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I think I am ready to buy my first engagement ring, let me know if I really am. (MY DIAMOND SPECS)

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Strmrdr,
Let me ask you, what specs would you look for in a square to 1.30 Emerald cut? There does not seem to be any ideal standards, like there are for round cuts. All I had was Cuellar to go on, and apparently that is rubish. I will post here a list formed from posts you made in the threads I pasted above that deliniate what you looked for in an Asscher back in 2005. I hope you don''t mind:

"The numbers:
from another thread here is what I look for:

An asscher is one of the hardest diamonds to pick from without someone looking at it in my opinion.
Either a trusted vendor, appraiser or yourself needs to eyeball the diamond.

I look for a table in the high 50s very low 60s.
Depth between 65% and 75%
crown 10%-15% LW ratio as close to 1 as possible.
clipped cornered square vs more octagonal is personal preference Iv seen some awesome ones both ways and like the clipped cornered square look better.
Then it comes down to all eyeballs.
stong and even windmills?
Are the squares well defined and concentric?
Does it have the 10 mile deep look under indirect lighting?

Id say that better than 95% of them will fail the last 3 tests


I also want to add that vg or better on polish and symetry is another thing I look for.
To me it shows that the cutter took better care in cutting it and there is a better chance of the rest being right.
That isnt always the case but its something to think about.

edited: it was an older version I pasted in the first time.


The question of color and clarity comes up often.
An eye clean si1 is possible if the inclusions are light enough but vs2 or better may be safer.
This is another area where you have to rely on your vendor until you can see it for yourself.

In an rb im comfortable going down to an i or some j''s and think they will face up white enough more so with some flourecence.
In an asscher I think you might notice some tint in anything under H with G or better being a very safe bet.
All of the J asschers Iv seen have had some noticible to me tint.

More numbers but keep in mind that numbers dont tell you much:


There are really multiple groups of cutting styles in asschers that have there own rules.
In general the best no matter which style will have a crown height of at least 10%.

the best of the modern interpretations will have roughly 10%-12% crown height, med range girdle, table under 61 and and a depth of %60-%65.
The cutting on these has to be spot on or they bark.

The classic style with have crown heights 10% to 15%+ ,tables under 61% with mid to high 50s being better, and total depth of 68%-75%
There is a little greater variation tolerance in these and they can still look awesome.

Then there is the large table cut that I don''t like.
Tables larger than 65% , depths from 60%-80% barkers one and all as far as im concerned.

Then there is the royal asschers which is a story in itself.
As my research continues im adding to this thread:

GIA vg/vg fpr sym/polish is fine in all the cases iv seen there wasnt an eye visible problem caused by it.
While ex/ex does show greater care in cutting that doesnt always equal a better asscher.
I would not drop down to good in either


Do you think these apply to emerald cuts that are not perfectly square (i.e., 1.2 and above proportioned ECs)? How about for square EC''s?

I thought one of the benefits of an emerald cut is that it can be cut more shallow with the same amont of light return, which allows one to produce a stone that looks bigger because a greater proportion of the weight is alloted to length and width. Please correct me if I am wrong on this It seems that, from what I read that you may disagree with this. Let me know and thanks for your contribution, I really appreciate it.
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Regards,
Mario
 
The only thing Id really change on that is skip the si1''s I havent found one that was eyeclean.
Get lots of pictures.

smallish table under 65, depth 60-69.9/70% and over can still be kicken but needs a discount, range crown height 10%+, get pictures.
Some of the best asschers are in the 67%-69% depth range these days with 15% to 17% crown height.

Id apply the same rules to a 1.2 ratio EC.
EC''s I have a little more tolerance for the large tables if someone likes the look.
The can be a little to a lot more glassy looking but some people love the look.

a 65% depth asscher would have the same depth as a 65% EC if the shortest side was the same on both.
Sorry for the ramble bad headache today.
 
