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I am in the diamond business since I was 12 years old.
I am a former diamond cutter, gemologist, and rough diamond designer.
When I came to US from Israel in 1998 I worked with a diamond wholesale company. For the first time I started dealing with jewelers all over the country.
I was shocked to find that most jewelers can not tell diamond beauty, accuracy and quality. Jewelers, like customers depend on certificate to tell them how "good" the diamond is.
Certificates are only good for determining color, measurements, angles, and treatments.
Clarity is very difficult to grade since some SI2 stones can be invisible to the naked eye and some don't.
Cut, symmetry, and polish grades in 80% of cases will not give you the right picture of how sparkly the diamond is.
Certificates do not specify quality of rough, which is very crucial with what we call "spark". Your stone can be EX EX Ideal and still be "dead".
Some deep cut stones can be "dead" and some "full of life".
For instance. When stone is deep, one thing that will make a big difference on the brilliance is why the stone is deep. Is the pavilion deep? Is the girdle very thick? Is the crown too high?
Buying a stone just according to the certificate is like buying a used car according to the mileage and the body condition. In the diamond business, only small percentage of jewelers know how to check the engine.
My advice:
If you are planning to buy a diamond over the internet do two things:
1. Ask to vendor to provide you with good quality picture of the diamond and full description.
2. Show the picture to a professional. Professional will look at the proportions, reflections (From the diamond reflections you can learn a lot), facets size, and style.
If you find the stone you are looking for, I will be happy to give you my opinion.
Good luck,
Shahar
