AGS'' new cut-grading of princesses

[bizgk]

Hi,

I am close to purchasing a princess cut diamond, and can''t help but to get cold feet in light of an article I just read on this site: http://journal.pricescope.com/Articles/13/1/AGS-new-cut-grading-of-princesses-a-first-experience.aspx.

Does anyone have any guesses on how the new grading system will affect the market? Since I don''t know how my diamond will match up to the grading that comes out, could I be paying 40% more than I would be paying in, say, 5 months from now? 40% less?

Also, does anyone have the preliminary numbers that will be used in the grading? (Interesting, two questions like this were ignored by the "experts" on a thread about this topic.)

Thanks!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/2/2005 1:36:13 PM
Author:bizgk

Also, does anyone have the preliminary numbers that will be used in the grading?

Jonathan at GoodOldGold does (he said so on an older thread). A 3D Sarin report would provide some approximation of those numbers.

However, you might skip some of the guessing and unavoidable measurement error by using some evaluation of light return done of the diamonds - not using the numbers. There are a few tools out there doing just this. Both the IdealScope (link) and BrillianceScope produce some type of standard metrics of light return so that diamonds' brightness can be judged against some standard for each shape.

AGA has recently introduces yet another brilliance measuring device to be sued on top of the existing charts (link to article).

I doubt anyone would expect prices to go down when the new AGS standard gets out for good. AGS graded rounds sell at a premium. The standard for princesses will be quite far from the current norm (according to the article, but a quick search shows the same) so the new ideal cut would have even more reason to get expensive. No reason to expect non-ideals to get a discount though. It never happens

Some of the sellers posting on Pricescope present princess cuts with some brilliance pedigree (GoodOldGold, Superbcert, Whiteflash come to mind). There must be others... These stones are not singled out from the Pricescope database, so you would need to inspect each seller separately if interested.

Hope this helps

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

I am very sorry, Valeria, but

The AGS is taking us quite far out of the box, and I have serious doubts whether the way we look now at Idealscope and Brilliancescope does not need an adaptation when we know more about fancy shapes.

While we are busy cutting according to AGS-0-guidelines, I am extremely curious as to how they will come out. It is clear to us, however, that the way we look at an Idealscope-image for rounds cannot be used directly when judging a princess-cut.

Live long,

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 2/2/2005 1:36:13 PM
Author:bizgk
Does anyone have any guesses on how the new grading system will affect the market? Since I don''t know how my diamond will match up to the grading that comes out, could I be paying 40% more than I would be paying in, say, 5 months from now? 40% less?

Also, does anyone have the preliminary numbers that will be used in the grading? (Interesting, two questions like this were ignored by the ''experts'' on a thread about this topic.)

Thanks!

Sorry, I just re-read your questions, and realise that they are left unanswered.

To start with your second question, I do have the ''cutting guidelines'' for the new AGS-system. Like I said in another thread, these should not be confused with the "grading guidelines". In the end, AGS will take a full measurement of the stone, introduce the 3D-measurement into their own software, and assign a proportion-grade on that 3D-measurement.

Also, the cutting guidelines do not make a distinction between the 0 and 1-grade. We need to await more information in order to be sure what area will be 0 and/or 1.

As for effect on the market, I would not expect a major immediate effect on the currently available princesses. In the beginning, there will be very few high AGS''s available, and the majority of the market is not even aware of the importance of cut.

On the other hand, there will certainly be a small number of customers aware of the importance of cut, wanting to buy an AGS-0. Knowing the difficulty of cutting that precious AGS-0 (included the uncertainty that the guidelines combine grade 0 and 1), there will be very little supply for this niche-market. Knowing also the extra weight lost, there is definitely a high cost-factor in producing these. This will definitely lead to a high price for the AGS-0-princess.

All in all, after some time, I think that we will get a different price-structure for princess-cuts, in such a way that what is currently all over the market (+50% AGS-5 and lower) will stay at a similar price, maybe go down slightly, while the current best (AGS 2-3?) will get a somewhat higher price than today, and the real price-premium will be for the AGS-0.

Live long,

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/2/2005 4:44:52 PM
Author: Paul-Antwerp

I am very sorry, Valeria, but

The AGS is taking us quite far out of the box, and I have serious doubts whether the way we look now at Idealscope and Brilliancescope does not need an adaptation when we know more about fancy shapes.

It is clear to us, however, that the way we look at an Idealscope-image for rounds cannot be used directly when judging a princess-cut.

I am the one who needs to show restraint... Thanks for the call.

My initial post is quite sloppy. I should have made clearer that it was no more than a laundry list of cut grading tools each representing one choice of ideal cut. I could not claim to understand to what extent these standards overlap in concept and practice, exaclty. If there is some report about this, I am not aware of it as yet.