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GF dropped a bomb - she wants a princess

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clueless_in_boston

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Jun 13, 2007
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Well - after spending all my time getting educated to score a deal on a round, we went to a B&M for the first time and the GF definitely likes the princess cut better. So I immediately come home and start reading PS about princesses, and I''ve come to conclusion that the "safe" play is to get one of the cherry picked princesses in inventory at either the B&M or online. The various postings in the past seem to suggest that the GIA certs are completely inadequate (as usual) to weed out bad cuts, and there is no way to get the necessary data to run the stone through a simulator without having it appraised. Correct me if generalizations can be made on table/depth alone.

Question: Can the online retailers call the wholesaler and get the necessary information to better analyze a stone? I don''t think even the wholesalers have sarin reports and the such, but even a gemologists uncertified measurements would be at least something to work with. I don''t want to play back and forth with appriasals and roll the dice when I could weed some stones out if I have all the data. (like I do with rounds)

Seems like I can either pay bigger $$$ for one of the cherry picked stones in inventory, or roll the dice to possibly save a little $$$ on a stone sitting in the wholesaler''s inventory. My assumption is that the stones in inventory have a higher markup (for various reasons) than the virtual stones. Any thoughts?
 
I would without a doubt check out WF's AGS000 princesses. These have sarin info and are graded for light performance.
 
I have an ACA princess from WF, and it''s gorgeous! Sparkles like nothing I''ve seen before. I highly recommend them. There''s also a substantial discount for being a PS member, buying an ACA, and paying by bank wire at WF. I believe if all 3 conditions are met, it''s a 5% discount. If you buy from their Expert Selection category or other non-ACA stones, it''s smaller.

Good Old Gold and SuperbCert also have some very nice AGS000 princesses.
 
You want a great stone..without worries......GUARANTEED and backed up by the company and they will set it too and seen you some nice stuff with it. .......WhiteFlash ACA Princess Cut!!!!

MWG
 
I think the only safe bet is to stick with AGSO princess stones. You might be able to request one of these from your B&M, but even with the very small markup for the ACA name from Whiteflash, I bet you'd still come out ahead buying it online.

Also try Good Old Gold, they sell them too I think.
 
I would also check the in-house inventory of Good Old Gold and WhiteFlash. Both will include photos and other info.
 
Hi folks. The "cherry picked stones" I am referring to are the suberbcert, ACA and other "supreme collections". I'm on a limited budge of around $4k, and to this woman ..."size does matter...". I'm trying to get a bare minimum of 1ct out of that... the bigger the better... So, I'm already in H color, SI1 or good SI2. It's what kind of cut I can get to boot. If I can't get a decent cut, then something else will have to give... probably my wallet. lol.

My thoughts now are that I've got a better chance scoring a deal on a stone not in inventory that will meet my price criteria that is slightly off ideal rating.


I'm also trying to figure out if I/J princess also look good in platnum. Reading now...
 
Having myself owned a poorly cut princess stones (my original ering and my diamond studs........), I commend you for doing your research!
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It WILL pay off. I sure wish I had back when they were purchaesd. I know WF will pull in the virtual stones and run the IS, 40X mag pic & Sarin for you. IF the stone turns out to be recommended by them but you do not purchase, it''ll cost you $60. But if they do NOT recommend the stone, it costs you nothing. I found a GREAT AGS000 RB in their virtual inventory, they pulled it in and reviewed it for me and it turned out great. Good price, and they even said that when I upgrade this stone it will go into their ES. I find it really great that they truly seem to care that you get a good stone.
 
If you want to go big (or a big 'look'), I'd recommend a ~.75ct princess in a square halo, like this:

.72ct G, VS2 Ideal Princess $3231.60 (bank wire price)

Bezel Elegante $890 (I'm guessing for a .75ct, it might be a bit more)

Those together will bring you to around $4k.
 
How about this stone? It's just under 1ct, meaning that you'll have the look of a 1ct stone without the premium that comes with 1ct:
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond/3187/
Round it out with a simple WG solitaire setting, and you won't be far above your budget.

You could go with a smaller stone and a halo, or even halo this stone. A halo always makes a stone look bigger. However, not everyone is a fan of the halo look (I'm not; I prefer a simple solitaire, no matter what the size of the stone).

EDIT: Here's one that should be about $4150 if I calculated the discount right:
http://www.whiteflash.com/aca_princess/A-Cut-Above-Princess-cut-diamond-78249.htm#
 
Also, how about an X-factor? It''s a princess with the corners cut off, which improves durability (no worries about breaking off the corners) and spread for carat weight. These stones are absolutely gorgeous and still have the look of a princess cut. This one looks promising:
http://www.whiteflash.com/xfactor/X-Factor-cut-diamond-168641.htm
 
I just love the look of the x factors!
 
Since size does matter to your GF, does she realize that a 1 ct. princess will look quite a bit smaller than a 1 ct. round?
 
Here''s an H SI 1 for $4100 from Superbcert, AGS0. They''ve also got a bunch of Is, Js and a K for under $4k...but I see just this H for you.
 