6x6mm asscher 65.6%/3.94mm depth with certain angles would be 1.04ct
5.5x6.6mm 65.6%/3.61mm depth 1.2 Ratio EC with certain angles would be 1.04ct
Which is bigger?

ignore the distortion in the wire frames at this size I was too lazy too do it the hard way and get better images when its just the outline that matters.

edit: ignore this image and see the next post.

sidebysideSG12.jpg
 
woops ignore that last image the asscher is off square,,,

sidebysideSG121.jpg
 
how about now?

sidebysideSG121rot.jpg
 
Hey Strmrdr,
Do you think you can make me a computer mock up of a competely square (not clipped) square emerald and 1.3 emerald cuts so I can show my girlfriend. I would appreciate it.
Thanks!
Mario
 
Date: 9/10/2007 1:44:13 PM
Author: esumsea
Hey Strmrdr,
Do you think you can make me a computer mock up of a competely square (not clipped) square emerald and 1.3 emerald cuts so I can show my girlfriend. I would appreciate it.
Thanks!
Mario
clarify...
The asscher and 1.3 are on page one of this thread or do you want something else?
 
Date: 9/10/2007 12:58:58 PM
Author: strmrdr

smallish table under 65, depth 60-69.9/70% and over can still be kicken but needs a discount, range crown height 10%+, get pictures.
Some of the best asschers are in the 67%-69% depth range these days with 15% to 17% crown height.

Id apply the same rules to a 1.2 ratio EC.
Yep, just to add to this. A deep asscher is lovely, but the parameters are somewhat different for a rectangular EC. A rect EC with table and depth both in the low-mid 60s is nice, though you may have to end up fudging a bit given what you can get. A larger table will give you less fire and a more glassy effect, but you can still get a gorgeous stone. Ditto for the crown. Try to go above 11%, but I wouldn''t aim for the 15-17% Strm suggests for an asscher, partly because you''ll be setting yourself up for the impossible.
 
Hello again strmrdr, I meant to see what it would look like without the cropped corners (i.e. not like a stop sign look), kind of the shape of a princess. My girlfrient seems to like those, but since the corners are not cropped they tend to look smaller.

As far as your mock up, I guess, to the eye, they are very close but for some reason, the Asscher looks bigger, even though I know that this emerald it bigger in length and width area. My girlfriend seems too prefer emeralds but the asschers are her second favorite and she said she would be happy with either stone. (I guess the cat is halfaway out of the bag and hissing) I like asschers more I think.

I went back to downtown and brought my specs with me. The guy I was dealing with told me I was crazy and that I was complicating things. He said he looked at over 200 stones and could not find any within my specs. He balked when I told him that a table of 72% was too big and almost washed his hands of me untill...
I put the same stats in price scope and came up with 5 pages of listings!!!!
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The worst thing was he found the same stone through his sources. Then we found one IN HIS STORE!! Di, di , di!!! He quitted down real quick, though I must say he beat the price listed here by over $500 (I guess that was the least he could do). I also saw this great 1 carat asscher with all the specs we laid out but with a VS2 for $4000
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. He had the certificate and said he was alright with a third party appraisal. NOW THATS A GOOD PRICE! almost too good.

Let me know what you think.

Best Regards,
Mario
 
Thanks Hest88, for your contribution. I tend to like the smaller tables because I love the fire, but not so much the flash/glassy effect.
Regards,
Mario
 
Date: 9/10/2007 5:37:53 PM
Author: esumsea
Hello again strmrdr, I meant to see what it would look like without the cropped corners (i.e. not like a stop sign look), kind of the shape of a princess.
Mario, if you go back to my 2nd post with the three asschers in the black box, you''ll see a pretty good image of the kind of square EC you''re looking for. Note that square diamonds (including princesses) often have slightly cropped corners to miminize having those corners chip off. They end up being covered by prongs anyway so you can''t tell afterward that they weren''t totally square.
 
