please help educate me!!!

[jpermenter]

I am about to purchase an engagement ring and I need everyone''s expert opinions, I dont know much about diamonds. would everyone please help me out on what makes a good looking diamond. I want a princess cut around 1ct. What I dont know is what difference symmetry, cutlet, girdle, polish, table, depth, fluorescence makes. any help would be great!
I am looking at something like this....I could go a little higher on the price if it would be a better looking diamond....thanks
Item Code: 9056393
Price: $3,748.00
Report: GIA
Shape: Princess
Carat: 1.01
Color: H
Clarity: VS1
Depth: 73.4
Table: 71
Girdle: TN-TK
Polish: Very Good
Symmetry: Good
Culet: None
Fluorescence: No
Measurements: 5.80-5.52X4.05
Length/Width: 1.05

 

[valeria101]

Sure enough, this is just my hunch and I am not an expert despite spending more posts on this forum than I want to admit.

Around i carat or so, color and clarity I/SI1 and above are all equally safe bet to me, and those make about 30% of the total effect.

Cut makes the rest. And that gets tricky because the stats available on a GIA report don''t say much at all about brilliance.

Some very extreme faults of cut appear in the scarce data there (say, depth below 55% or above 80%, tables above 80%.. very thing or extremely thin girdles, very rectangular shape ..., ''fair'' symmetry).

I would definitely insist on having some way to compare this stone with others for brilliance - but that either takes cut grading (comparison with a usually proprietary standard that comes at a premium) or quite a bit of self confidence and time learning what to look for.

As for the proprietary cut grades - stuff like IdealScope and AGS0 grade for princess cuts help. I am not sure what other tools do to princess cuts (you may hear about ''Brilliance Scope'' and maybe others, what do I know?)

Aside the couple of words about fancy shape diamonds on this forum''s ''Knowledge'' files (see link on top of the page) there is a longer and more detailed story on www.goodoldgold.com (one store run by folk seriously obsessed with diamond cut

- well, the good kind of obsession). With either document, I feel that much of the info can be taken elsewhere and it is not overwhelmingly self-serving, even that posted by the diamond seller.

Hope some of this helps

My 2c

 

[Garysax]

Valeria said it all. You *really* have to have more info on fancies--IS, pics, etc.

So far so good with the numbers right now. Nothing to warn you off so far.

 

[valeria101]

About AGS0 princess cuts... these things swayed my long lasting HATE for princess cut about 180 degrees (170?).

But, there just don''t seem to be that many of them around.

Down this LINK is the website of a cutter who specializes in this sort of diamonds - AGS0 H&A rounds and Ideal princess cuts. I don''t know of any shop online that lists any more of these. Sadly, nothing in the stock listed there meets the price and size criteria. Maybe they''d have something not online yet? It may be worth asking. There is a premium for these stones but it doesn''t sound too crazy. It happens all the princess cuts 1 carat and above also have higher grades and that makes them more expensive than you said.

Among them there is a .9cts one that may fit the bill - and although the stone has decent size for its weight and 1 carat princess cuts may be just as large (5.3mm or so)... well, it isn''t quite what you have asked for.

Here''s the thing (LINK).


And the portrait

 

[jpermenter]

what would be considered ideal on depth, table and Girdle??
THanks Valeria101 for the info!

 

[StonesThrow]

Date: 2/9/2006 3:52:49 PM
Author: jpermenter
what would be considered ideal on depth, table and Girdle??

THanks Valeria101 for the info!

I''m by no means an expert, but this link leads to the cut grading system used (as I understand it) by Dave Atlas, who is very highly respected around here.

It should give you a start on what to look for. Hopefully someone will pop in soon with a bit more for you.

 

[jpermenter]

Stonesthrow, thanks that helps a lot!!!