How to determine cut of diamond?

[baguettel]

I am new at this, so please forgive me. I have been told many different things by different goldsmiths/jewellers and if anyone can clarify this for me, it would be greatly appreciated. I am interested in a few princess stones of the 2 carat and above range and I was told that the GIA cert. does not show the cut (ideal, excellent, good etc.). I was told that you determine how good the cut is by the depth, table, polish and symmetry. Others have told me that this is nonsense and I must be able to find out what the cut is. On the other end, I have been offered to view "ideal" stones, but they can''t tell me any of the stats - table, depth etc. until I am actually ready to puchase the stone. I was also told that the table should be smaller than the depth. Any thoughts from anyone? I want to view certain stones that I think are good ones, but don''t want to waste the jeweller''s time bringing them in if they are duds.

 

[pqcollectibles]

You should check out the Cut Charts for Princess diamonds at www.gemappraisers.com. Princess cuts are considered a Fancy shape and Fancies are hard to judge on specs alone. Each one needs to be evaluated and seen in person.

To get a general feel for the specs of better performers take a look at princess diamonds at these websites:

www.whiteflash.com Expert Selection

www.goodoldgold.com

www.niceice.com

www.dirtcheapdiamonds.com Signature Series Princess

All 4 Vendors hand select their diamonds for quality and performance. The diamonds are on hand, in stock. You'll get to see the Certs, as well as Ideal Scope images, and other analysis.

 

[baguettel]

Thank you so much for your help! I was beginning to think everyone was ignoring me. I will check out those sites.

 

[pqcollectibles]

You are most welcome, Baguettel!!

Princess cuts aren't my strong suit. I do know that you want to keep the table and depth at or below the 70-72% range. Don't go too shallow on the depth, tho, so the diamond doesn't get a washed out look. Performance is also strongly affected by the crown height, but I don't know a number to tell you for that. I've seen 8%, 9%, and I've seen some diamonds at some of the websites I posted earlier with even higher crown heights.

Hope that helps!

 

[guardvan]

You might want to check out the tutorial on this site regarding cut. You will gain some insight into what goes into a princess cut stone.
Continue to ask questions and look at previous threads on this site. Go to search and type in "princess cuts." You'll probably find a lot of info to some questions you may have. Any others feel free to ask.

I'm not an expert. Just been educated through my own research and most importantly the people on pricescope.

 

[valeria101]

There is a rather nice and definitely quick "read" on the matter - you may want to take a look at the video tutorial at www.preciousmetals.com.au for an intro.

The text here, at Niceice.coma and the (novel) at Goodoldgold carry allot more detail on what makes a very precisely ideal diamond. It would probably take a bit of time (teh video is quick, the other stuff... maybe less so) to get to details, if you so wish.

As far as I know, once you get an idea of what is the strictest tandard, there is plenty of room to relax the tight parameters and make a choice. All that more easy since lots of sources talk basically about the same "ideal" idea and observe more or less closely the standard in their selection. Suposedly, prices should follow cut quality tightly, but it is noty always so - hence the need (in my view) to know what exactly makes the top of the line, even if you may not be inclined to seek the last detail "by the book".

Hope this makes sense

 

[baguettel]

Thank you all for your insight. It's hard to find out info when you don't know exactly where to look and it's also difficult with fancy cuts (everyone has a different opinion).

Thanks again!!

 

[squirerad]

There was a post by CutNut in the past siting two articles, one of which had the table below which I used to grade the diamonds I purchased. Although possibly outdated, it provides an excellent tabulation of how cut grading can vary from system to system.

squire