Date: 9/10/2007 5:37:53 PM
Author: esumsea
Hello again strmrdr, I meant to see what it would look like without the cropped corners (i.e. not like a stop sign look), kind of the shape of a princess. My girlfrient seems to like those, but since the corners are not cropped they tend to look smaller.
then it would be a square step cut not an asscher and the they are very very hard to find or very expensive branded cut.
Besides they look like crap :}
Want square and not an ascher get a square h&a. or similar design.
 
Date: 9/10/2007 5:28:03 PM
Author: Hest88
Try to go above 11%, but I wouldn''t aim for the 15-17% Strm suggests for an asscher, partly because you''ll be setting yourself up for the impossible.
I shoulda been more clear yea 10+ or 11+ for the EC.. 15% to 17% I dont think you will find in an EC but for a SE its pretty ideal.
Thanks for the catch.
 
Date: 9/10/2007 5:37:53 PM
Author: esumsea
I also saw this great 1 carat asscher with all the specs we laid out but with a VS2 for $4000
23.gif
. He had the certificate and said he was alright with a third party appraisal. NOW THATS A GOOD PRICE! almost too good.

Let me know what you think.

Best Regards,
Mario
What was the color and who was the grading report by?
 
He said he looked at over 200 stones and could not find any.

I put the same stats in price scope and came up with 5 pages of listings!!!!

Then we found one IN HIS STORE!!

Liar? Lazy?

__________________


The guy I was dealing with told me I was crazy

Mean?

____________

and that I was complicating things

Lazy?
What about customer satisfaction?
Not interested in giving customers information...I wonder why that is?

_____________

He balked when I told him that a table of 72% was too big

uneducated?

___________

He quitted down real quick (when he saw he had a quick way to make a buck)

Only concerned with himself?

___________

I my opinion, the above comments are enough for me to say that he doesn't deserve your business at all, much less to sale you your Ering.

____________


though I must say he beat the price listed here by over $500 (I guess that was the least he could do).
Let me know what you think.


Almost enough to take precedence over the prior comments, but it sounds very questionable to me that a lazy, lying, self-centered, uneducated local B&M is going to beat online prices by 500 bucks without having something else up his sleeve.


Best Regards,
 
Date: 9/10/2007 6:32:33 PM
Author: strmrdr

Date: 9/10/2007 5:37:53 PM
Author: esumsea
I also saw this great 1 carat asscher with all the specs we laid out but with a VS2 for $4000
23.gif
. He had the certificate and said he was alright with a third party appraisal. NOW THATS A GOOD PRICE! almost too good.

Let me know what you think.

Best Regards,
Mario
What was the color and who was the grading report by?
It was an F, VS2 with a GIA certificate. I am calling back to get the specifics once more.
 
Date: 9/10/2007 9:04:57 PM
Author: esumsea

Date: 9/10/2007 6:32:33 PM
Author: strmrdr


Date: 9/10/2007 5:37:53 PM
Author: esumsea
I also saw this great 1 carat asscher with all the specs we laid out but with a VS2 for $4000
23.gif
. He had the certificate and said he was alright with a third party appraisal. NOW THATS A GOOD PRICE! almost too good.

Let me know what you think.

Best Regards,
Mario
What was the color and who was the grading report by?
It was an F, VS2 with a GIA certificate. I am calling back to get the specifics once more.
hmmm that dont sound right.
Thats right at wholesale so unless he bought it some time ago he isnt going to make anything or there is something off someplace.
Looking forward to the rest of the specs.
 
Here are the specs of two stones I found at Store 2 yesterday:
1 cart asscher, color F, vs2, no florescence, 63 table, 74 depth, med-to thick girldle , no cutlet, symmetry good, polish good. ( I guess 4,000 is not such a great deal with these specs)
Emerald 1.2, g, 1.2-1.3 ratio, vs 2, symmetry vg, Polish vg, table 70, depth 71, girdle size no specified (He says new certs don’t specify this, though I know that is not true, I will assume it is thin or thick ) Price $4500. This looks like a better deal but it is a G, which has an effect on the price. I wonder what a drop in clarity (from vs1 to vs2) and a drop in color (from F to G) discounts the price. Is there a place I can figure this out because what may seem as a good deal sometimes is a bigger stone in lower quality.

