Best 3 carat diamond ring price
“This probably won’t come as much of a surprise, but I’m shopping for a diamond engagement ring. Please provide me with your best 3 carat diamond ring price. I don’t want to waste money on a clarity or color grade that I won’t be able to appreciate, so eye clean SI-1 clarity and G-H color is fine. I’ve read that proportions and overall cut quality determine the extent of the visual performance, so GIA Excellent cut is preferred.”
Why GIA Excellent is only Very Good:
If all you want is a three carat, GIA Excellent cut round at a good price point, there are plenty to be found within the virtual inventory of Brian Gavin Diamonds. Simply select the option for “Virtual Selection” and adjust the sliders to your desired range of clarity and color.
But I’ve got to tell you that the GIA Excellent cut grade leaves a lot to be desired as compared to the overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0, which is why Brian Gavin submits his Signature Diamonds to the American Gem Society for grading.
You are correct in your understanding that the proportions of a diamond have a direct impact upon the volume of light return and the type of sparkle that the diamond will display. Thus the overall cut grade of a diamond is an important thing to consider when buying a diamond, however it is merely the icing on the cake.
It’s simply not good enough to buy a GIA Excellent or AGS Ideal-0 cut diamond, that guarantees practically nothing in terms of light return. The proportions of the diamond must be within a very precise range to ensure that the diamond exhibits the ultimate volume of light return and the most intense sparkle. Every Brian Gavin Signature round diamond is cut within this range, which comprises the middle of the spectrum for the AGS Ideal-0 proportions grade.
The problem with GIA graded diamonds is that it is practically impossible to predict the volume of light return and sparkle factor based upon the proportions provided on the diamond grading report, because the GIA rounds those measurements off to the nearest half a degree, or half a percent. Whereas the AGS Laboratory reports the actual proportions, thus the numbers actually mean something. The proportions provided on an AGS DQD can be used to predict the visual performance of the diamond.
AGS Ideal-0 = No fuzzy math skills required:
Consider this 3.018 carat, H-color, SI-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond for a moment. It is eye clean when viewed from a top down perspective, and the H-color faces up bright and white. More importantly the crown angle of 34.9 is just that, 34.9 degrees. You don’t have to guess at it, or wonder what the actual measurement happened to be. It wasn’t rounded off to 35.0 degrees, which is what would have happened if we’d submitted the diamond to the GIA to be graded.
The pavilion angle of 40.9 degrees is going to provide a high volume of light return, and the 77% lower girdle facet length, combined with the exceptional optical precision exhibited in the reflector scope images, is going to ensure that the sparkle is nice and big, bold, and bright!
Note that the lower girdle facet length would have been rounded down to 75% by the GIA. Likewise, a lower girdle length of 74% would have been rounded up to 75% by the GIA. And a lower girdle facet length of 78% would be rounded up to 80% by the GIA, but then again a lower girdle facet length of 81% would also be rounded off to 80% by the GIA. Perhaps you are beginning to see why we think that GIA Excellent is only Very Good. As in it can’t really be “excellent” if there is room for improvement in the form of more accurate reporting of data.
