patterns and the idea that each stone is unique and very much a "to each his/her own" decision. With that said I've come across a stone that I am interested in buying, but have never seen a facet pattern as there is on this stone. Is it a total screw-up? Are the extra facets creating the dark (black) spots in the center of the stone? Or is that just lighting?

If this is more common than I perceive, fine. I guess I'd really like to know how much, if any, discount there should be on a stone given this cut.

I've attached the GIA plot and pics of the set stone in my preferred setting. Stone is 1.58 cushion mod brilliant F SI1, vg polish, good symmetry, fl strong blue (fluor I'm fine with too).

Thank you again. Pics below.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushi

Hi geor,
That's a fairly common facet pattern on GIA reports for Cushion Modified Brilliant- and also a relatively common type of light performance pattern based on the photos.

I would not expect any discount on such a stone- however "generic" cushion diamonds should sell for less than branded ones.

 

[sweetpea&babycorn]

Re: Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushi

I don't know a lot of technical information about cushions, but as a previous modern cushion brilliant owner, I think you can find a better cushion. This one just looks odd to me, and I wouldn't consider it even if I was offered a discount.

What is not appealing specifically to me is that this stone seems to have a combination of both the crushed ice look and not crushed-ice look. Some people like the crushed ice look, but I would expect the entire stone to have that crushed ice look, and not just part of the diamond. If you look at the directly facing image, there is something funky going on across the top of the table of the stone, and in the angled image, you can see more of this funkiness on the left side of the table.

If you can post specs for what you're looking for, and your budget, there are people here who are experts at finding beautiful stones at a great price. If you do like this one, and this is at the top of your list, I don't think it would hurt to look at other potential stones. A lot of vendors like JA, GoG, WF, and ERD would be able to get you things like ASETs and Idealscopes to give you a more objective assessment of light performance and return.

 

[geor6cle]

Re: Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushi

Thank you for the responses. I'll have a video shortly to see the specific things sweetpea brought up. Great chart galileo, I think that is the culprit based on conversation with the jewler and a few other photos I have.

I see this is a common 4 main facet pattern, but I'm specifically looking at the the two extra lines drawn across the bottom two legs of the "X" on the right hand image. These line cutting across do not appear on the upper two legs of the "X" leading to my presumption of very poor symmetry/cut. That is the odd characteristic that has me concerned. At the end of the day it's all about a diamonds performance, and I was hoping someone else has run across this, or a similar issue.

I worry about this "extra facet" language on the GIA cert, but not sure if I should be concerned by it or not.

Thanks for the help, hopefully video will clear things up soon.

 

[JulieN]

Re: Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushi

I have never seen that before! It does seem like you can see it in the pictures, that the top half is not the same as the bottom half.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Re: Worst symmetry ever? Or just a unique pattern on a cushi

IN a modified brilliant cushion, such anomalies are relatively common.
Remember, the cutter is not going need to have symmetrical facet pattern, like they need on a "chunky" more antique style- or a branded stone. This is one of the principle reason behind the price difference.
The light will bounce around a few times before coming back to your eye which means a human eye won't be able to see the difference- per se-
I mean to say is that compared to a stone cut to look "chunky" the difference is clear.
But comparing two CMB's - each with different anomalies on facet design, will generally not show identifiable evidence through the table.