shape
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clarity

Need advice on cut for a Lab cushion 1.5ct

Tweedi

Rough_Rock
Joined
Jan 24, 2021
Messages
8
Hi All

Looking for a diamond for an engagement ring and having a bit of a challenge with picking a good cut (stone proportions) for a diamond with these settings:

- Budget approximately $6000 inc taxes (can go a bit above if a significantly better diamond is found)
- Lab grown
- Cushion shape (not crushed ice)
- Circa 1.5ct
- Color would be D-F
- Clarity no less than VS1 (knowing that IGI reports tend not to be top notch maybe even towards VVS2).
- For the cut ... It's complicated.

I browsed websites and looked at what they "super ideal" stones were like. It seems that they tend to have a table/depth ratio of approximately 60/67.

I also found this table:
cushion_diamond_depth_table_distribution-1024x731.png

Does this sound about right for a good cushion cut?

With this in mind I found these stones which could be good candidate but would mind your experts' feedback:

1.53ct / "Super Ideal" / E / 62-68.1 (table-depth ratio)

1.51ct / "Super Ideal" / E / 65-67.1 (table-depth ratio). Weirdly more expensive than the others, why?

1.56ct / "Ideal" / D / 59-68.5 (table-depth ratio)

1.51ct / "Ideal" / VVS2 / D / 60-67.8 (table-depth ratio)

Am I on the right track?

Thanks!
 

sprinklesparkles

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
283
Not an expert, but letting you know if you go just under 1.5 instead of just over you'll probably save some money.
 

Rockdiamond

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
9,711
Not an expert, but letting you know if you go just under 1.5 instead of just over you'll probably save some money.

This is one of those places where Earth mined and Lab Grown diverge. It's true that a 1.49ct Earth-mined diamond is worth about 7% less than a 1.50 (hypothetically, if all things were equal)
With Lab Grown, the lower cost of rough means that cutters don;t mind going below a threshold like 1.50- and the prices of two lab growns- 1.49 and 1.50ct should be very close ( again in the hypothetical case all other things are equal)
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

Super_Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
18,422
This is one of those places where Earth mined and Lab Grown diverge. It's true that a 1.49ct Earth-mined diamond is worth about 7% less than a 1.50 (hypothetically, if all things were equal)
With Lab Grown, the lower cost of rough means that cutters don;t mind going below a threshold like 1.50- and the prices of two lab growns- 1.49 and 1.50ct should be very close ( again in the hypothetical case all other things are equal)

Except David, the current practice is to price man made diamonds based on natural diamond rarity based prices.
I am not sure that will last 2 years, 5 years or more.
but essentially larger CVD diamonds should get cheaper as they get larger.
 

Rockdiamond

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
9,711
Except David, the current practice is to price man made diamonds based on natural diamond rarity based prices.
I am not sure that will last 2 years, 5 years or more.
but essentially larger CVD diamonds should get cheaper as they get larger.

Hey Mate!!!
Interesting point.
My experience has been a bit different than yours in this regard.
I've found that a 2.90ct Emerald Cut ( for example) sells at an almost identical price to a 3ct. with the same lab grade
In fact, it could even be more if the 2.90 is prettier.
I think that as this segment grows, we'll see how things shake out.
It could also be that our different locales mean we have different experiences based on that.
I was interested in the aspect of decreasing prices too.
No doubt they've come down in price over the past few years.....how much more they'll fall....anyone's guess- but there are certain hard costs.....

It's all so very interesting!!
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

Super_Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
18,422
Hey Mate!!!
Interesting point.
My experience has been a bit different than yours in this regard.
I've found that a 2.90ct Emerald Cut ( for example) sells at an almost identical price to a 3ct. with the same lab grade
In fact, it could even be more if the 2.90 is prettier.
I think that as this segment grows, we'll see how things shake out.
It could also be that our different locales mean we have different experiences based on that.
I was interested in the aspect of decreasing prices too.
No doubt they've come down in price over the past few years.....how much more they'll fall....anyone's guess- but there are certain hard costs.....

It's all so very interesting!!

Yes - it will be interesting to see how the price de-coupling rolls out. De Beers set the rules and the others will by necessity need to follow.

It is actually very amusing because De Beers were for years (often wrongly) accused of driving up prices by the Media and the US government (only because USA does not have any diamond mines). Today De Beers are forcing some diamond prices down!

We live in interesting times!
 

Rockdiamond

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
9,711
De Beers set the rules and the others will by necessity need to follow.

We agree DeBeers seems to be driving down prices...yet, my experience is that they have limited themselves in a way that does allow the opportunity for others to flourish. So it seems ( to me) that DeBeers has already lost control of pricing on LAb Grown stones....
 

Garry H (Cut Nut)

Super_Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Aug 15, 2000
Messages
18,422
We agree DeBeers seems to be driving down prices...yet, my experience is that they have limited themselves in a way that does allow the opportunity for others to flourish. So it seems ( to me) that DeBeers has already lost control of pricing on LAb Grown stones....

1. They have only just started production in their Portland factory last month.
2. Have you seen how many people on this board have made purchases.
3. Bloomingdales seem to be having lots of half priced sales (i.e $400 per carat for any size up to 1ct plus a silver setting)

I am guessing De Beers Lightbox rough is costing less than $100 per carat and the cost of cutting at maybe $50 per carat may be the major expense.
 

sprinklesparkles

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Jan 6, 2020
Messages
283
This is one of those places where Earth mined and Lab Grown diverge. It's true that a 1.49ct Earth-mined diamond is worth about 7% less than a 1.50 (hypothetically, if all things were equal)
With Lab Grown, the lower cost of rough means that cutters don;t mind going below a threshold like 1.50- and the prices of two lab growns- 1.49 and 1.50ct should be very close ( again in the hypothetical case all other things are equal)

I did not know that, thank you!
 
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