There is a disturbing trend ramping up full throttle in the realm of cyber space which focuses on selling diamonds "by the numbers" rather than on how they actually perform visually in terms of brilliance, dispersion and scintillation. Regardless of how much technical data we provide our online clients with, the reality is that factors of Light Performance, such as brilliance, dispersion and scintillation) are factors that can only be accurately assessed by physically looking at each diamond individually and this is why we insist on personally evaluating every diamond that we sell. Contrary to popular opinion, not every "ideal cut diamond" is stunning and beautiful. We actually reject about 40% of the round brilliant and princess ideal cut diamonds that we evaluate. The fact of the matter is that by restricting the first stage of our selection process to center range zero ideal cut diamonds, we do not ensure perfection, but rather merely improve the odds of finding diamonds with exceptional visual performance.
The misunderstood premise of "buying diamonds by the numbers" is that if the proportions of the diamond are within the range specified for the zero ideal cut rating, then the diamond must be beautiful. As one of the original entrepreneurs of online diamond sales who promotes the importance of proportions, polish and symmetry, I must sadly admit that I might be partially to blame for the current rage of buying diamonds by the numbers, however I have never condoned the practice of selling diamonds without actually seeing them and never sold a diamond without personally evaluating it to ensure that it meets our strict selection criteria.

Nice Ice was launched in 1996 as an educational resource, the site was not intended to be an e-commerce site. Nice Ice was originally created as a reference tool for our then local clientele which was built on a referral only basis. Our average face-to-face sit down time with a client was taking three to four hours and we realized that most of our clients were from the technological sector and had internet access, so we built a web site which focused on the importance of diamond cut quality and directed first time clients to the site when they called to set an appointment. We never imagined that a day would come when diamond vendors would sell diamonds online by merely republishing the list of diamonds available on the global multiple listing service subscribed to by the trade, but this is how many diamonds are being sold by our (quote) competitors today.

The revelation that we do not condone the practice of buying diamonds by the numbers might come as a bit of a surprise to those of you who have followed our adventure in online diamond sales. We do take a rather geometric approach to the diamond business in that we do not merely sell diamonds, but rather we only sell round and princess cut diamonds which are zero ideal cut. We rely on state of the art modern technology to quantify the details to such a degree that we've been accused of turning a three dimensional object into a two dimensional topological surface by many trade members who apparently only want to focus on the purported beauty of a diamond without quantifying why it is beautiful - or not beautiful for that matter. These are the same people who "sell diamonds" by merely flashing the diamond about in a random pattern in front of their customers while exclaiming "isn't this the most beautiful diamond you've ever seen?" without providing any real information to back up the concept.

Our online business developed right in line with advancements in diamond grading technology which have made it possible to demonstrate cut precision and optical symmetry to our online clients in a manner which is impressive. First came the ability to provide our clients with a computerized proportions analysis of the diamond in a form of a tiny Avery-type address label which outlined what the proportions consisted of and the resulting overall proportions grade. Next that technology was expanded to include a full page report and a three dimensional model of the diamond based on a facet-by-facet computerized proportions analysis which was introduced online as a way of further validating the cut quality of the diamonds we offered. Next came the ability to photograph the Hearts & Arrows patterns within round brilliant cut diamonds as a method of proving the presence of a complete and consistent pattern of Hearts & Arrows within the diamonds which we offered online as opposed to merely stating "this diamond exhibits a pattern of Hearts & Arrows" (take our word for it).

A short time later, devices such as the Fire Scope, Symmetriscope and the Ideal Scope emerged on the market, these devices were intended to be used by experienced diamond buyers to separate diamonds with poor optical symmetry from diamonds which exhibited superior optical symmetry. Excited as ever, we rallied to post images of our diamonds as seen through these devices to the diamond details pages featured on our web site as yet another way of distinguishing the quality of our diamonds to those offered by other dealers. Then came the introduction of the AGS ASET scope which provides insight into where in the room the diamond is most likely to be gathering light from as indicated by the colors red, blue and green which reprsent different positions within the room (if the room happened to be a geometric dome). Naturally we are not alone in our endeavor to quantify the quality of our offerings by providing our clients with this type of data for our diamonds, our devoted brothers-in-arms who share our passion for excellence also added these featured images to their diamond details pages in an attempt to remain competitive.

