3+ carat asscher cut diamond help

[willyfresh]

My husband and I are in the process of buying a new “engagement ring,” after 15 years of marriage. We sold my 2.10ct round diamond about 5 years ago when he was starting his business. Now business is going well and we are looking to replace that and upgrade it. I’ve always loved asscher cut diamonds, but when we were looking for rings initially, I think I got turned off by the fact that they face up so much smaller than rounds and others. I also got sucked in to the sparkle of the round brilliant. I am less concerned with that now and really love the shimmer of an asscher. I value quality of cut and color tremendously but I also want it to have a large look, especially given the investment! We think we have it narrowed down to two. Both are E/vs1, one is an “excellent” cut and is an 8.25mm square, the other is a shallowEr cut that spreads like a 4carat asscher. Approximately 9X8.92mm. Both perform really beautifully, but I admit to being a bit nervous about the shallow cut, even though it’s hard to argue with size. Please offer your advice, particularly if you have any expertise in the area of asschers.

 

[willyfresh]

Shallow cut video.

 

[lulu_ma]

Can you get ASET images of the stones so you can compare light performance?

 

[monipod]

Asschers are so tricky... Mine is neither too deep nor too shallow and it packs a huge punch sparkle-wise. That isn't to say that a shallow Asscher won't be lovely to the eye. I can only offer that if the smaller stone performs better, there are many settings that will make up the shortfall in size and make the stone look over 9mm.

Also personally, my absolute must is a 1:1 Asscher so the larger stone is setting off my OCD lol You might not mind it being slightly off square?

 

[diamondhoarder]

I'm no expert, although I have shopped for asschers for a few years now and have seen many in person after viewing videos and ASET images online.

I think the deeper stone has a nicer facet pattern with even steps and more balanced windmills. The shallower stone has small corners and small windmills, and uneven steps. Also against the brown background where the stones are loose in tweezers you can see light leakage through the shallower stone (where you can see the brown background showing through) where there is none obvious in the deeper stone.

 

[MsShnooks]

@diamondhoarder analysed it for you and only the other day she had a thread about a nicely cut Asscher she’s buying. Have a look at the video as to how the facets light up.

My initial impression is that the deeper one is nicer as the shallower one just looks wonky with the different size steps. I’m not having any luck seeing the videos and that’s how I’d look at the facets lighting up as the stone turns. Pretty Asschers remind me of ripples on water in the sunlight with the way they shimmer.

 

[lillibear]

I think Asschers are very subjective. I prefer thicker windmills and a hall of mirrors look. For me, it’s not a cut where you focus on the spreadiness but rather the depth. So, I would choose the deeper one over the shallow cut one.

 

[willyfresh]

Thank you all for this (unanimous) feedback. Here is another photo, which also includes a 3.0ct on the far right. Does this help at all?

 

[whitewave]

You need to watch them move in various lighting conditions and then choose the best one for flash and light return.

 

[lovedogs]

Thank you all for this (unanimous) feedback. Here is another photo, which also includes a 3.0ct on the far right. Does this help at all?

In this pic I prefer the middle stone vs the others due to the face pattern

 

[Dancing Fire]

Are these stones graded by GIA? .

 

[Dancing Fire]

Also personally, my absolute must is a 1:1 Asscher so the larger stone is setting off my OCD lol You might not mind it being slightly off square?

Yup, Agree!. If I were buying a SQ stone it better be SQ.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

What is the table size of each stone? And what about crown height when you look at them from the side?

From what I can see, the shallow one looks like it has a large table, flat crown, and very thin windmills. I'd definitely rule that out. It sometimes takes looking at a LOT of asschers to get a great one. The other one is better but I am not sure it is great, either. Hard to tell from those pictures.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Here's an example of one that has potential...nice crown, smaller table, nice windmills. It's not 100% square, but it's so slight it doesn't bother me. I want overall great cut. You can maybe see how this compares to the 8.25mm stone in terms of cut even if the stone is not in the right price range.