At store 1, the one that gave me a hard time, they gave me a price of $5180 for an emerald,1.25 ratio, F, vvs2, vg sym, polish ex, good table and depth in the 60-65 range (I forgot to write them down), med girdle no cutlet or florescence.

And so goes the hunt. Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a loooong process? Oh well, it is worth it. Can''t wait to be posting pics.

Let me know what you think.
Regards,
Mario

 
Date: 9/11/2007 10:34:26 AM
Author: esumsea


Here are the specs of two stones I found at Store 2 yesterday:
1 cart asscher, color F, vs2, no florescence, 63 table, 74 depth, med-to thick girldle , no cutlet, symmetry good, polish good. ( I guess 4,000 is not such a great deal with these specs)
good/good and the depth do explain the price.
Could be a nice looking stone.
But for a little more can get a bigger looking stone of the same weight.
 
What about the 1.2 emerald cut? What do you think of that?

I went out again today to another dealer and he showed me a 1.01 carat, H color, SI, good, good with a platinum band with little round brilliants totalling 100 - 200 points for $4700. The band is custom made with lots of little details, like a diamond on the bottom corner, two samll rounds underneath the setting and a bezel setting which not only outlines the stone but makes it bigger. I was surprised at how white it looked and I could not find the cloud even with a 10X. My girlfriend absolutely loved it (cat is officially out of the bag) and said whe would be estatic if she got it (what a good girl I have). I left shaking my head. Now I have a problem with the color and gd, gd ratings. Am I being to anal? I will post a pic tomorrow so you all can let me know what you think.

As always thanks!
Kind Regards,
Mario
 
What is the opinion on bezel settings here?
 
bezels are kewl
Who was the report by on the SI asscher and was it an SI2?
All clouds SI grade can be a bad thing.
 
Thanks strmrdr,
The report was by GIA. Do you think I should steer away from SI1s? How about color, do you think I can get away with going down to G and still have an Icey diamond or is after F where they start getting a little warm?

I have continued on and am now contacting dealers. I called and emailed Jonathan and he is going to call me back tomorrow. I hope I can afford his services and still get a great stone at a good price. I gotta say there are some real tough characters out there that give you a hard time. I had one dealer tell me he did not want to deal with a customer who had read Cuellar''s book and that by some of my specs he could tell I had read it!
38.gif
Listen, as we have discussed, I realize that there is alot of marketing in this book, but 75% of what he says has been confirmed here and in other places. Too say such a thing is ridiculous because everybody has to start somewhere. Anyway, it seems that if you are not buying a 1.5 carat F, vs2 or above, they (independent, small shop dealers) want to spend very little time with you and most treat you like a second class citizen. It seems like none have any foresight, for if I am treated right I go to the same place and I expect to be more successful as time goes on. This is why I will be willing to spend a little more with Jonathan, but I have found that whiteflash, abazias and the bigger companies treat you better mostly because they have younger sales associates helping you and with all the info I have, GIA certificates, IS and ASET and 40X pictures they offer, they can sometimes help you just as well as an independent guy with a "good eye" who wants to make a bigger profit margin and not higher volume. I can understand why they would hold this stance, but they should not be insulting while doing so.
29.gif

Anyhow, that was my rant.

I will report back what is sent to me and other questions I may have.

Thanks to everyone who has contributed!
36.gif

Regards,
Mario
 
I haven''t seen an eyeclean si SE or EC so I avoid them.
A si that is all clouds may or may not be an issue.
It can interfere with light return and there is a reason it got the si grade.
on the other hand its sometimes not enough too matter.

Some vendors just want the easy sales and at times dealing with someone who has been brainwashed by Cuellar is more hassle than its worth.
That 25% covers a whole lot of territory and just the issue of warped diamonds which is BS can take a while so some just wont bother.
The main PS vendors are used too working for their money so its not that huge an issue.
As far as sales reps go I don''t like dealing with sales people and the first time someone says I have to ask my boss I will be saying then get your boss in here and we can deal.
Id much rather deal with an owner or manager.

