Advice on Princess cut

[spurnoff]

Hi all,

My partner and I went looking at diamonds today to try and establish exactly what she is after. Long story short we found the prefect setting for her with a GIA certified 1ct diamond encased. Unfortunately I didn't get the GIA number of the diamond however it was a SI2 D with very good symmetry and excellent polish. Now this diamond and setting was going to be about 11k Australian dollars. Anyway he offered to show us a loose diamond that he was sending back that a customer picked another diamond instead. Now the diamond is not GIA certified but is AUSCERT certified which upon googling is an Australian grading company. The specs are as follows by their criteria.

Weight:1.26ct
Colour: E
Clarity: SI2
Dimensions: 5.82-5.81x4.26mm
Table: 72.7%
Total Depth :73.3%
Crown:13.6%
Crown Angle: 47.8%
Pavilion: 56.6%
Pavilion Angle: 60.4%
Girdle: 3.4%
Culet:0.3%
Symmetry: Excellent
Polish: Excellent
Fluoro: None

Now the diamond loose was $7660 AUD and in the platinum setting was $10195 AUD . This comes out right on budget but for a larger diamond than planned. Now regarding the SI2 as novices we couldn't spot the flaw from the naked eye but could under magnification but other SI2 diamonds we looked at we spotted the flaws from the naked eye (with difficulty). Unfortunately the best diamond we saw all day was a SI1 so I'm not sure what a diamond with great clarity looks like in comparison. Now and I will say the salesman/women were terrific and in no way pushy at all. They did offer that we can have it GIA certified if we'd like but it would cost us $200.

Could anyone comment on the diamond and if Auscert can be trusted, comparing with diamonds on bluenile etc this seems to be a great price for a diamond from an Australian jeweler? Should I have this diamond GIA certified to see how it stacks up ?

 

[spurnoff]

Bump

The more I think about this the more I question if the jeweler was right when he asked that you need to decide if you want to purchase a diamond that looks good on the hand or a diamond that looks good on the hand and comes with a bit of paper to verify that. What is the point in spending thousands more for a better diamond when most the population won't be able to spot the difference from the naked eye? It's not like you walk around with the bit of paper in hand.

So I'm wondering if I ask the jeweler to get in some 1ct certified diamonds for the same value as the 1.25ct so I can see if there is a major difference to the naked eye in quality.

Any input?

 

[ac117]

Sorry no one has responded but unfortunately we can't tell anything from the numbers with fancy cuts like princesses. Could you get magnified images, video, ideal scope, ASET?

Eta: just realized the diamond isn't GIA certified. I wouldn't purchase it without a reputable certificate. They say the diamond is an SI2, which will almost likely not be eye clean even if it were graded by GIA, so this stone is probably an I1 or less. Princess cuts are much more prone to chipping because of the sharp corners so I would proceed with a lot of caution. Durability is a concern if there's a feather on the corner in a princess with a clarity grade that low.

Could you perhaps state your budget and we could help you search? You'd be surprised. There's a reason people from aus and eur buy online from the US.

 

[yasssss]

ditto on the GIA cert! I'm hoping the experts respond, but when I was helping look for a princess for a friend, I was directed to whiteflash ACA princesses- http://www.whiteflash.com/princess-diamond.. just doing a rough quick search to look at pricing- http://www.whiteflash.com/loose-diamonds/princess-cut-loose-diamond-3620435.htm

it seems like you are over paying for an uncerted diamond when you can get a well cut , AGS certed, similar size diamond for less money

 

[spurnoff]

Thanks for the replies.
My partner is a bit uneasy about purchasing diamonds we haven't seen in person but it's out of her control now as I know what she is after now so I want to keep some surprise and I feel if she picks the diamond herself it would take away from that surprise. My question would be with all the available data that is provided when purchasing diamonds online can you be assured you're getting a great diamond?

What I'm after is a >1crt princess cut, the diamond will be in a platinum setting so I believe I need either no or little fluorescence, would prefer a color F-D. My budget for the diamond is about $7000 aud which is about $5200 USD. I gather that bluenile diamonds with only a GIA certificate don't provide enough information to determine if it's a great princess cut?

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

Spurnoff,

You are on the right track!

Spend a little time reading about the online diamond selection process here on PriceScope. Pay particular attention to the use of reflector images - the Ideal-Scope and ASET. These tools, along with some basic knowledge of how the cut, color, and clarity can affect the look and durability of the diamond will go a long way to helping you pick the right diamond. Once you find two or three that you like, come back and post the diamonds, the GIA or AGS lab reports and reflector images here and you will get terrific help.

Here are a couple links to get you started (though many of the articles refer specifically to round diamonds, the light return information can be applied to other shapes):

https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/diamond-cut
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/ideal-scope
https://www.pricescope.com/journal/what-aset-reveals-ideal-scope-does-not

Best Wishes

 

[spurnoff]

Spurnoff,

You are on the right track!

Spend a little time reading about the online diamond selection process here on PriceScope. Pay particular attention to the use of reflector images - the Ideal-Scope and ASET. These tools, along with some basic knowledge of how the cut, color, and clarity can affect the look and durability of the diamond will go a long way to helping you pick the right diamond. Once you find two or three that you like, come back and post the diamonds, the GIA or AGS lab reports and reflector images here and you will get terrific help.

Here are a couple links to get you started (though many of the articles refer specifically to round diamonds, the light return information can be applied to other shapes):

https://www.pricescope.com/wiki/diamonds/diamond-cut
https://www.pricescope.com/tools/ideal-scope
https://www.pricescope.com/journal/what-aset-reveals-ideal-scope-does-not

Best Wishes

Thanks Brian, I'll do a bit more research and come back.