Did WF change the standards for ACA?

[Mlh]

Recently I have been checking out the site and was surprised to see that some ACA stones fall out of what I thought was the criteria to qualify for ACA. Did something change? For instance there is a VS stone with a knot, others have a girdle that goes from thin to slightly thick, one with stars less than 50. As for the girdle, I thought they only do thin to.med. or med. to slightly thick. Anyone notice this...or is this not unusual. Just wondering.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Thin to slightly thick is totally acceptable within ideal cut range. I never look at their girdle specs because all stones fall within that range.

They don't have stones within ACA that have serious clarity issues, so if there is a knot, it is either minute or otherwise not a problem. I don't think they exclude based on type of inclusion. Every stone is evaluated individually.

So as far as I know, the specs have not changed.

A CUT ABOVE® Diamonds Specifications and Qualifications

Uncover the diamond specifications and qualifications that make up the Whiteflash A CUT ABOVE® diamonds. The most carefully crafted diamonds in the world.

www.whiteflash.com

 

[Mlh]

Thin to slightly thick is totally acceptable within ideal cut range. I never look at their girdle specs because all stones fall within that range.

They don't have stones within ACA that have serious clarity issues, so if there is a knot, it is either minute or otherwise not a problem. I don't think they exclude based on type of inclusion. Every stone is evaluated individually.

So as far as I know, the specs have not changed.

A CUT ABOVE® Diamonds Specifications and Qualifications

Uncover the diamond specifications and qualifications that make up the Whiteflash A CUT ABOVE® diamonds. The most carefully crafted diamonds in the world.

www.whiteflash.com

Got it ....thank you @diamondseeker2006 .

 

[flyingpig]

Recently I have been checking out the site and was surprised to see that some ACA stones fall out of what I thought was the criteria to qualify for ACA. Did something change? For instance there is a VS stone with a knot, others have a girdle that goes from thin to slightly thick, one with stars less than 50. As for the girdle, I thought they only do thin to.med. or med. to slightly thick. Anyone notice this...or is this not unusual. Just wondering.

Yes. WF has changed the standards for ACA, Expert Selectes and Premiun Selects over the years. And they have gotten only stricter.

 

[sugarcloud]

Yes. WF has changed the standards for ACA, Expert Selectes and Premiun Selects over the years. And they have gotten only stricter.

Sorry to hijack the thread! In your opinion how do the premium selects measure up compared to an ACA? I'm looking around the 0.7-0.8 size and I was considering a premium select

 

[Mlh]

Yes. WF has changed the standards for ACA, Expert Selectes and Premiun Selects over the years. And they have gotten only stricter.

Thanks @flyingpig! Good to hear!!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Sorry to hijack the thread! In your opinion how do the premium selects measure up compared to an ACA? I'm looking around the 0.7-0.8 size and I was considering a premium select

Not him, but one thing that changed was that they made premium select just GIA stones, whereas prior to that, there were also AGS stones that weren't quite ACA standards. There are some Premium select stones that are so close to superideal that you wouldn't be able to tell them apart. But every stone in ES and PS have to be evaluated individually, and the light return images show how close they are to the ACAs. My older daughter has a PS that was AGS and honestly the only thing that I could see that made it PS was that it got a grade of excellent instead of idea on polish. That's something you cannot see, so it was a good deal.

Nothing wrong with PS if you are happy with the images and information provided on the stone.

 

[Texas Leaguer]

Recently I have been checking out the site and was surprised to see that some ACA stones fall out of what I thought was the criteria to qualify for ACA. Did something change? For instance there is a VS stone with a knot, others have a girdle that goes from thin to slightly thick, one with stars less than 50. As for the girdle, I thought they only do thin to.med. or med. to slightly thick. Anyone notice this...or is this not unusual. Just wondering.

@Mlh ,
This is a good question, and I am happy to report (as @flyingpig astutely observed) that qualifications for our A CUT ABOVE® brand have changed over the 20 plus years that we have been selling ideal cut diamonds. They have become stricter.

In particular, an ACA can no long have any scratch, chip or extra facet. Implementing that restriction was kind of a no-brainer in that all three of these minor features are indications of cutting faults or shortcuts. They are not indicative of precision craftsmanship at the highest level.

