Are Brian Gavin SI-1 clarity diamonds cloudy?

Hi Danny, I’m looking for an engagement ring, but I’m a bit nervous about buying another diamond online since I’m more of a hands-on kind of a guy, but a friend of mine recently bought a diamond from you and it looks amazing! The dilemma I’m having is that he bought a VS-1 clarity diamond, and in order to hit the one carat mark and stay within the confines of my budget, it looks like my best options are in the range of SI-1 clarity. The question I have is whether Brian Gavin SI-1 clarity diamonds look cloudy, because some of the SI-1 clarity diamonds that I looked at over the weekend seemed kind of cloudy to me. The diamond which my friend has suggested I buy is the 1.113 carat, H-color, SI-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Blue. What are your thoughts? – Reid B.

What Sets Brian Gavin Apart from Other Diamond Dealers:

One of the advantages to buying a diamond from Brian Gavin, is that he personally evaluates every diamond that is selected for our inventory, and every diamond is cut to his demanding standards for diamond cut quality. Thus you are assured that every diamond in our physical inventory looks amazing, and that the characteristics of the diamond are not having a negative impact upon the diamond.

While there are a variety of factors which can make a diamond appear cloudy, the most common causes are extremely large clouds of pinpoint size diamond crystals that cover extensive regions of the diamond; poor diamond cut quality, which creates light leakage and results in lesser degrees of light return and a loss of brilliance; and significantly high levels of fluorescence.

It would be interesting to see the diamond grading reports for the SI-1 clarity diamonds which you saw over the weekend, which appeared cloudy to you, so that I might be able to help you better understand the possible causes for how the diamonds looked to you.

However I can assure you that Brian Gavin SI-1 clarity diamonds do not look cloudy, and as you can clearly see from the diamond clarity photograph and the high resolution video provided on the diamond details page for the 1.113 carat, H-color, SI-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Blue diamond with very strong blue fluorescence, it looks crisp and clear! Rest assured that Brian Gavin has carefully examined it and chose it specifically for our inventory, and keep in mind that this diamond received an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 from the AGSL, which takes light performance into account during their grading process!

Effect of very strong blue fluorescence on H color diamond:

As mentioned previously, the presence of high levels of fluorescence, like the very strong blue fluorescence exhibited by the 1.113 carat, H-color, SI-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Blue diamond has the capacity to make a diamond appear cloudy, however all of the diamonds featured within the Brian Gavin Blue collection of fluorescent diamonds look great because he personally evaluates every one of them to ensure that the fluorescence is only having a positive effect upon the appearance of the diamond.

And what are the positive effects that fluorescence can have upon a diamond? For one thing, strong to very strong blue fluorescence in an H color diamond, can have the effect up making the diamond appear whiter in some lighting scenarios, because the blue fluorescent molecules help to filter the yellow spectrum of light which passes through the diamond. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that strong to very strong blue fluorescence in an H color diamond will make it face-up like a G color diamond, but it definitely seems to improve the appearance of the diamond by boosting the body color just a bit.

If by chance you decide that blue fluorescence is not a characteristic that you desire in a diamond, then I would suggest buying one of the diamonds from the Brian Gavin Signature collection because they have fluorescence ratings of negligible, which is the term used by the American Gem Society Laboratory to indicate that the fluorescence levels are anywhere from none to not enough to be able to accurately measure.

Regardless of whether you select a diamond from the Brian Gavin Signature or Brian Gavin Blue collection, rest assured that SI-1 clarity diamonds from Brian Gavin face-up beautifully and don’t exhibit any cloudiness whatsoever.