Best 1.25 - 1.5 carat RB you can find for $8,000?

[Fly Girl]

That stone is a 60/60 cut, which is a classic cut, much loved by many traditional jewelers. 60/60 stones with a good score on the HCA will be a bright, sparkly beautiful stone with great spread. I have owned one for 8 years and I get compliments on it all the time. They could be a bit darker in the center (although mine isn''t!) and you do need to keep them clean, because a little bit of dirt absolutely kills the sparkle. I figured this out on my own (my diamond let me know!) and began cleaning mine daily long before finding PS.

I''d say go for it, unless you really, really want ideal cut proportions.

 

[poprocks2]

We were in the market for a very similar stone recently. We ended up purchasing a stone from Whiteflash and I''m really happy with it. Here are the specs:

RB
AGS - Ideal
1.525 ct
J color
VS1
Very Strong Blue Fluor
HCA 1.5 (TIC)
$8,266

I was a little worried because we had selected a setting with channel set diamonds and they were in the H-I color range - I wan''t sure about the J or the fluorescence, but it is beautiful! I think we ended up getting a pretty good price, due to the fluorescence - so that fact that you like fluor. should help you stay in your price range.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 9/25/2008 10:20:09 PM
Author: Finally!
Thanks, Breann. That''s a nice-looking stone, for sure. I''m trying to get fluor, though, and get as close to 1.5 ct as I can, while still getting a great cut. I know, it''s a tall order... but I may have found one this time.

The numbers on this one are really interesting:

1.51 ct.
Medium Blue Fluor
I
SI1

OK, now the following is NOT a mistake:

Depth: 59.7
Table: 60

Interesting, huh?

Crown: 34
Pavilion: 40.6
Culet: 0

According to my (sometimes questionable!) HCA analysis, it scores a 1.3, and rates ''Excellent'' in all four categories (including the elusive ''Spread''!)

Diameter: 7.44 - 7.47
Depth: 4.45
Girdle: Medium to Slightly Thick

Ask if you can get an Idealscope image for this diamond.

 

[Finally!]

Lorelei, unfortunately the stone is with BN, so getting any "extra" info beyond the GIA is an impossibility. I did ask...

Ryan at BN, who said he had been "doing this for five years now," started by bashing the HCA, saying that Garry does not "show his work" - in other words, what are the equations are that power the HCA? He insinuated that, for this reason, its results should be taken with skepticism. I told him that the HCA said that, while this stone is only "very good" in cut by GIA''s standards, it would have scored as Ideal by AGS standards, and that the HCA also rated it Excellent by all four parameters and in the Tolkowsky Ideal Cut range, so to me, it''s a third opinion and helps me to feel comfortable in the absence of any visual information. I told him that I would appreciate more visual information from BN, and that I can''t be the only one who''s asked. He said that it''s rare for a customer to ask BN for visual information! Wow, a lot of buyers out there need to find PS.

He suggested that I could just order the stone. I said that it was ridiculous to consider shelling out all that money, and asking for such an expensive item to be shipped to me, only to get it and immediately say "there''s no way I can live with that inclusion" and have to take great care and some expense to ship it back.

I decided to "get over" my irritation at his argumentative and somewhat flippant handling of my request and see what I could get for more information. We talked about the big feather. He said that BN would reject any stone that appeared to have a pressure-sensitive flaw (such as a feather near the girdle) but, to be safe, he''d have them recheck this one on that point. I asked for clarification of the "smudge" that shows on the table in the plot, whether this stone seems "eyeclean" from the top, whether it appears at all "dark" due to the large table, for a description of where the feathers are in the pavilion plot view, and whether they appear they could be hidden in a 4-prong setting. He said he''d be gone Monday and Tuesday, but that he would submit my detailed list of questions about this stone and could call on Monday to have anyone there look up what the "visualizer" had to say in response to my questions.

At this point I''m only looking at this one because it could be a good bargain. This experience definitely diminished my opinion of BN, however.

 

[Finally!]

The BN 60:60 I mentioned? I talked to another BN Rep, who was not knowledgeable. She turned me over to Amanda, who I found to be quite knowledgeable and who was not put off by my PS-derived diamond knowledge. I asked her to specifically ask to have this stone checked to see if the long feather in the pavilion plot touches the girdle, which I learned here could indicate that the stone could be pressure-sensitive. Turns out, it is. Amanda told me that the stone rates a "2" on pressure sensitivity, with "4" being something they would have rejected. She said that BN will sell "2" and "3"-level pressure sensitive stones.

What do you folks think of this? Should this stone be dead to me? I''m planning on a 4-prong head.