Two Carat Cushion Cut Diamond Engagement Ring
I’ve been reading about the Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond that was introduced last year, and think that my girlfriend will love it because none of her girlfriends have anything like it. The dilemma that I am having is that when we looked at cushion cut diamonds in the jewelry store, she was able to see a distinct difference between F and H color, so I really wanted to buy her an F-color diamond like this 2.015 carat, F-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond; but I wouldn’t mind saving a little bit of money and buying something a little bigger like this 2.184 carat, G-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond, if the difference between F and G color is not that noticeable. The two diamonds look pretty much the same in terms of color in the video provided on the diamond details pages, what do you think? – T. Spence
Diamond Color: F vs. G vs. H in Cushion Cut Diamonds:
In my experience, it is pretty difficult for most people to reliably distinguish the difference of one color grade between round brilliant ideal cut diamonds, which are being compared side-by-side, from a table up position (as they would be mounted in a ring) under normal lighting conditions.
In fact, I’ve sat with people who were trying to decide between Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds which were F, G, and H color, in the showroom and watched them agonize over them for hours trying to decide whether they could see enough of a color difference to justify paying the difference in price.
It is a little easier to distinguish the difference in color between standard cushion modified brilliant cut diamonds than it is with ideal cut rounds, because the cushion cut diamonds are rarely optimized to produce the high volume of light return and sparkle that distract our eyes from accurately perceiving color in rounds.
A major advantage that the Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond has over traditional cushion modified brilliant cut diamonds, is that it is optimized to exhibit a high volume of light return and sparkle factor, to the degree that it actually rivals the visual performance of our round brilliant ideal cut diamonds.
Thus I believe that it would be pretty difficult for you and your girlfriend to detect a distinguishable difference between the 2.015 carat, F-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond and 2.184 carat, G-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond if you were to compare them side-by-side, placed table up, on a diamond sorting tray where they were separated by a distance of about half an inch.
When we grade diamonds for color, we do so in a completely dark room, with the diamonds set table facet down with the culet of the diamond pointing upwards (upside down from how you would see it set in a ring) on a white tray, which enables us to view the diamonds from a side profile, to accurately access differences in color, without the possibility of having our eyes distracted by diamond sparkle, it is a completely different scenario from how diamonds are viewed in the real world.
You might also like to read: Using Clarity Photographs to Judge Diamond Color