3.03-Carat Asscher Cut Diamond | Blue Nile

www.bluenile.com

 

[lillibear]

I really like this stone!

 

[willyfresh]

Here's an example of one that has potential...nice crown, smaller table, nice windmills. It's not 100% square, but it's so slight it doesn't bother me. I want overall great cut. You can maybe see how this compares to the 8.25mm stone in terms of cut even if the stone is not in the right price range.

3.03-Carat Asscher Cut Diamond | Blue Nile

www.bluenile.com

This is actually really stunning and is in the ballpark. Perhaps I should ask my jeweler to see if he can get it in. I don’t see an ASET report or other visual display of how the light interacts with the diamond. Am I missing something?

 

[willyfresh]

What is the table size of each stone? And what about crown height when you look at them from the side?

From what I can see, the shallow one looks like it has a large table, flat crown, and very thin windmills. I'd definitely rule that out. It sometimes takes looking at a LOT of asschers to get a great one. The other one is better but I am not sure it is great, either. Hard to tell from those pictures.

Both have table sizes that are 65%. Too big? I think that is actually in range. Depth of the deeper stone is 66.7%. How does that sound? And depth of the shallow is 56.8%.

Table and depth for the blue Nile stone diamondseeker posted are both 60%. (Depth is 60.9%).

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Both have table sizes that are 65%. Too big? I think that is actually in range. Depth of the deeper stone is 66.7%. How does that sound? And depth of the shallow is 56.8%.

Table and depth for the blue Nile stone diamondseeker posted are both 60%. (Depth is 60.9%).

I personally like 65% and lower. Preferably closer to 60. But those are harder to find. I don't think there is one specific depth to want, as it depends on the overall look of the stone. It's very hard to judge accurately just from pictures. It would help to have ASET images but most jewelers do not provide that. The larger, deeper stone is just not well cut overall. It does not look appealing to me at all. The smaller one looks better, but I think it has a couple of bands of leakage because I can see your finger through it in one of the pictures above. However, again, I don't know that could be seen in real life viewing or not.

 

[willyfresh]

 

[willyfresh]

We ended up getting in that blue Nile stone that diamond seeker posted to compare. It is really beautiful, but I’m still having trouble deciding. The corners are more clipped and it seems brighter, but I can’t tell if it’s too clear—as in, can you see all the way through it to my finger? The windmills are more pronounced. It looks a bit smaller and rounder.

 

[lillibear]

I prefer the stone on the left but they are both lovely!

 

[lovedogs]

We ended up getting in that blue Nile stone that diamond seeker posted to compare. It is really beautiful, but I’m still having trouble deciding. The corners are more clipped and it seems brighter, but I can’t tell if it’s too clear—as in, can you see all the way through it to my finger? The windmills are more pronounced. It looks a bit smaller and rounder.

they have different "flavors" for sure. Both are lovely, but I prefer the one DS posted because of the clipped corners and more prominent windmills, but honestly I would choose whichever one your eyes prefer.

 

[tyty333]

The one in red looks like it has leakage. I prefer the shape and size of the windmills on it but not sure if the light return
is good. Does your jeweler have an ASET tool where he can take a picture? He has to have something that checks for
light return???

@Karl_K (calling in the heavy artillery to set us straight)

 

[Karl_K]

The one in red looks like it has leakage. I prefer the shape and size of the windmills on it but not sure if the light return
is good. Does your jeweler have an ASET tool where he can take a picture? He has to have something that checks for
light return???

@Karl_K (calling in the heavy artillery to set us straight)

Not enough info to really call anything.

 

[Ibrakeforpossums]

The bottom one looks more "watery." Someone posted a really shallow, spready Ascher she loved over better cuts because it looked like water to her, and no one could talk her out of it. Which I admire, because both of these are beautiful objects, and you should get what speaks to you.