How to evaluate emerald cut?

[murray93]

Dh and I are working on an e-ring upgrade. We have found an independent jeweler we''d like to use and are working with long distance. She gave us some prices for 1.5 - 2.0 carat emerald cut diamonds. I am doing some online research to see how competitive her prices are and noticed that pricing for comparable emeralds appear to be all over the board - mostly lower than what she quoted us, however. I assume this is because of cut - the one C we have no information on. It also appears that there is not a cut standard for emeralds. Am I correct? How is one supposed to evaluate emerald cut diamonds without seeing them? Do I need to rely completely on the jeweler''s eye? How can I compare her diamond prices to other vendors without having cut information? HELP!

 

[valeria101]

Date: 2/28/2005 9:8:37 AM
Author:murray93

It also appears that there is not a cut standard for emeralds. Am I correct?

How is one supposed to evaluate emerald cut diamonds without seeing them?

There are some standards for fancy cuts (including ECs):

The AGA tables for proportions (see under Knowledge/Fancy Shapes on top of this page)

Both the Ideal Scope and Brilliance Scope come with refference charts and scale for emerald cuts'' optics.

And at least one lab I know of (GCAL) puts lots of cut quality details on the cert for fancies.

This is about all I know. There must be others as well

So.... there''s no shortage of standards. Some sellers use them, juts not too many - and that''s quite undertandable judging from how few step cuts might stand brilliance tests anyway

Just my 0.2, of course.

 

[chrono]

Having upgraded my own EC recently, I would say that there is no shopping for ECs without being able to look at the stones personally. Yes, the numbers on the AGA tables do help a lot, but not many ECs fall into the 1A column. In fact, there are many gorgeous ECs that fall into the 2A column as well, so the numbers do help narrow the search but it isn't the final answer.

You also have to look at many ECs yourself to "teach" your eyes to differentiate between the poor, so-so and top performers. If all you've seen are the poor optical performers, then a so-so one will blow you away. However, if you've been seeing top quality ECs, then you know what to expect and know exactly the kind of "look" you want.

It can be difficult to shop for fancy cut diamonds sight unseen even with a good jeweller and it is always best to have an appraiser handy to make sure that what you are getting is what you asked for.

 

[valeria101]

Chrono, what happened with your new EC ? Can''t find it on SMTR

... just one small post about the tremendous rainbow flash of the ring !

 

[murray93]

I''m curious, too - what did you end up getting, and from where? I''d love to see it!

 

[amytude]

What color & clarity range are you looking for? I just bought an EC 1.78 from DCD (dirt cheap diamonds). It was G color, SI1 clarity (gorgeous!). I don''t mind telling you it was a fantastic cut (I can''t remember but I think a 2A and only that for the crown height!) and I paid slightly less than $10K. Are you looking for more of a rectangular stone or square (asscher)? If you do a search above, try searching for posts by authors kevinraja, windowshopper and myself (and any others chime in here). We all recently purchased EC''s and did our research! Good luck!

 

[dani13]

Hi Amy!

I followed your story a little bit, I am curious, what setting did you decide on for your EC (did I miss the thread)? I love EC''s with pave too....

 

[amytude]

Hi Dani--having the ring custom made as we speak. Should get a call soon to go look at the wax model. It will be 3 sided pave going about 1/2 way (maybe a little more) around the band. I''m anxious to see it! I''ll post pics of the wax mold when I get to go in.

 

[chrono]

What pictures? I think Cflutist is making a collection hat to raise some money to buy me a digital camera.

In case anyone else is interested, here are the specs:
EC
E VS1
Ratio of 1.4

Depth 66.2%
Table 63%
Girdle Medium
Culet None
Crown 15%

Polish Ex
Symmetry VG

I believe it came up as a 1B stone which I don't have any complaints about because it only missed the 1A grade due to the depth by 66% vs 65%. I bought it from my local B&M jeweller but I made sure he knew exactly what I wanted in my EC. I spelled out the range of numbers that were acceptable and waited for him to source the diamonds. It took him just under 2 weeks and I saw about 5 or 6 ECs before this one blinded me on the spot.

I gave my jeweller these specs:
E/F (just my preference for icy coolness)
vs1/vs2 (my personal preference since I have eagle eyes from all angles)
Depth 63% - 67%
Table 60% - 65% (basically a little less than the depth)
Crown Height 10% and upwards
He knows I love fluoro
Wanted at least VG on both symmetry and polish

So, as you can see, the numbers do help to weed out poor stones but don't discount stones that do not fall in the 1A category. There are some that just missed the mark by 1% or 2% and still look super.