Practically every day I receive email from people who are shopping for diamonds online which contains a copy of a lab report and the question "is this a good diamond?" and while I am happy to lend my professional insight, it is clear to me that these people have either not read our web site or that we've failed to communicate the importance of looking beyond the basic details provided by the lab report to determine the high and low measurements which the average measurements indicated on the report are based upon; the various scope images to determine the level of Cut Precision and potential Cut Performance - but also that we only sell diamonds which we have physically evaluated BECAUSE the only way that we can determine whether a diamond delivers the levels of brilliance, dispersion and scintillation that we look for in a diamond is to actually see it. It is practically impossible for us to determine whether any diamond "is a good diamond" based on the limited data provided by the lab report... However we can use the data provided on a lab report to determine whether a diamond is likely to be a poor performer and this is the only manner in which we "buy diamonds by the numbers" by rejecting them for not having proportions within our preferred range.

Surprisingly people do buy diamonds online and base their decision to do so on the limited amount of information provided by the lab report. The very concept that people are willing to buy a diamond online based only such limited information is amazing to us because we certainly do not purchase diamonds this way. We use the information provided on diamond grading reports to determine whether a diamond warrants physical evaluation, we certainly don't buy off of the paper alone.

Would you purchase a car online without knowing any more about it than the basic description provided by a utility service such as Kelly Blue Book or Car Facts? Would you purchase a verhicle, sight unseen online, without even seeing an actual picture of the car? No doubt you would probably insist on seeing pictures of not only the exterior, but also the interior if the vehicle was used. Buying a diamond online without knowing any more than is provided off of the lab report is like buying a 2010 BMW without knowing any more than the information provided in the screenshot above. This basic description provides about as much detail as the average diamond grading report. Is BMW a good car? I think so, but I've driven a few of them... Would I purchase a new BMW off of the basic description provided above? Absolutely not. If I had driven a BMW of the same make and model as described above and new exactly what characteristics and features were important to me, would I consider buying the BMW sight unseen from an online dealer? Definitely. But would I purchase the car from a dealer who was advertising the car with a very basic description and who was incapable of providing me with a personal assessment of the vehicle? Absolutely not and I realize that automobiles are mass produced off of an assembly line in such a manner that each vehicle with the same features is essentially the same, whereas diamonds are truly one of a kind and unique even when they are cut to practically identical proportions - which is why we end up rejecting approximately 40% of the ideal cut diamonds that we bring in for evaluation AFTER taking the paper aspects of each diamond into consideration prior to having the diamond sent to us for evaluation! Think about it, we end up rejecting almost half of the diamonds which we bring in for evaluation and this is after we have carefully considered the information provided on the lab reports! It is imperative for us to see the diamonds which we sell to determine which ones offer the visual performance which we have come to expect.

Thankfully not all of our competitors operate by drop shipping diamonds direct to their customers from their suppliers without ever seeing the diamond. Our real competitors are those who share our passion for diamond cut quality and visual performance and those who take a similar approach to their selection process. Most of us provide a scanned copy of the diamond grading report, clarity photographs, images of the diamond as seen through the various scopes (ASET, Ideal, H&A) and a computerized proportions analysis. This type of detailed diamond grading information is mostly provided to indicate that we've actually seen the diamond which we are representing. I'm sorry to say that in most instances, the average consumer is incapable of deciphering the minor nuances presented within the various scope images with any degree of accuracy, any more than I would be apt to depart from my learned area of expertise and drop into your field of professional endeavor successfully with a limited amount of time to devote to the project. If you don't believe me, go with me to the local hospital and ask me to diagnose a cancer patient off of a set of lab results.

