Princess Cut Diamond Input/Feedback Needed!

[garek007]

Hi,

Gypsy linked me to this post from another post of mine. A few questions of my own based on his search....

Should I avoid GIA entirely? I know now that cut trumps pretty much any other C in a princess. So does that mean I should ONLY be looking on Blue Nile, Union Diamond, GOG, JA etc for IDEAL or Signature or Premium cuts?

Gipsy has posted that with an AGS0 you can almost buy the stone unseen, because AGS has very strict standards. Of course I would still look at the stone via video, images and ASET, but that tells me that AGS0 are very good stones.

What about AGS1 and AGS2?

When I did a search on PriceScope AGS certified stones pushed the size I wanted out of my budget... So is GIA ok?

 

[tyty333]

GIA are fine. You just have to do a little more scrutinizing on your own (well, with our help). You need an aset to check on
light return and close up images of the stone. Dont request asets from JA without asking for opinions on the stones first. You
get 3 asets so we dont want you to waste any on stones we can already tell or not good performers.

 

[garek007]

Great, thanks tyty!

 

[Texas Leaguer]

The problem with GIA princess cuts is not really a problem with anything GIA does, it's a problem caused by what they don't do. Namely, grading the overall cut quality of princess cuts.

This has allowed manufacturers to cut for maximum yeild, make an attractive diamond, get a report that consumers consider solid, and merchants point to as assurance of quality, and the market overall is content to rock merrily along. But this has resulted in a gigantic void of high precision, top performing princess cuts in the market and little awareness on the part of consumers as a whole that princess cuts are capable of so much more. It's a shame really.

Because AGS is the only lab doing light performance cut grading on princess, and because they are so small compared to GIA, relatively few consumers even know about ideal cut princess.

For anyone wanting to know more about AGSL grading of princess cuts you can read about it here.
https://www.pricescope.com/journal/ags-laboratories-diamond-cut-grading-princess-cut

In the article there is more background on how the princess market arrived at the state it is, as well as some things you may look for if you are trying to evaluate a GIA princess.