Is this diamond a Hearts & Arrows? (pics)

[TRIALnERROR]

Hey gang, I received my H&A viewer today and I would greatly appreciate your opinion. Would this stone classify as a H&A?

 

[Karl_K]

yes

 

[TitanCi]

Won't most well cut, very symmetrical stones have hearts and arrows patterning?

 

[TRIALnERROR]

Won't most well cut, very symmetrical stones have hearts and arrows patterning?

Hey Titan, that brings me to my next question... My GIA report has Excellent for cut and polish, but only Very Good for symmetry. What is the difference between Very Good & Excellent symmetry?

 

[Karl_K]

Won't most well cut, very symmetrical stones have hearts and arrows patterning?

Hey Titan, that brings me to my next question... My GIA report has Excellent for cut and polish, but only Very Good for symmetry. What is the difference between Very Good & Excellent symmetry?

Lab symmetry grade is how well the facet meet points come together.
It has little to do with optical symmetry aka h&a.

 

[Karl_K]

Won't most well cut, very symmetrical stones have hearts and arrows patterning?

h&a is a way to measure optical symmetry.
So yes if a RB diamond is optically symmetrical and is within the proportion range that produces h&a it will be h&a.

 

[TRIALnERROR]

Won't most well cut, very symmetrical stones have hearts and arrows patterning?

Hey Titan, that brings me to my next question... My GIA report has Excellent for cut and polish, but only Very Good for symmetry. What is the difference between Very Good & Excellent symmetry?

Lab symmetry grade is how well the facet meet points come together.
It has little to do with optical symmetry aka h&a.

Thanks for the info, Karl! Am I able to view the meet-point symmetry through a 10X loupe?

 

[Karl_K]

Thanks for the info, Karl! Am I able to view the meet-point symmetry through a 10X loupe?

yep, just look at where the facets come together.
See if you can spot one or more different from the others.
Given VG the difference will be slight.

 

[John P]

It could also be a proportions-symmetry issue such as twist, or slight culet or table OC (although the viewer might turn that up) or a girdle wave. I'm inclined to agree with Karl that VG often is a facet symmetry issue involving meet points. But sometimes it was done to preserve the patterning - believe it or not... If some kind of blemish was run-over to preserve precision patterning in a H&A viewer, but interrupted a facet line, the lab will penalize it. Kind of ironic, since it is a sacrifice of physical (2D) symmetry to preserve the (arguably) more important 3D symmetry.

 

[TRIALnERROR]

Karl and John, thank you very much for the input. Is there any data on the GIA report that will shed light on the issue of twist, girdle wave, or facet symmetry? I'm trying to get proficient with the loupe and this sounds like a good experiment. Thanks in advance for any guidance.

 

[Stone-cold11]

Nope, because the GIA report are the average numbers of 8 or more facets, points and the rounded. To see these issues you will need a detailed sarin/helium scan where the numbers are presented for each facets. Examples of those report are found on GOG's site for some of their stones.