Help with a Princess cut..

[lastdon87]

Hi,
I was wondering if some of you out there might share your opinions on a diamond I''m considering for my GF.

1.55 Princess 6.63 x 6.41 x 4.63 (GIA cert)
SI1 "supposedly eye clean"
H
Depth 72.2%
Table 77%
Faint Flor.
No culet
Girdle: medium to slightly thick
Polish: EX
Symmetry: VG
Price $6100

Thanks in advance for your generous help. Ryan-

 

[DiamondExpert]

Large table...would like to know the crown height too.

Regards,

 

[barry]

Ryan;

A few points:

A 77% Table will have a Crown Height % (CHP) range
between 6.3 to 7.5 % not nearly enough to
maximize light output. CHP is an
important factor (one of several) that determines
how much light is coming out of the diamond.
You should be looking at CHP's of at least 9%.
This translates into Tables not exceeding 74-75%.

As far as the "supposedly clean" SI is concerned, where
is it? Center? Side? At the points? If it is at or near
the points you may have a problem as these areas are extremely
sensitive to chipping. What is the nature of the SI inclusion?
wisp? feather? Black or white carbon spot? Does it
have a rainbow coloration (dangerous).

Ask your vendor if he can help you out with this.

Good luck.

Barry
www.superbcert.com

 

[Hest88]

It's not as easy with fancy shapes as it is with RBs to tell by the numbers alone if it's a great performer. Some of the pros will tell you that a supposedly good stone on paper might be disappointing in person and vice versa.

That said, here's the best chart out there for princesses.

http://www.gemappraisers.com/chrt4.htm

 

[lastdon87]

Thanks for the advice Gary and Barry. I checked on the SI and it's a white feather on the upper girdle. I found another diamond that seems to have better qualites (smaller size though) for less money($1,000), maybe you can tell me what you think of this one?

1.45 Princess 6.1 x 6.05 x 4.64
depth: 76.7%
table: 73%
color: H
Clarity: VS1
No culet
No Flor.
Girdle: thin to thick
Polish: Good
Symmetry: Good
GIA cert
On the cert it says it has a feater and a indented natural, but I'm assuming they shouldn't be a problem with a VS1 GIA cert.

Thanks again for your help, this forum is a wonderful tool. Ryan-

 

[Charmed]

I am not a diamond expert but have had a bad experience with a princess cut with an indented natural! After the purchase, due to the formation of the indented natural, it needed to be polished and was unsafe to reset. After polishing it lost it's squareness and lost weight. I am very weary now if I see indented natural on a certificate. Make sure it wouldn't cause problems setting!

 

[barry]

Good advice, charmed. The indented natural
is probably at or near the point, an area on
Princess Cuts that is very sensitive to chipping
and fracturing. For the cutter to remove this
would probably have meant going under 1.40 carat
and still keep the very square proportion, resulting
in significantly less money. Your tipoff
is the girdle reading of 'thin to thick'. I bet
the indented natural is at the 'thick' location.
If so, its removal would entail repolishing
and re-symmetrizing at least half the stone and
re-centering the table/culet.

Barry
www.superbcert.com

 

[Rhino]

Haha.. resymmetrizing ... now there is a new one for the vocabluarly.

lastDon,

While this last stone sounds like a better place to start (table/total depth) there are still many steps in the process of picking put what we geeks here would deem "worty of the dollar". If you can let us know the crown height/pavilion depth we can at least give you a green or a red flag on that info before moving on.

Peace,
Rhino