Best cut for an asscher and more...

[markg]

Hi. I am beginning the process of buying a loose diamond for an engagement ring . I have spent a few hours learning a bit about diamonds and only have 489435 questions. Here are a few...

The diamond is going to go into a platinum setting.
The ring will be a solitaire.

This what I''m thinking...
Color: I want colorless. I''m willing to pay for a "D" if it differs much from an "F". So, "D-E-F".

Clarity: I''d like to go with an SI1 or SI2. This is based on my understanding that, to the naked eye,, going with these lower clarity ratings will not effect the diamond''s "fire" at all.

Size: Around a carat. As I understand, I can getter value going a bit under a carat - I''m okay enough with my manhood knowing that I didn''t quite give her a carat.

Cut: I want the best possible cut.
Okay, maybe my mother is right when she says I''m an idiot - I still don''t quite get the ratio/dimensions when it comes to cut. I clearly understand that the cut is very important and want to understand it better.
If someone could recommend a good site for this, I''d appreciate it.
While we''re at it, what''s the best cut ratio for current asscher?

Can I trust buying from the internet? There is a local jeweler here who people seem to trust. Will I save enough on the internet to warrant not dealing with my local up-scale jeweler?

A dealer a few doors from where I work says he has a diamond that is GIA certified 1.02 carat, "F" color, premium cut, and "IF" clarity. Can someone give me a ballpark I should pay for this from the local jeweler? Online?

Thank you very much for reading this lengthy email. I''ll appreciate any help I can get.

- Mark

 

[niceice]

Asscher cuts like all other fancy cut diamonds can not be purchased "by the numbers" with the same degree of accuracy as round brilliant cut diamonds can be because the facet structure and alignment is not as symmetrical. That said, we've been selling Asscher cut diamonds of exceptional make for quite some time and in our experience shallow total depths such as 65% and below are to be avoided if you want the concentric squares in the center of the table facet to be evenly spaced and properly aligned. Deeper stones in the 67 - 70% range seem to exhibit better light return. Excellent polish and symmetry is readily available. Length to width ratios in the 1.00:1.00 and 1.01:1.00 are preferred.

Watch those SI-1 clarity stones in Asscher cuts! They don't have the faceting of a round brilliant which tends to make it more difficult to find the inclusions because of the increased brilliance and dispersion... It is easier to find inclusions within an Asscher cut diamond with just your eyes, however we have seen quite a few "eye clean" SI-1 Asscher cut diamonds so we're not saying that they can't be found, just that you need to work with a reputable vendor who would rather reject a diamond for not being eye clean or for containing inclusions which are a detriment to the stone as opposed to passing it on to a client who might not know better...

 

[Giangi]

R&T gave you great advice. I'll add that I would probably drop the color from D to F and get a VS 2 or better stone. There are good Asscher cut SI 1's, but I suspect that finding one may be a very difficult journey. I feel like a VS is the way to go when it comes to step cuts.

 

[markg]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[valeria101]

Long story short... cut idefinitely is important because it determines the brilliance of a diamond, and tehre are no clear cut simpel rules to rank step cuts for brilliance unless you get the stoen in hand and eiter know what to look for or run some tests or both

So... how do these sounds:

5.2 X 5.2 mm, E-VS1

5.75mmx 5.47mm, F-SI1

and one more LINK

Not sure what F-IF would run. I was after those red & black Iscope pictures when looking for these three stones. The last, E-VVS2, definitely would leave littel to be desired over F-IF... if I have this right. It would be easy to get a more precise price reference by running a search here. For example, square emerald cuts, F-IF/VVS1, 0.95-1.05 carats, 65%-75% range for table and depth (which allows for great and not so grate proportions) gives prices per carat between $4500 and $6000.

You may want to take into acount the rather large range of depth considered reasonable for this shape. Anything up to 75% depth is "reasonable" and more not unusual - 0.9cts and 1 cts would look exactly as large face up with different depth percetage within this range! And deeper is by no means better from otehr points of view...