Hello All,
This site has been a mountain of wisdom for me (a veritable Mount Everest) since o/a Spring 2008 when I took baby steps into the world of diamond shopping. I''ve come a long way and am now a few days from making my final selection on a stone for my beautiful GF of 3.5 years. I''ve looked at tons of certs using the HCA as a kind of machete-toting jungle guide through the thick diamond spec foliage and sales talk.
I am now down to three. I''ve been agonizing over the following:
B&M STORE A
Candidate 1 -- Round Brilliant TRIPLE EX GIA certified - 1.08ct, D Color VS1 61.5% Depth, 57% Table, 34.5 degrees Crown Angle, 41.0 degrees Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.67x6.73x4.02mm HCA says 1.9 Excellent US$13,899
B&M STORE B
Candidate 2 -- Round Brilliant, AGS IDEAL CUT certified - 1.087ct, D Color VS1 61.9% Depth, 55.7% Table, 34.6 degrees Crown Angle, 40.8% Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.57x6.60x4.08mm. HCA says 1.4 Excellent US$13,873
Candidate 3 - Round Brilliant, TRIPLE EX GIA certified - 1.04ct., D Color VS1 61.4% Depth, 56% Table, 35 degrees Crown Angle, 40.8 degrees Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.60x6.57x4.01mm, HCA says 1.5 Excelelnt US$11,820
I have seen all three stones in person under store lighting and towards the natural light of the doors, though the times of day and the amount of lighting (cloudy vs. clear day) varied. Under my untrained eye under both the ASET scope and the Ideal scope I noted no difference that really, really jumped out at me (though oddly I could the few small inclusions in each of them better!). I took my GF along with me under the condition that she not see the specs and just give me pure reaction to stones. She loved all three but liked the more firey and the "bigger" looking stones a tad more. She thought Candidate no.2 and no.3 looked a "hair" more firey BUT I''d swear I thought candidate no.1 looked the most firey. Folks, since HCA is too blunt of a tool at these tollerances (HCA 1.4, 1.5 and 1.9) to differentiate here, I thought I would ask you all for some expert help. I particularly didn''t want to eliminate the HCA 1.9 just because of the number (it is after all under the magic "2" umbrella) and does that really make all that much of a difference?
Price of course is always a consideration but making my GF the happiest woman in the world is my utmost priority and I know she would like sporting a more firey stone around her finger for the rest of her life. I am under budget with any of the three.
Your sagacious thoughts and calculations are herein solicited and most welcome to help me get to that sought after buddha-like nirvanic state of "mind-clean".
Kindest regards to all,
-Dean
This site has been a mountain of wisdom for me (a veritable Mount Everest) since o/a Spring 2008 when I took baby steps into the world of diamond shopping. I''ve come a long way and am now a few days from making my final selection on a stone for my beautiful GF of 3.5 years. I''ve looked at tons of certs using the HCA as a kind of machete-toting jungle guide through the thick diamond spec foliage and sales talk.
I am now down to three. I''ve been agonizing over the following:
B&M STORE A
Candidate 1 -- Round Brilliant TRIPLE EX GIA certified - 1.08ct, D Color VS1 61.5% Depth, 57% Table, 34.5 degrees Crown Angle, 41.0 degrees Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.67x6.73x4.02mm HCA says 1.9 Excellent US$13,899
B&M STORE B
Candidate 2 -- Round Brilliant, AGS IDEAL CUT certified - 1.087ct, D Color VS1 61.9% Depth, 55.7% Table, 34.6 degrees Crown Angle, 40.8% Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.57x6.60x4.08mm. HCA says 1.4 Excellent US$13,873
Candidate 3 - Round Brilliant, TRIPLE EX GIA certified - 1.04ct., D Color VS1 61.4% Depth, 56% Table, 35 degrees Crown Angle, 40.8 degrees Pavillion Angle, no floro. 6.60x6.57x4.01mm, HCA says 1.5 Excelelnt US$11,820
I have seen all three stones in person under store lighting and towards the natural light of the doors, though the times of day and the amount of lighting (cloudy vs. clear day) varied. Under my untrained eye under both the ASET scope and the Ideal scope I noted no difference that really, really jumped out at me (though oddly I could the few small inclusions in each of them better!). I took my GF along with me under the condition that she not see the specs and just give me pure reaction to stones. She loved all three but liked the more firey and the "bigger" looking stones a tad more. She thought Candidate no.2 and no.3 looked a "hair" more firey BUT I''d swear I thought candidate no.1 looked the most firey. Folks, since HCA is too blunt of a tool at these tollerances (HCA 1.4, 1.5 and 1.9) to differentiate here, I thought I would ask you all for some expert help. I particularly didn''t want to eliminate the HCA 1.9 just because of the number (it is after all under the magic "2" umbrella) and does that really make all that much of a difference?
Price of course is always a consideration but making my GF the happiest woman in the world is my utmost priority and I know she would like sporting a more firey stone around her finger for the rest of her life. I am under budget with any of the three.
Your sagacious thoughts and calculations are herein solicited and most welcome to help me get to that sought after buddha-like nirvanic state of "mind-clean".
Kindest regards to all,
-Dean