images of H&A vs NON H&A stones

[mintve]

I apologize if this has been posted before, or if there is a link here and I missed it. When I tried to search, nothing came up, so I may have been putting in bad search criteria, or there may really be no posts about this.

After learning about AGS ideal stones, Hearts and Arrows and ACA at Wf and seeing all the images at GOG, I think I have a pretty good grasp of what a well cut stone looks like in those images. I have seen some pretty ncie stones in person and I have seen a few dogs that are a sea of darkness when you look at them with a loupe.

I am curious as to what an average or poorly cut stone would look like under the ideal scope and the hearts and arrows images. I do not own an IS, so I''ve never tried to use one on a mediocre stone. I would be curious to see some of the images we have grown accustomed to seeing from online vendor and for well cut stones on an average or poor stone. I would like it as a point of reference.

Does anyone have this or know where I can go to see some images?

 

[risingsun]

If you go to the tutorial and click on Hearts and Arrows, that should help you. Also click on the IS section. These tutorials should help answer your questions.

 

[strmrdr]

The tutorial at www.goodoldgold.com has some exellent examples as well.

 

[JohnQuixote]

I'm glad you asked about ideal-scope images as well as H&A/cut precision. Of the two, light return is the priority.

For the record, we're a bit spoiled on PS by the reflector images we routinely see. It's seriously like a Miss Universe pageant. If you purchase an ideal-scope, start looking at the diamonds walking around on the hands of most people on the planet and you'll see much different examples than the very-similar images we see on PS, where cut-quality is the preeminent focus and optical symmetry is typically strong.




> Here are Ideal-Scope images showing premium - average - and poor light return.

Typically the only level of light return we'd expect to see in diamonds of the quality frequently brought to PS is the example on the left. The others would not "fly" here.

> Here are H&A images of diamonds with top light return

All three have top light return (AGS0, AGS0, GIA EX). All are representative of the quality we frequently see brought to PS. When seen in the hearts and arrows viewer, from left to right, we'd regard their cut precision as true (cut specifically with H&A in mind) near-true (a 'happy accident' that's often sold as H&A) and non (pretty obvious).

To know how precise a H&A diamond is it's a must to see the diamond's hearts image. The arrows, seen in ideal-scope, are comparatively easy to achieve; they require only two facet reflections to overlap. The hearts require the precise alignment of 5 facets. They are far more likely to be distorted, no matter how nice the arrows.

> Here are H&A images from a more global sampling of cut.

Like the first three ideal-scope images this is a much wider sampling than we normally see on Pricescope, but if you were to take your H&A viewer into the NY diamond district, an upscale boutique and Joe's Diamond Exchange & Bar & Grill you would likely see examples reflecting this broad spectrum (for the full-size graphic click here). I've included corresponding old AGS proportions grades, predicted current AGS LP grades and GIA proportions grades.

And, for those still hungry

, here's a recommended thread: What is the importance and history of Hearts & Arrows?

 

[mintve]

John-

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!! It is just what I was trying to find!!

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!