Asscher Engagement Ring

[JC Buyer]

All - first of all I would like to thank everyone on this site for all of their insights. I''ve been browsing for the last month and trying to get up to speed as much as possible about diamonds in general and engagement rings specifically. After a lot of reading I decided that I would get my fiancee to be a round brilliant diamond. After visiting a few places with her we decided that a square cut diamond was more to her liking and had decided on either an emerald or Asscher. The decision was made to get an Asscher in a solitaire setting from Jeff Cooper.

I hadn''t read a lot about Asscher''s (or Royal Asscher) until this morning and did as much quick research as possible. Based on timing considerations I would like to purchase the diamond and begin the setting process no later than the 15th of this month and as such am visiting our jeweler (a brick & mortar shop in New York) at some point mid this week.

A few questions that I have are as follows:

1. Based on certain things I''ve read here Asscher cuts don''t look nearly as big as comparative Princess or Round Brilliants of the same carat weight.

2. Asscher''s show imperfections easier than similarly graded round brilliants (at least at the VS1 - S1 levels)

3. The Royal Asscher cut versus a generic Asscher cut will cost significantly more and is significantly more scarce.

Based on these three assumptions I''m trying to find out minimum characteristics of the diamond I would like to purchase. When thinking I was going to get a round brilliant I had settled on a carat range of 1.70 to 1.90; E - G color; clarity of VS1 to VS2; hearts & arrows cut with AGS ratings of 0 for polish and symmetry. That would have generally put me in the $20,000 price range, plus a $2,000 setting and that would have kept me under my total budget of $25,000.

I am now unsure what is typical for an Asscher/Royal Asscher and whether I need to change my viewpoints based on my assumptions such that I''m looking at 1.90 to 2.10; D - F; VVS2 - VS2. Help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

 

[kenny]

Also be aware of the Octavia Asscher.

I just bought one after wearing an excellent Asscher for years.
In the pic below my 2.26 F VVS2 ct asscher is on the left and my 1.34 ct H VS2 Octavia is on the right.

The Octavia is an explosive fireball of color in spotlighting and brighter than a regular asscher in soft lighting,
Also, because of the absence of the long side bars inclusions and color are not as noticeable so you can lower in color and clarity IMHO.

Link to thread about my asschers.

Buy them here.

My regular asscher is also from Good Old Gold, which I recommend for finding well-cut asschers.
IMHO, I find both my my asschers every bit as beautiful as a Royal Asscher, but they are much more affordable.

 

[JC Buyer]

This is the Jeff Cooper solitaire that I think we''ve decided on.

 

[Hest88]

JC, if you''re looking at an asscher comparable in size to a 1.75ish round (7.8ish MM) you''ll have to look at an asscher much larger. A nice 2 carat asscher would probably be nearly 1MM smaller than a 1.75 round. I do think you should be able to go down to an H, unless you''re super color sensitive. As for clarity - VS2 would be safer, but I''d also rely on the judgement of a trusted jeweler too.

 

[JC Buyer]

Thanks for the responses - Kenny what are the primary differences between an Octavia and a "regular" Asscher?

Appreciate hearing about the visable size differences between a round and Asscher as well.

 

[kenny]

I'll try to answer briefly, but I wrote a more in depth review of the difference here Here .

Octavia was recently designed by a man who posts here, KarlK.

Finding a well-cut round is easy.
There are tools like the HCA which only work for the round.

Finding a well cut asscher has been difficult, unless you pay the premium for the brand Royal Asscher, which I assume are all cut to the brand's very high standards.
When searching for a good regular asscher there are crown, table and depth guidelines but you really needed pictures of them and ASET pics and Idealsocope pics.
Unfortunately very few of us were able to crack the code of interpreting these pics.
Karl has proven himself to be a master at this long before entering the industry by designing the Octavia.
PS rules may restrict him from self promotion but I hope he speaks up.
I think pros are allowed to answer questions but not initiate topics about their products.

The Octavia is brighter in soft lighting and in spotlighting it explodes with colors even more powerfully than a well cut regular asscher.
Because it does not have those long side bars it does not have as powerful of that 3D hall of mirrors effect that a regular asscher has.
A good regular asscher is not inferior, in fact it's distinctive pattern and look are powerfully attractive.
The Octavia's crown is much higher, see my pic below, so you get more of the fire when the diamond is not pointing right at you.

IMHO asschers look 20 to 30% smaller than rounds of the same weight.