Are ASET diamond images standard?

“I’ve been shopping online for a diamond for about a month now, and have noticed quite a few AGS graded “ideal cut diamonds” that do not seem to feature ASET diamond images on the AGS Diamond Quality Document. I was under the impression that ASET diamond images are standard on diamond grading reports issued by the AGS Laboratory? I’ve noticed that they are always provided on the diamond grading reports that accompany every Brian Gavin Signature round diamond that I’ve looked at, but not provided on virtual inventory diamonds that are GIA Excellent cut.”

ASET images are standard for BGD Signature diamonds:

Brian Gavin Signature diamonds are submitted to the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL) for grading on their proprietary Light Performance grading platform, which relies upon Angular Spectrum Evaluation Technology (ASET) to measure diamonds for brightness, and provide insight into how the reflection of light is being distributed throughout the diamond.

Diamonds submitted to the AGS Laboratory on the proportions based grading platform by other dealers, do not feature the ASET results on the Diamond Quality Document (DQD) issued by the AGSL, and thus buyers of those diamonds lack the insight into cut quality that is provided by ASET.

Not only do the diamond grading reports issued by the AGSL for Brian Gavin Signature diamonds feature an ASET image, but we also provide images of the diamond as seen through other reflector scope images that are necessary to determine the extent to which a diamond is leaking light, and judge the degree of optical precision, so that our clients can rest assured that the BGD Signature diamond that they purchase is of the highest cut quality.

Why are diamond ASET images important?

If you were buying this GIA Excellent cut round diamond by the numbers, you might not realize that it is leaking light under the table facet, without the insight provided by this ASET scope image. According to the GIA, the diamond has a pavilion angle of 40.8 degrees and a crown angle of 34.0 degrees, and the dealer listing is accompanied by a whole host of reflector scope images, but that doesn’t mean that it is going to be a top performing diamond!

I the picture on top - do you see the dark upside down ‘V’ shaped section located within the table facet, right between the arrow shafts located in the relative seven o’clock position? That is an indication of light leakage, and it appears to be pretty substantial in my personal opinion; certainly not the sort of thing that you probably expect to find in an “ideal cut diamond” with an overall cut grade of GIA Excellent.

Now compare the amount of light leakage exhibited by the GIA Excellent cut diamond represented by the ASET scope image above, with the ASET scope image provided for this 1.368 carat, F-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round ideal cut diamond, and I think you’ll see that there is a clear difference in the degree of optical precision exhibited by these two “ideal cut diamonds” and that is the Brian Gavin Signature difference.

While ASET scope images are not standard on the majority of diamond details pages that you’ll find online, they are standard at Brian Gavin Diamonds, and we hope that other diamond dealers online will follow the example that we set forth. However keep in mind that the presence of reflector scope images do not necessarily mean that a diamond is of the highest cut quality, only that the vendor or their supplier took the time to photograph the diamond.