Looking to purchase 1.25 carat princess cut very soon - Need help!!!

[riccikea]

I have been looking at purchasing a princess cut stone for an engagement ring for several months now and I keep second guessing my decisions. Yesterday, I looked at a very nice stone at a local jeweler with the following characteristics: 1.25 carat: Measurements 6.04x5.98x4.35mm; Color G; Clarity VS2; Polish Very Good; Symmetry; Very Good; Fluorescence Faint; Table 75%; depth 72.7%. Price is 6K. Because of the large table the stone looks bigger than some other 1.25 carats I have looked at. It looks really pretty to me and looked good under the scope, but should I be concerned with faint fluorescence with a color G? I have also found online a similar stone with F color excellent polish and symmetry, no fluorescence but an SI1 clarity. It was about $6K also, but, I have not seen it in person and I would like to help out the local jeweler if this is a good deal.

Any Guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have an appointment tomorrow to see the stone again and hope to make a decision very soon. I need to stop trying to get to caught up letters and numbers.

Kevin

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/4/2009 10:50:05 AM
Author:riccikea

I have been looking at purchasing a princess cut stone for an engagement ring for several months now and I keep second guessing my decisions. Yesterday, I looked at a very nice stone at a local jeweler with the following characteristics: 1.25 carat: Measurements 6.04x5.98x4.35mm; Color G; Clarity VS2; Polish Very Good; Symmetry; Very Good; Fluorescence Faint; Table 75%; depth 72.7%. Price is 6K. Because of the large table the stone looks bigger than some other 1.25 carats I have looked at. It looks really pretty to me and looked good under the scope, but should I be concerned with faint fluorescence with a color G? I have also found online a similar stone with F color excellent polish and symmetry, no fluorescence but an SI1 clarity. It was about $6K also, but, I have not seen it in person and I would like to help out the local jeweler if this is a good deal.

Any Guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have an appointment tomorrow to see the stone again and hope to make a decision very soon. I need to stop trying to get to caught up letters and numbers.

Kevin

Hi Kevin and welcome!

Faint fluorescence won't be an issue in G colour - or any colour come to that! It is usually preferable to have the table % being less than the depth, although that in itself doesn't automatically mean it is a badly cut stone, there can be other issues that can arise from it such as a shallow crown height which can interfere with fire/ coloured light etc. So this diamond does appear to be what we call a ' commercial' cut quality diamond. If this is ok with you then of course that is fine, what I would suggest is if you have a Jareds nearby, go and view their AGS0 Princess so you have an idea of how well cut diamonds ' behave' then you have a good base of comparison for others you see.

I take it these are GIA graded diamonds? Also you could ask the jeweller if he has an ASET scope you could use to view the diamond, chances are he will not but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[riccikea]

Thanks for your response Lorelei,

These diamonds are GIA certified. I have found the same diamond online as the one I am looking at the jeweler (verified by matching GIA #report from jeweler to GIA # report found online site); and what is interesting is that the online site lables this as a "select ideal" cut. This is the exact diamond below:

http://www.uniondiamond.com/diamonds/diamonds.php?action_type_id=2&item_id=AB443321&search_type_id=

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/4/2009 11:51:10 AM
Author: riccikea
Thanks for your response Lorelei,

These diamonds are GIA certified. I have found the same diamond online as the one I am looking at the jeweler (verified by matching GIA #report from jeweler to GIA # report found online site); and what is interesting is that the online site lables this as a 'select ideal' cut. This is the exact diamond below:

http://www.uniondiamond.com/diamonds/diamonds.php?action_type_id=2&item_id=AB443321&search_type_id=

In that case this is a virtual stone which although it is with your jeweller is for sale with multiple vendors -this article explains further, UD could probably call it in and get images for you such as ASET and maybe run a Sarin scan on request, depends on where you prefer to buy from. I think Select Ideal is a term used by UD to describe what they consider better cut diamonds, it is not a term GIA uses, nor do they grade Princess for cut quality at this time.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 10/4/2009 10:50:05 AM
Author:riccikea

I have been looking at purchasing a princess cut stone for an engagement ring for several months now and I keep second guessing my decisions. Yesterday, I looked at a very nice stone at a local jeweler with the following characteristics: 1.25 carat: Measurements 6.04x5.98x4.35mm; Color G; Clarity VS2; Polish Very Good; Symmetry; Very Good; Fluorescence Faint; Table 75%; depth 72.7%. Price is 6K. Because of the large table the stone looks bigger than some other 1.25 carats I have looked at. It looks really pretty to me and looked good under the scope, but should I be concerned with faint fluorescence with a color G? I have also found online a similar stone with F color excellent polish and symmetry, no fluorescence but an SI1 clarity. It was about $6K also, but, I have not seen it in person and I would like to help out the local jeweler if this is a good deal.

Any Guidance would be greatly appreciated. I have an appointment tomorrow to see the stone again and hope to make a decision very soon. I need to stop trying to get to caught up letters and numbers.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

The highlighted above is often refered to by people in our business, but it is an incorrect statement. A larger table will not make a diamond look bigger.

What sometimes happens in a princess-cut, though, is that, because of the way they are cut, the table area returns more and more intense light (red in the ASET). If that is the case, a bigger table could be a benefit, but it will never trump a stone with intense light return in the crown area, more specifically at the edge of the diamond.

Live long,

 

[riccikea]

Thanks, to all who replied so far:

I guess it comes down to whether this is a good deal to me or not. I loved how it looks but I also want to make sure I am getting a nice stone for my money. Here I am second guessing myself again. With these % paramenters what kind of cut would this be considered? Is going from an F to G worse than upgrading from an S1 to a VS2?

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 10/4/2009 10:00:21 PM
Author: riccikea
Thanks, to all who replied so far:

I guess it comes down to whether this is a good deal to me or not. I loved how it looks but I also want to make sure I am getting a nice stone for my money. Here I am second guessing myself again. With these % paramenters what kind of cut would this be considered? Is going from an F to G worse than upgrading from an S1 to a VS2?

Most welcome!

This diamond is what is called a commercial quality cut Kevin as I said before, this is fine if you like the diamond and have looked at some top cut Princess to be sure of your preferences before you plunk down the money, other than that its very difficult to advise just by a few numbers without images of the diamond, buying an ASET scope would be very helpful if you could do so. As for your colour and clarity concerns it depends, if an SI is totally eyeclean to you then its up to you whether you prefer to go higher, F to G colour you probably wouldn''t notice much if any difference, the main thing is to have an excellent cut whatever you choose as without this, you won''t have a pretty stone.