Buying a new stone

[LAD]

I am shopping for a new stone and have been doing lots of research. I understand about clarity and color. How important is it to get excellent polish and symmetry vs. very good. I''m looking at James Allen and their cuts are put into the following categories: hearts & arrows, ideal, premiun, very good. My prefence is a princess so I know the hearts and arrows don''t apply. Would a premium cut stone vs ideal still be a well cut stone? Is it hard to find a SI stone that is eye clean? Thanks for your help.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/12/2009 8:24:38 AM
Author:LAD
I am shopping for a new stone and have been doing lots of research. I understand about clarity and color. How important is it to get excellent polish and symmetry vs. very good. I'm looking at James Allen and their cuts are put into the following categories: hearts & arrows, ideal, premiun, very good. My prefence is a princess so I know the hearts and arrows don't apply. Would a premium cut stone vs ideal still be a well cut stone? Is it hard to find a SI stone that is eye clean? Thanks for your help.

Hi Lad and welcome!

Symmetry and polish - it is said that good and above look the same to the naked untrained eye. However those who want excellent to top cut quality look for at least very good to excellent as part of the finish of their diamond, but it is important to consider each diamond on its own physical and optical properties in order to find a well cut diamond which performs well.

Further reading here - http://diamonds.pricescope.com/polish.asp


As to labels such as Ideal Cut, Premium Cut etc, many vendors use these terms but it in no way guarantees you a well cut diamond. The only recognized use of the term Ideal Cut applies to AGS lab's AGS0 Ideal cut grade. These are considered to be safe choices for cut quality, however in my consumer capacity I prefer to not assume anything but to evaluate each diamond carefully. GIA do not grade Princess for cut at this time, there are well cut GIA Princess out there but you need a trusted vendor with in house Princess - who has all the info supplied on each diamond such as photos, ASET and Idealscope images in order to help you choose.

Should you see any Princess you like at JA, there should be photographs linked on the page and they can also supply Idealscope images on request.

As to finding an eyeclean SI clarity it can be done certainly - but just be clear with your vendor, if you don't want to see any visible inclusions from any angle at close scrutiny then tell them that so you are on the same page.

 

[LAD]

Is there any way to judge the quality of the cut of a princess when shopping online? James Allen shows the actual photo and has a virtual loupe. What should I be looking for?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 1/12/2009 1:50:51 PM
Author: LAD
Is there any way to judge the quality of the cut of a princess when shopping online? James Allen shows the actual photo and has a virtual loupe. What should I be looking for?

Ideally an ASET image is the best for fancy shapes such as Princess, but JA can supply Idealscope on request which is not as informative as ASET but still of use.

You can use this chart as a guide but numbers don't tell the whole story, so try to get images of the actual diamond where possible.

http://diamonds.pricescope.com/fnc1.asp