We also disallow any diamond from ACA that has any significant painting, even if it is intentional and designed to maximize brightness without meaningful impact on carat weight. Eightstar style super ideals are an example of this. Whiteflash did produce some ACA diamonds of this flavor back in the day, and we occasionally get some back on trade-up, but they are now dropped into Expert Selection. This is not to say they are not beautiful precision cut diamonds – they are! But we are sensitive to the fact that not everyone favors the tradeoff of a bit of scintillation for the extra brightness.

Most importantly, years ago we began carefully screening ACA diamonds for any non-cut related clarity aspect that has any appreciable affect on transparency. This can sometimes happen as a result of twinning wisps, clouds, graining – separately or in combination – that are dense enough to diminish light performance even when cutting is perfect. This could be considered a no-brainer as well since shoppers looking for elite cutting are clearly looking to maximize light performance. However, this issue is far more subtle than screening out features reported on a lab certificate. It normally occurs in the Si range, but occasionally on borderline VS2.

Proportions, hearts and arrows grading, and fluorescence specifications have not changed, and are the same as they have always been for ACA.

The Premium Select category was added years ago in order to make a place in our in-house inventory for GIA diamonds. In that category we offer primarily Triple Ex with precision cutting. A way to offer customers who are inclined toward GIA grading a way to get the best of the best in terms of light performance, with the analysis and advanced images available up front.

Over the years as our in-house inventory has continued to grow, using our ISO9000 process for continual improvement, we have created a more coherent structure around that inventory, including strengthening the requirements for A CUT ABOVE®. We are also the only company that publishes a detailed list of those qualifications, which makes us fully accountable to our clients for our representations. While on the one hand this gives other companies a concrete way to compete with us, we also know that the modern diamond shopper responds well to a high level of transparency.

 

[Mlh]

@Mlh ,
This is a good question, and I am happy to report (as @flyingpig astutely observed) that qualifications for our A CUT ABOVE® brand have changed over the 20 plus years that we have been selling ideal cut diamonds. They have become stricter.

In particular, an ACA can no long have any scratch, chip or extra facet. Implementing that restriction was kind of a no-brainer in that all three of these minor features are indications of cutting faults or shortcuts. They are not indicative of precision craftsmanship at the highest level.

We also disallow any diamond from ACA that has any significant painting, even if it is intentional and designed to maximize brightness without meaningful impact on carat weight. Eightstar style super ideals are an example of this. Whiteflash did produce some ACA diamonds of this flavor back in the day, and we occasionally get some back on trade-up, but they are now dropped into Expert Selection. This is not to say they are not beautiful precision cut diamonds – they are! But we are sensitive to the fact that not everyone favors the tradeoff of a bit of scintillation for the extra brightness.

Most importantly, years ago we began carefully screening ACA diamonds for any non-cut related clarity aspect that has any appreciable affect on transparency. This can sometimes happen as a result of twinning wisps, clouds, graining – separately or in combination – that are dense enough to diminish light performance even when cutting is perfect. This could be considered a no-brainer as well since shoppers looking for elite cutting are clearly looking to maximize light performance. However, this issue is far more subtle than screening out features reported on a lab certificate. It normally occurs in the Si range, but occasionally on borderline VS2.

Proportions, hearts and arrows grading, and fluorescence specifications have not changed, and are the same as they have always been for ACA.

The Premium Select category was added years ago in order to make a place in our in-house inventory for GIA diamonds. In that category we offer primarily Triple Ex with precision cutting. A way to offer customers who are inclined toward GIA grading a way to get the best of the best in terms of light performance, with the analysis and advanced images available up front.

Over the years as our in-house inventory has continued to grow, using our ISO9000 process for continual improvement, we have created a more coherent structure around that inventory, including strengthening the requirements for A CUT ABOVE®. We are also the only company that publishes a detailed list of those qualifications, which makes us fully accountable to our clients for our representations. While on the one hand this gives other companies a concrete way to compete with us, we also know that the modern diamond shopper responds well to a high level of transparency.

Wow. That's great....Thank you for taking the time to lay it out in detail!! Very helpful!!