Confused about princess cuts

[whitefire]

Hello -- I''m new to the site but have been trying to get educated in anticipation of upgrading my e-ring for our anniversary. Unfortunately, I have my heart set on a princess cut, which seems devilishly tricky to buy online. I''ve absorbed the maxim that cut is king and that I''m better off sacrificing color or clarity if I have to choose between them. Even then, though,there are two problems: (1) everyone says princess cuts can''t be judged by numbers alone, and (2) even if they could, the numbers themselves are confusing. Most of the cuts rated ideal by the sites that are most respected on this forum (WhiteFlash, GOG, Blue Nile, James Allen) come up 4B when I enter them into the calculator at AGA because their depth is outside accepted parameters. Is there something I''m missing?

There''s also a substantial range of prices on diamonds with similar AGA/GIA ratings in color, carat and clarity, so I assume it''s the cut that''s affecting the value, but how much should I expect it to impact the stone in dollar terms? And am I pretty much ok with any of the major vendors, or is one of them better than the others for princess cuts? I''ve heard wonderful things about GOG, for example, but the majority of their princess cuts are out of my price range; WhiteFlash has several within my budget, but they seem to focus more on the H&A brilliants, so I''m wondering if I''ll be happier with a princess specialist.

Finally, should I be considering radiant or square H&A? I really, really like the hard corners of the princess, so I''m willing to take less brilliance than I''d get with a round diamond, but I don''t want something that has no fire at all.

Any advice is really appreciated. I have three children under the age of 5, so I don''t have endless time to investigate all this (much though I''d like to... I was online last night until 2:00 AM). Thanks so much!

 

[belle]

welcome to ps whitefire!

princess cuts can be tricky ''by the numbers'' fortunately for us princess lovers ags began grading princess cuts as ''ideal'' last year. they use a perfomance based system and actually give a grade based on ''light performance'' this makes finding a great diamond even easier. aside from getting a princess with an ags''0'' in light performance, you would at the very minimum want to get an idealscope image of the diamond to make sure it is well cut.
you''re already one step ahead just by finding ps!

 

[kcoursolle]

Something you might want to know is that princess cuts face up slightly smaller than rounds, but if you like the shape I think you should have it anyways. What size stone are you interested in purchasing? You are on the right track that cut quality is the most important and color/clarity can go down a bit.

 

[whitefire]

I think I''m looking at approximately .75 carat, but it depends on the setting. There was a three-stone e-ring with channel-set diamonds in the band that I liked online, but I''m concerned that I''d have to go up to a full carat on the center stone to make it stand out. I''m now considering a solitaire center with just the channels in the band. My other problem is that the e-rings I like feel clunky to me in combination with a wedding band on the same hand. I s''pose I need to investigate sets with shadow bands to keep the total band size to a minimum. (Anyone who sees something like this out there, feel free to send me a link!)

The good news is that I''m in no rush here -- unlike the poor guys I see in the postings who are under the gun trying to get their rings done in time for a proposal. My husband said to just go ahead and look myself for what I like, that he''ll feel better not knowing what it''s going to cost him.