Ideal specs for a princess cut diamond.

[davester00]

Hello,
Would anyone know where to find the specs for the most brilliant princess cut diamond? I would like to know what table % and depth % would make the best looking princess cut stone under 1ct.
Thanks in advance. As you could tell I'm new.
dave

 

[diamondnovice]

Dave -

Go to this website. On the left bar, click on "AGA cut grade chart and rules". Select princess and viola.

Good luck

 

[valeria101]

Hm... what's a "good looking" princess cut to you? The AGA charts do not guarantee (nor they pretend to do so) light return (= sparkle) of the stone. You need a different approach for this and it doe snot involve numbers (there is no hard rule yet to predict light return from a princess cut diamond based on the proportions of it's cut alone, as teh HCA does for rounds).

Here are three webpages demonstrating what such analysis looks like:
WWW1
WWW2
WWW3

Of course, there are other sellers providing light return analysis on their princess cuts... and you are likely to get a serious amount of feed back on any stones you will get numbers on too. However, numbers alone are never as good as inspecting the stone itself.

Using the AGA charts is a good way to reject the stone which either have little or no chance to having good light return (for example the ofen found cuts with very large tables) and to avoid paying premiums for whatever some seller may choose to call "ideal cut" on a whim... since there is no standard for what an "ideal" cut is.

 

[oldminer]

The AGA charts provide a way to avoid badly cut diamonds. They direct the user to well cut stones. The light return issue is addressed separately.

Too much brilliancy results in a mirror-like appearance. The right amount of light return COMBINED with the RIGHT amount of Scintillation and the RIGHT amount of Intensity will give you the best looking appearance possible. Devices that only show light return may be very helpful as you do not want a lifeless stone, but you must not avoid stones with moderate to strong scintillation.

The appearance of a fine diamond is not simply defined by light return (brilliancy). That is useful, but way overly simplistic. It is why I sell the Ideal-Scope. It is a very useful and inexpensive tool for seeing brilliancy. So, don't be misled by an analysis of ONLY brilliancy versus the AGA charts.

I suggest you use both approaches and YOUR OWN EYES. When you have found the stone that does it all, you have the best possible one. Hope that helps you. It is not an easy task to be a diligent shopper.

 

[valeria101]

This is great advice!

Combining the IdealScope info with a good AGA score is just about as good as it gets - unless you also have the stone in hand to evaluate on to of these. Nothing quite matches an exeperienced eye and a good doze of good taste and common sense, of course... only it is rather hard to translate them in munbers and charts.

It would be great to find 2-3 diamonds with suitable scores and Iscope signatures and have them lined up. This could be feasible if the seller (s) agree to send the diamonds to an appraiser or any third partu for you to inspect them. The most common rute though does not get that complex - at leats among PS shoppers. Most get one stone based on tests and scores, inspect it and eventually have it appraised during the return period, and decide based on their impression wether to keep the stone. From this scenario, the buyer gets little experinece comparing diamonds of better ta commercial cut quality. Not sure wether this is a bad thing thouhg: your diamond will show it's better optics to anyone, of course