I'm willing to bet that I wouldn't be very good at diagnosing a cancer patient off of a set of x-rays or a stack of lab results, regardless of how thorough and accurate the information provided happens to be. I'm better at planning a vacation, so let's explore the possibility of going to Paris, I've always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. Pictured above on the left is a two dimensional representation of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France as provided by Google Earth. While it is reasonable to assume that many people will be able to recognize the Eiffel Tower as portrayed from this top down vantage point as seen through Google Earth, the depth of information provided by this vantage point leaves a lot to be desired. However admittedly the top down view which we provide of diamonds as seen through our Gem Scope provides pretty much the same insight since it is only intended to be used as a reference for where the inclusions are located within the diamond.

We can use the three dimensional overlay option within Google Earth to provide contrast to the top down view of the Eiffel Tower in order to enhance our view of the structure. We use devices such as the Ideal Scope and the Aset Scope on our diamond details pages to provide contrast views of the facet structure of the diamond and provide our online customers with an idea of the optical symmetry of the diamond. The insight provided by devices such as the Ideal scope (middle) and Aset scope (right) into the optical symmetry of a diamond can assist an experienced buyer with determining where and to what degree a diamond may be leaking light due to inconsistent facet structure - however these devices tell us nothing of the brilliance, dispersion and scintillation offered by the diamond.

The fact of the matter however is that we do not merely determine whether a diamond is ideal cut in terms of whether it meets all the measured criteria and meets our expectations for optical symmetry as judged through an ASET scope, Ideal scope and Hearts & Arrows scope. We actually LOOK at the diamonds which we sell. In much the same manner in which the 3D Overlay option provided by Google Earth can provide us with a better understanding of the structure of the Eiffel Tower, we can use the colored contrast provided by a Gems Fantasy Scope to determine the Optical Symmetry within a diamond. While this information is useful and interesting, it provides us with little actual knowledge about the beauty of either the Eiffel Tower or the diamond. What the pictures of the Hearts & Arrows patterns do serve to verify is that the diamond pictured exhibits a crisp and complete pattern of Hearts & Arrows, but again this tells us nothing of the Brilliance, Dispersion or Scintillation of the diamond.

I think we can agree that tools such as Google Earth can provide a limited insight into the nature of a geographical location, certainly more information about the structure of the Eiffel Tower than could be derived from a traditional map, but not nearly as insightful as the insight which can be provided by trusted friends who have actually been to the Eiffel Tower. Likewise there is a lot of insight which can be gleaned from the images and scan results which are available from the various gemological tools which are used in the online diamond sales process, but they are incapable of providing the insight available from a trusted dealer who is holding the diamond in their hands and walking it beneath the different lighting scenarios to be found in different rooms and who can loupe the diamond to tell you whether the inclusions are light, dark, easy to see, difficult to find, slight or obtrusive. "I'd buy this diamond over that diamond and here's why..." is as important to me as "I'd visit the Eiffel Tower in the morning instead of the evening and here's why..."

The internet is a phenomenal resource which I believe provides the diamond buying public with tremendous insight into the magical world of diamonds, however I urge you to look upon the various images provided on the diamond details pages of this site and those of our competitors as insight into the Cut Precision of the diamonds being offered, but consult us personally to discuss the Cut Performance (brilliance, dispersion, scintillation) and the clarity characteristics of the diamonds you are considering because the paper and numerical characteristics provided will only get you so far in your online quest for perfection.

In the end, you'll need to see the diamond and judge for yourself whether the diamond speaks to you as loudly as it spoke to us, this is after all why we offer a lengthy inspection period and a full refund - so you can see the diamond for yourself and make an informed decision. Some of our clients use this time period to compare diamonds purchased from different dealers side-by-side, we encourage you to do so because we are confident that the superior brilliance, dispersion and scintillation of the diamonds which we hand select for our clients will prevail because we've seen it happen time and time again.