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Nice princess diamond - should I keep it?

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pfeiffer

Rough_Rock
Joined
Oct 13, 2003
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Hello all,

I am new here and have really enjoyed reading all your posts. I was hoping you might be able to help me out with some expert opinions...

After time researching and learning about diamonds, my husband and I just received a princess diamond from one of the online vendors that we think is gorgeous. However, the crown is a bit shallow and the diamond looks very flat to me, like an upside down triangle. I''m afraid when it is set there will be no height above the prongs. We spent some time the past few days comparing this stone to loose GIA princess stones in the downtown L.A. jewelry district and some local jewelry marts. So far we have seen some beautiful stones, (and some not so beautiful ones). The funny thing is, every one of them seemed very flat to me, although I was not able to compare any crown height stats. We saw some nice ones (to our untrained eyes) that actually cost less per carat and even had better color and clarity. I did have a couple of jewelers agree with me that it was flat on top, but most said it was a very nice stone, well-cut, and they didn''t have anything better. One dealer admired the stone and said,"There are probably only 5 stones in the world right now with everything you want."

My question is this...to those of you who have seen many princess diamonds...how much of a difference would I be able to see if the crown height were higher? Can you see a big difference between, say, 6.6 % and 9-10%, or only if it went up to, say, 12-14%? If it''s not much of a visual difference, I''m leaning toward keeping this stone. Am I being too picky in light of the fact that nice princesses are hard to come by?

The numbers on this current stone are:
1.91 H VS2 Princess
7.16x7.16x4.82
Depth 67.3%
Table 68%
Excellent Polish
Very Good Symmetry
Girdle Thin-Medium
No Culet
No Fluor.
Crown Height 6.6%, angle 28.3
Pavil Depth 58%, angle 43.3
It has an excellent BrillanceScope report, better than many I''ve seen. It scores very high in white light high/very high in color light, and pegs the end of the chart in scintillation.

So besides the flat top, everything else is perfect. However, one of the things I enjoyed most about my old round diamond was the shape of its crown rising above the prongs! I''m afraid I would miss that!

My husband and I have been talking about upgrading my diamond for a long time, and I really want it to be perfect, so we are not in a hurry. I want to know I''ll enjoy looking at it forever, and not have the nagging wonder in the back of my mind that I should have continued searching. Yikes, only the diamond nuts on these forums would understand! None of my friends and family would, and my husband (not as analytical as me) would be happy as a clam to pick out a diamond based solely on how it sparkles.

What do you all think??
Thank you for reading my long post!!
Pfeiffer
 
You just simply CANNOT analyze a fancy shape stone with just using the "numbers"

6.6 crown height? Sounds very shallow and with the table size sounds like the crown angles have been "doctored" up.

It could be q very attractive stone, or wants that has a leash...especially for a fancy shape.

Rockdoc
 
Rockdoc, Thank you for the reply!

It is a very attractive stone in person, at least to my eye, very bright and sparkly/fiery with no dark spots anywhere. What I don't like is the "flat top" look of it. There is no "shape" when I look at it from an angle, or from the side. I guess I was trying to say that based on the numbers it looked pretty good, and then in person it looked great...but...I don't like the shallow crown. Also, the outline shape of the table looks more square than the hexagonal shape I see on a lot of princesses.

I think I'm leaning toward returning it. I looked at some more princess stones this afternoon in the L.A. jewelry district, and realized I really do like the crown to have some heighth to it, regardless of differences in light performance.

Has anyone else had any experience with shallow crowns on princess cuts?
 
----------------
On 10/24/2003 7:57:52 PM pfeiffer wrote:

Rockdoc,
Has anyone else had any experience with shallow crowns on princess cuts?----------------


Yeah! I have yet to see a princess cut without a shallow crown. I should say that princesses are not really my favorites and have not dealt with nearly as many as, say, old cuts. But still, shallow crwons seems such a common sin of this cut that I bet it would take a while to find a lacking stone...I hope my experience is TOTALLY wrong!
8.gif
 
Hi Pheiffer,




My general experience with princess cuts with shallow crowns has not been good. Especially crown angles less than 30 with pavilion angles around 58. However there are 2 pavilion angles to be considered and 2 crown angles so I try to be careful NOT to give definite opinions on a diamond (even a round for that matter) that I've not personally inspected. If I were going to pursue the stone in question it doesn't hurt to get a professional 2nd opinion by another gemologist like Rock who also has a BrillianceScope & FireScope in house to check for optics.




BTW Good to see you back on the forum Rock. Hope you're doing ok!
1.gif





Some of the best princess cuts we've tested have had crown heights over 11% and upwards of 13-15% crown height.




My .02c


Rhino
 
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