What exactly is a Super Ideal?

[Demelza]

My understanding is that a super ideal means the stone is a true H&A. Is that correct? I''ve heard the term thrown about for so long and it just occured to me I don''t really know what it means. I know it''s not technically an industry term, but what do we mean when we use it around here?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

I use the term "super ideal" in my appraisals when a diamond satisfies the following criteria:

1. An AGS 0 cut grade
2. An excellent IdealScope image
3. Hearts & Arrows optical symmetry

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 8/7/2005 5:32:03 PM
Author: Richard Sherwood
I use the term ''super ideal'' in my appraisals when a diamond satisfies the following criteria:


1. An AGS 0 cut grade

2. An excellent IdealScope image

3. Hearts & Arrows optical symmetry

add:
hca under 2 but not shallow/shallow or steep/steep
excellent physical symmetry

And it gets my vote :}

 

[denverappraiser]

I don''t use the term at all.

The problem is that the term ''ideal'' has become so abused that people needed to have a term for stones that meet a set of standards that are more specific than the requirements for idealness. This has just become even more diffiucult because AGS just moved the bar on what defines an AGS-0. To me it''s just puffery. It seems more precise to me to call it what it is:

1. An AGS 0 cut grade
2. An excellent IdealScope image
3. Hearts & Arrows optical symmetry

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[JohnQuixote]

Date: 8/7/2005 5:29:20 PM
Author:Demelza
My understanding is that a super ideal means the stone is a true H&A. Is that correct? I've heard the term thrown about for so long and it just occured to me I don't really know what it means. I know it's not technically an industry term, but what do we mean when we use it around here?

Ideal: AGS 0 in light performance (2005+) or, traditional AGS ideal proportions (1996-2005).

Superideal: AGS 0 in light performance. Top quality ideal-scope or ASET image and true patterning, resulting in a crisp hearts and arrows pattern with no facet yaw.

US labs have no grading standards for Hearts & Arrows, so examples of true patterning are rare. H&A diamonds have symmetrical cut, but not all are cut to ideal parameters and not all have optimum light return. As their popularity grows more factories attempt to produce them and standards have declined. If we regard the most acute level of optical symmetry as true hearts & arrows then examples of near and non-true hearts & arrows are much more commonplace.

More info here.

 

[Demelza]

Thanks for the replies. Does that mean that even if AGS grades a stone H&A it isn't necessarily so?

 

[JohnQuixote]

AGS does not grade Hearts & Arrows.

H&A may have been inscribed on the girdle but that doesn't mean anything. Inscriptions are whatever the inscriber (not necessarily AGS) makes them. The words "Vanilla Ice Cream" could have been inscribed there too, but don't taste it

 

[denverappraiser]

AGS will have a notation on the report indicating the text written on the girdle, assuming that it was there when they examined the stone. As John points out, this comment is there because it''s a part of accurately describing the stone. It has nothing to do with how they graded the stone.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[Demelza]

I see. So, for instance, the stone I''m talking about came from Keppie Kiger cutting company -- does that mean they designated the stone H&A and told AGS to inscribe it as such?

 

[denverappraiser]

Probably. They may have inscribed it themselves before sending it to AGS.

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ISA NAJA
Independent Appraisals in Denver

 

[Dancing Fire]

Date: 8/7/2005 5:39:27 PM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 8/7/2005 5:32:03 PM
Author: Richard Sherwood
I use the term ''super ideal'' in my appraisals when a diamond satisfies the following criteria:


1. An AGS 0 cut grade

2. An excellent IdealScope image

3. Hearts & Arrows optical symmetry

add:
hca under 2 but not shallow/shallow or steep/steep
excellent physical symmetry

And it gets my vote :}

add
tight variance on the crown and pavil angles,say...within 0.3 degree from high to low.