cushion table question

[Ann]

I have a question...

Does a small table on an elongated cushion equal more/better brilliance?

The stone I viewed over the weekend has a 53% table. I have not seen one listed on Pricescope in my searches that has one that small.

Thoughts?

 

[windowshopper]

i have seen them on pricescope with that small a table. not many but a couple. that is more like the olde cushions--yes is all else is good a smaller table is a good thing

 

[valeria101]

No idea. I don't think any single % is that critical for brilliance by itself. The optics of each stone depend on how cut parameters work together: definitely true for round brilliants - and that cut is way simpler than a cushion cut anyway.

I would assiociate table below 55% with a old cut, but that is just another generalization. If anything, chances are such a stone has more fire. Brilliance is yet another thing.

Do you have the rest of the stats ? A copy of the lab report would be great (you can take the identifying characteristics off, if you want it so, the stats and te clarity plot are enough).

BTW. there are a dozen or so cushions with table below 53 listed right now (5 pages worth of quotes), with every possible depth from 55% to 75%... Some are probably old mine cuts (have large culets), but not all. Both sqaure and rectangular cushions come on the list.

Several come with high grades and over 3 carats - probably quite impressive, "antique" looking pieces

 

[valeria101]

Actually, here's one that might just match the one you have missed:


Laboratory: GIA
Carat Weight: 3.62
Price ~ 34k
Color: H
Clarity: VVS2
Shape: Cushion Cut
Depth: 67.8%
Table: 51%
Polish: GD
Symmetry: GD
Culet: M
Girdle: M-STKF
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 8.49x10.23x5.76

It has the size despite the lighter weight..., the shape (at least the 1.2:1 l/w), the color, allot better clarity and a fraction of the price tag.

What GIA calls "medium" culet is just borderline visible - not the typical window on old mine cuts. That and the 51% table may or may not announce an old cut. It would most likely take no more than a phone call to obtain a copy of the lab report from a seller of your choice.

 

[Ann]

Check my thread "opinions on the cushion" a little lower down. But, yes it is a newer stone cert dated 1-25-05.
I guess in my searches I did not find tables that small. I also want no culet.

Also, how would a stone that is spready look? I saw a modern brilliant that was 3.27, but had l w measurements that were larger than the 4.02. When I looked into the 3.27, it looked like there was a darker line or something running east-west in the center of the diamond. The jeweler told me it was the lights and to back up and get out from under them. I did, and well, I didn''t think it made that much of a difference. I still saw something in there! Could it have been because it was a spready stone that it was creating a bowtie? Just found the cert. on the 3.27 - 59.3% Depth, 59% Table,
10.59 x 8.43 x 5.00 3.27 H VVS2, small culet, no fl.. The stone was set in a 3 stone cushion, so it was difficult to judge. But if anyone could tell me what a spready stone would look like, maybe in the future I''d know what I was looking at!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/14/2005 1

7:35 PM
Author: Ann
Check my thread 'opinions on the cushion' a little lower down. But, yes it is a newer stone cert dated 1-25-05.
I guess in my searches I did not find tables that small. I also want no culet.

Also, how would a stone that is spready look? I saw a modern brilliant that was 3.27, but had l w measurements that were larger than the 4.02. When I looked into the 3.27, it looked like there was a darker line or something running east-west in the center of the diamond. The jeweler told me it was the lights and to back up and get out from under them. I did, and well, I didn't think it made that much of a difference. I still saw something in there! Could it have been because it was a spready stone that it was creating a bowtie? Just found the cert. on the 3.27 - 59.3% Depth, 59% Table,
10.59 x 8.43 x 5.00 3.27 H VVS2, small culet, no fl.. The stone was set in a 3 stone cushion, so it was difficult to judge. But if anyone could tell me what a spready stone would look like, maybe in the future I'd know what I was looking at!

Well, a very obvious bow-tie can form regardless of depth and spread. It does have something to do with the rectangular shape - it is more likely on those than on squares. It may not be impossible to find a rectangular cushion without a blatant bow-tie, but that would need to have been cut for that.

Perhaps one with slightly rounded sides (not straight - close in shape to a radiant with rounded corners) would have better chances to show little bow tie. But... by the time you know the exact shape you would have seen the stone, so this may not help much. The plot on the GIA cert does not show such detail - those are just standard plots matching hundreds of stones - not showing one in particualr.

Spready ? Well, I wouldn't know how to pin down a "look". Those would be stone cut with reasonable depth (around 60%) and with thin-medium girdles. But that doesn't tell all the story: there are other places to "hide material" in the cut so the surface appears smaller. For example, some steep facets next to the girdle may do that and they do on radiant-style cut cushions (I must have an example somewhere

)... Surely other cuts follow similar strategies and each would have a different look. Before the cut gets unusually shallow (belwo 50% - I don't know if cushions get there at all), there is no way to guess if the depth sacrifices brilliance. maybe, maybe not - each stone would be different.

I don't think the surface of a cushion could get larger than that of a round of the same weight. If it comes close, that would be good news for me - "good spread" if anything.

As far as I know, of course.

I picked that stone up because it seemed rather close to the one on your other thread.

 

[valeria101]

You might want to take a look on this thread ... it has lots of examples of cushion cuts.

 

[moremoremore]

Ann- the recent cert or the fact that it was cut recently doesn''t make a stone what people refer to as a "modern brilliant cushion". The facet pattern does. That said, I just don''t think that you can judge a stone bc of it''s table alone. I''m sure that''s what the others wrote (but I''m skimming b/c I''m busy at work)....Did the stone please you visually? That''s the most important question.

 

[moremoremore]

p.s. the more rectangular a stone gets, the more of a "bowtie" it is going to have. This is true for all fancies...no matter how well cut. That''s why I liked a square stone. I''ve been told the bowtie is a good thing...blah blah blah...I still don''t like the way it looks.

Also, in the older style stones, certain dark areas (a dark cross or other dark areas) are also part of the way the stone is cut.

 

[icekid]

Date: 2/14/2005 3:43:15 PM
Author: moremoremore
p.s. the more rectangular a stone gets, the more of a ''bowtie'' it is going to have. This is true for all fancies...no matter how well cut. That''s why I liked a square stone. I''ve been told the bowtie is a good thing...blah blah blah...I still don''t like the way it looks.

Also, in the older style stones, certain dark areas (a dark cross or other dark areas) are also part of the way the stone is cut.

ewwww who would ever say that a bowtie is a good thing?? it is just not attractive to have a dead space in the middle of a diamond!

 

[moremoremore]

I know, right? But it actually is necessary and even parts of the best cuts. That''s why I just can''t do a lot of radiants, ovals, marq, or pears. I get obsessed with those dark areas b/c I"m

 

[moremoremore]

Umm, excuse me, I just wet my pants.

http://www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com/diamond_detail.cfm?did=4822236

 

[Ann]

Gosh, you guys are the best. My husband is pushing champagne down me and I''m trying to obsorb all that ya''ll have written and I''m worried about packing to get out of town at 5:30am tomorrow morning! Whew!

I know I want a stone and soon. Hubby actually got a little pissed when I didn''t buy that cushion this past weekend. He is so tired of my research! I work around all men (I am a homebuilder) and I guess he wants them to know I am taken. Well, I am wearing a Tiffany 16 stone eternity band we bought last month. This search for the cushion is wearing me out. I am about to say the hell with it, just give me a beautiful round. At least I would not have to traspe off to NYC just to see a selection of cushions! Hey, would ya''ll find me one? 4ct. beauty? Oh yeah, side stones too. Soooo frustrating! (hmmm, the champagne is taking effect!) Is this the first post someone wrote while getting smashed?