Opinions on this steep/deep: "trainwreck" or okay?

[steepdeepnyc]

Hi All! Long time lurker, first time poster. Like many buyers, I've relied on this forum to educate myself and have ended up going down the rabbit hole - too far, perhaps - in understanding diamond performance, pricing and value in order to better prepare myself for these kinds of purchases. The downside is that it's become easy to second guess myself, to the point where even though a stone looks good enough to me, if I know enough about how it performs on paper I can psyche myself out into thinking it's not good enough.

Anyway, I recently bought what felt like might be a bargain - 0.98 / F / SI1, GIA Excellent cut, GIA #6107841566. So this is a steep/deep stone, HCA scored at 2.4, so seems like in that grey area of potential trainwreck vs. potentially okay. I have the stone in hand now, and it looks attractive enough, but I'm wondering if this was really a bargain or if I didn't just end up with a trainwreck on my hands. My wife likes it, and I guess that's what counts, but I'm just curious what a more objective observer might say.

Anyway, I tried to make a video (below) for you to see - forgive the focus issues, it's harder to make a video of a diamond than I would have thought! I paid $3,800 for this stone.

Depth: 61.9%
Table: 56%
Crown Angle: 35.5°
Crown Height: 16.0%
Pavilion Angle: 40.8°
Pavilion Depth: 43.0%
Star Length: 55%
Lower Half: 80%
Girdle: Thin to Medium, Faceted, 3.0%
Culet: None

Thanks for any thoughts you might have! I appreciate it.

 

[steepdeepnyc]

Another video, in case it's helpful. Gosh, it's hard to take photos/videos of diamonds!

 

[headlight]

It looks very attractive to me... I’m surprised it didn’t get a better HCA score.

 

[flyingpig]

It looks promising.
But needs a well taken face-up close-up well focused photo similar to the one in the original post, but NO tilt.

 

[steepdeepnyc]

@headlight and @flyingpig, thanks so much for weighing in, I appreciate it. I think maybe this is the face-up photo you are looking for (this photo is from the original online listing). Any photos I try to take on my phone just end up a mess.

 

[LLJsmom]

I like the look of it. Look at it in various lighting. Look for any leakage. I can't tell anything obvious, but leakage sometimes takes a long time to notice. And even if there is a little/some, you may not care.

 

[lovedogs]

I like it!

 

[flyingpig]

I like it!

A 35.5/40.8 can be near super ideal or train wreck or somewhere in between.
I agree. It is a good one.

Maybe minor leakage and weak spots. But nothing dentrimental. No wonky pavilion either.

 

[Redwoods-hiker-girl]

I think it's a good one, too. Very pretty stone.

 

[Karl_K]

congrates. Hard to find size.

 

[ellekay]

I totally feel you about second guessing yourself! Really, though, if your wife likes it, that's what matters. Good find!

 

[steepdeepnyc]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to weigh in! I felt fairly positive about it, but it’s super useful to have others’ thoughts just so I know I’m not rationalizing away or missing any dealbreaker flaws I should have been paying attention to.

And kudos to the cutter who was willing to bring it in at 0.98, I suppose!

 

[diamondsR4eVR]

No expert here but looks very pretty!