Just wanted to throw one more option that everyone seems to have forgotten:
Paul Slegers (Infinity) of http://www.infinitydiamonds.be/index.html
has excellent AGS Princess cuts too. He's based across the pond but Wink Jones of www.winkjones.com can put you in touch with him. Wink carries Paul's stuff too.
 
I went through exactly what you are going through a couple of weeks ago. After reading everything I could about rounds I found I needed to be shopping for a princess. My observations were that I had far fewer options and, as you pointed out, its more difficult to "get comfortable" with a stone by the numbers alone. Even while I was shopping for a round I had pretty much made up my mind that I would be buying from WF. Being near their office I could get the benefit of lower online pricing without giving up the ability to see the stone that you generally only get with a B&M. I also limited my search to WF''s ACA and ES stones. This meant limiting my search to 1 stone. Around the 1.5 carat range, WF had only 1 princess cut ACA/ES option (I say "had" because I bought it yesterday.) While I visited their office I was also shown a smaller ACA princess (I think it was 1.11 carats.) To be honest, both were absolutely beautiful. The gemologist that showed them to me put them on a tray on his desk so I could see what they look like in "normal" viewing conditions, put them under a lamp to simulate the look in a jewelery store, and encouraged me to hold them below the desk top so I could see them in indirect light. I think they would have glowed in the dark if I would have held them in a closet. That''s how beautiful I think these two ACA stones are. To put it into perspective, though, to call me an unsophisitcated diamond buyer it to insult those who truly are. I would probably smile at shiny glass and not know the difference. What I really got out of my trip to WF was the ability to look the gemologist face to face and ask his opinion of the stones and how they ranked against the other princess cuts he had seen. I got comfortable with the gemologist because I had the opportunity to meet him (his name is Bob Hoskins, by the way) but you could get from him just what I did over the phone. Yeah, its nice to look at a stone yourself but unless you know what you''re looking at its of limited value. What I do understand now is why WF has the reputation on this board that it does. I''m sure others are good, too, I just can''t speak about them from lack of experience.

I''m not sure if this helps or hurts but good luck in your search.
 
After reading this post, and replying, I read the post debating branded and unbranded diamonds. In a couple of sentances Wink managed to say much better what I tried to say above:

"The advantage to a branded stone with super tight tolerances and standards is that someone who knows how to look at the stones with their eyes has already done that for you. If the comfort afforded by that extra 3 to 5% is not needed by you, then by all means grab the unbranded stone."

I would encourage you should read the entire post.
 
just a friendly reminder, WF and GOG have fantastic upgrade policies (i think GOG requires you to spend $500 more but that''s not much in the diamond realm) so if ''something has to give'' you could go for the beautiful ACA stone that is a bit smaller to make your budget, with the intention of upgrader to a bigger one when life permits.
 
"Well - after spending all my time getting educated to score a deal on a round, we went to a B&M for the first time and the GF definitely likes the princess cut better."

This is why I always think it''s better for the couple, or the woman alone, to shop as much as possible until she finds which stone shape and setting design she loves. Hope you find a great Princess cut. The X factors look lovely to me.
 
Just wanted to add I have an ACA princess from WF and I could not be happier. It is spectacular!!!! I looked at some at B&M stores and the ACA is so superior I''m beyond glad I went to WF and had Bob look at it etc before we bought as I am out of the country. I highly recommend them and good luck in your search.
 
Date: 6/19/2007 8:29:57 PM
Author: clueless_in_boston

My thoughts now are that I''ve got a better chance scoring a deal on a stone not in inventory that will meet my price criteria that is slightly off ideal rating.
Click to expand...
Honestly??....I don''t think that''s true.

Since fancies are hard to assess by the numbers alone, going with a virtual stone could mean paying shipping a few times before finding the right stone, and whatever you think you''ve saved in cut, you''ve just spent in shipping charges.

Also, Whiteflash does carry Expert Selection princess stones, and those are priced below the ''super dupers'' but still can be eyeballed for performance.

I''d stick to the tried/true folks were I in your position. A diamond is unique because of sparkle factor, and that''s directly affected by cut. No point in laying out for something that doesn''t sparkle.
 
You can check out the WF X-factor too! The cut corners make the stone face up bigger than a princess of the same carat weight and also gets rid of the vulnerable corners. I started out wanting a princess and ended up fall totally in love with the X-factor.

Maybe something like these?
WF X-factor, 1.077ct, G, SI2
WF X-factor, 1.017ct, H, VS2

You can also try Excel Diamonds. I've heard that Barry is a princess expert.
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Does she like the princess for the shape, or for the small flashes?

Cuz if size *really* matters.... GoG does have an I1 Jube up for 3.6k. 1.14 carat!

I read on here that one person had a good experience with an I1 Jubilee, it appraised as an SI1 due to the fact the inclusion was close to the place prongs would go. But if she liked the Princess for the smaller flashes and the more intricate appearance of the stone, it might not be the way to go. (Plus I''d want my appraiser to look at it first and see if they graded it higher than I1 -- one doesn''t always have the same experience as others...)
 
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