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Asscher recut - how hard is it to do?

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
Hi Pricescopers,

After resisting for years, I can no longer deny the pull of an Asscher. Of course, reading all of the old posts about how hard it is to find one's "perfect Asscher" is making me question my sanity!

I read on these forums in an old post that diamond cutters (naturally) try to preserve material and get the largest finished stone from the rough, so the "square emerald cut" stones usually have narrow cut corners. I have seen some of these online that look quite nice and bright without a lot of dark light leakage, and others that look quite dark and sad in the center.

The Asscher-shape that I'm in love with has the wider cut corners - approaching a more octagonal look (but not octagonal) - and of course, I want the light return to be excellent.

SO, after spending waaaaay too many hours online over the past week, and not finding the perfect stone yet, I wondered:

Say I found a stone that was lovely in every way BUT has the small corners, would it be hard or would it mess up the stone to have a professional diamond cutter just nip the corners?

Forgive me if this is a ridiculous question!

If YES, it is possible, who does that kind of work, and how long does it take and how much does it cost?

Thank you to all of you experts, as always. This site has been a huge help over the many years since I first stumbled across it.
 

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
Continuing to read and research on Asschers and found many helpful threads (although I will admit to not fully comprehending all the info in them yet.)

First of all, so grateful for all of the postings and articles @Karl_K has contributed! This article is helping me a lot - I'm printing it and trying to study it. https://www.pricescope.com/articles/virtual-facets-and-patterns-discussion-about-step-cuts Just linking to it here as it took me a while to unearth it among all the results when one searches PS for "Assher" - in case someone else is looking it is worth your time to read.

On this other thread, https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/ags-0-asschers.49297/ a very helpful graphic was posted about "corner ratios" - see attached depiction - I love CR 22 and CR 26! That is what I meant and a more precise way to characterize the "wide" cut corners I would like.

So to rephrase my question above, if I found a square-cut emerald with CR10 or CR14, is there any hope of having that recut to a CR 22 or CR 26?

AGS geometry Asscher different corner ratios.jpg
 

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
To nip the corners would require a recut both top and bottom to do right and would result in a lot of weight loss.

Thank you, Karl! I was hoping you would opine. So it sounds like it is better to just hold out until I find the "right" one... Hope springs eternal!

What got me thinking of recuts is that I saw someone here (I forgot who) had BGD recut 2 rounds and they came out amazing with much improved light performance and without a lot of size/weight loss - I think the spread was only a tiny bit changed - less than one would have thought!
 

diamondseeker2006

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jan 11, 2006
Messages
58,547
Since you want something very specific, I'd recommend contacting Yoram of Gem Concepts and see if you'd like him to custom cut one for you.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page:

 

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
Thank you, diamondseeker2006! I saw that he cuts the Octavia that Karl-K designed and supposed a custom cut would be totally out of budget, but it can't hurt to ask!
 

Cerulean

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
5,077
Just an idea...maybe @Rhino could custom cut something? I am not sure how the process works...to me his heritage emeralds have the ideal corners...

I will follow your journey with interest as one day I hope to get an asscher with similar traits you are after! Although I will probably go for MMD and am quite taken with the AV emeralds actually, because of those delicious corners :roll:
 

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
Just an idea...maybe @Rhino could custom cut something? I am not sure how the process works...to me his heritage emeralds have the ideal corners...

I will follow your journey with interest as one day I hope to get an asscher with similar traits you are after! Although I will probably go for MMD and am quite taken with the AV emeralds actually, because of those delicious corners :roll:

Those are indeed gorgeous!

How does resale or upgrade work with MMD? I always heard/read that with a mined diamond, you could expect to get about 50% of the purchase price if you needed to sell. Is that true for lab-grown diamonds, too? I am not buying this to ever sell it - I hope to have it for the rest of my life! :) But life can take unexpected turns and it would be good to know that option is there... or if my kids are not into jewelry and I kick the bucket, I'd love them to extract some value from it.
 

Cerulean

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Sep 13, 2019
Messages
5,077
Those are indeed gorgeous!

How does resale or upgrade work with MMD? I always heard/read that with a mined diamond, you could expect to get about 50% of the purchase price if you needed to sell. Is that true for lab-grown diamonds, too? I am not buying this to ever sell it - I hope to have it for the rest of my life! :) But life can take unexpected turns and it would be good to know that option is there... or if my kids are not into jewelry and I kick the bucket, I'd love them to extract some value from it.

Oh I am totally out of my depth on reselling MMD - and totally get what you mean though on all counts! I would get MMD as a way to experience step cuts (I have never lived with one before) without as significant a cost. I want a step cut with high color and ~2 carats, with such a specific / hard to find style with great optics without devastating my bank account, hah... That's why I landed on MMD. I also find the idea of owning an MMD interesting, especially one styled after antique cuts. For me, I would fully imagine that if I were to pass it onto my kids it would be for sentimental value only.

But I wondered if maybe you could still order a mined version as a custom order? The only link on his website I found was to an MMD and there is another for moissanite. But I have seen mined diamonds in the AV emerald on his Instagram and I don't see why one of his asschers couldn't be reproduced if the right mined diamond rough came along? I am speculating...

Didn't mean to derail by proposing an MMD, more-so meant that I believe custom orders might be possible, like with Yoram!
 

LIGemzGal

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Sep 19, 2020
Messages
202
Have you considered a Royal Asscher diamond ? More facets, more brilliance. Looks to be more octagonal in shape from what I'm seeing--but I could be wrong. Royal Asscher is also selling their gemstones loose.

 

Rosa

Shiny_Rock
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
164
Yes, thanks @LIGemzGal - I had looked at their website and noticed the largest stone they had was smaller than I would like, although, maybe if I inquired directly they would have something. You are right that the Royal Asscher shape is much more to my liking due to the wider corners! But the other thing putting me off was the very, very high price - I know that at the price they list stones at, I would not be able to afford a the size I would like.... if only money grew on trees, haha!
 
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