As far as GOG for the level of service and information he provides, his prices are competitive from what I''ve seen.
Biggest advantage is he will call 2(sometimes more) stones in on his dime for serious buyers.
Where with some vendors you have to pay as much as $65 on each one you dont buy for shipping and handling.
 
Strmrdr,you are the man!
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Thanks so much for all you have offered. I really, really appreciate it. May the Karma gods repay somehow. As you know, everything has ground to a halt since the Jewish New Year. Its a bummer, but Happy New Year to everyone this applies to. I actually saw a eye clean SI in person (I even had a hard time seeing it with a loupe, but I am no expert) however, I will adhere to your advice and keep the acceptable level to VS2 and above, you think that is good enough? I am currently thinking of dropping my color requirements to a G, but this bothers me. I think I will try hard to get an F or an E, especially to go with a platinum setting I will let you know how things progress.

Thanks Again!
Warm Regards,
Mario
 
color is really a personal choice.
Im fine with G, and H is generaly safe but some people have eagle eyes for color.
When stones have to be called in the odds go way up with vs2 on them being eyeclean over si stones.
 
I just went back and looked a some H diamonds and my eye pciked up the color immediately. Maybe all this diamond shopping has begun to sharpen my eye. Its funny because a vendor found here (Not any of the vendors named in this thread) tried to sell me a G and claimed that I would not be able to tell the difference, especially because of the cut. He said the white flashes and brilliance would make the difference hard to pick up. This defies logic and everything I have learned. We all know the EC is not the most Fiery and while it does have bigger flashes of light, it has a lot less of the complexity that lessens color such as that in a princes, RB, cushion or pretty much anything else. I have been told several times (I believe in this forum also) that with an EC color and clarity are more easily detectable than all other cuts (rulling out old cuts done before 1900) and henceforth it is advisable to go with as high a quality as possible on each characteristic . It is funny because this is the same vendor that did not want to deal with me because I had read Fred''s book. I guess he does not like other peoples disinformation but loves to dole out some of his own!
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I figure if I can easily spot and H (and actually was correct in picking the color on some I and J stones) I will not go lower than an F. I am also adhering to the VS2 line, but if someone comes along with an SI1 they say is eye clean I will ask for 40X magnification pics and a GIA cert to figure out where they are. Still I will try to stay above SI2.
Thanks again for all your input!
36.gif

Kind Regards,
Mario
 
I have just been told a piece of info I want to confirm it here. I was told that for EC''s it is best to have a table that is equal to or smaller than the depth. The dealer said that most of the diamonds he has seen that have bigger tables than depth (I am currently looking for a 60-63 depth % cut) are not that great, though he said that exceptions exist. Anybody want to weigh in on this one? Strmrdr? Hest 88?
Regards,
Mario
 
Date: 9/18/2007 2:47:01 PM
Author: esumsea
I have just been told a piece of info I want to confirm it here. I was told that for EC''s it is best to have a table that is equal to or smaller than the depth. The dealer said that most of the diamonds he has seen that have bigger tables than depth (I am currently looking for a 60-63 depth % cut) are not that great, though he said that exceptions exist. Anybody want to weigh in on this one? Strmrdr? Hest 88?
Regards,
Mario
depends on the table.
73t/62d isn''t what you want, 63t/63d or 64t/63d is just fine.
In general the rule works because there are a ton more of the first kind out there than the second but the rule isn''t 100% right.
So with the emphasis on exceptions and taking market conditions into account I wouldn''t jump down the vendors throat about it.
 
Storm is right on the money again with the table and depth percentages. There are tons of ECs where the tables are MUCH larger than the depth and almost all of these aren''t great looking. These are the 75% tables and 68% depths. The chances of finding a pretty one with such stats are very slim. Your chances gets a whole lot better if the table and depth % are closer, especially in the 63% to 65% range.
 
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