Princess Cut Diamond

[jayk9797]

Hello,

I am new to this site and new to diamond shopping. I have had some jewelry with diamonds in them, but never did a lot of research. I am in the market to buy an engagement ring really soon, like in the next two weeks. A friend of mine did a lot of research and recommended this site to me for a place to start. I have been to 3 brick and mortor stores and checked a few websites. My question is: Is it possible to find a 2 carat princess stone from a VVS1 to a VS2 around $10,000? If so will it be a very good stone in the F-G color range?

Also does anyone know about razors edge rings, that what my girlfriend liked when we shopped together once. She is small and has very slim fingers, 3 1/2 is her ring size. Are there any other styles that are like that that someone can recommend?

Any advise is great advise to me at this point.

Jason

 

[neatfreak]

No. For a well cut princess you''re about $10,000 too little at best for a 2ct based on my quick PS search. And CUT is what is really going to make that baby sparkle.

I recommend that you start your search with Whiteflash''s ACA princess cut stones. They are the best cut princesses I have ever seen and they will face up well and sparkle beautifully.

Also, I reallllly recommend that you drop your clarity requirements, as you can go down to an eye clean Si1 or at LEAST a VS2 without noticing anything visually and it will save you a LOT of money.

Here is the link to Whiteflash and 2ct ACA princesses you''ll see what I mean about the $:

http://www.whiteflash.com/diamonds/SearchResult.aspx?isStatic=false

As for the setting, it''s reguarly called a knife edge, and whiteflash also has some great knife edge settings in their collection on their website.

 

[neatfreak]

If you''re ok with an H SI1 here is one just over 2 ct. for a bit over $15,000:

http://www.whiteflash.com/aca_princess/A-Cut-Above-Princess-cut-diamond-78228.htm#

 

[neatfreak]

Here is a nice looking 1.6 G SI1 for about $11,000:

http://www.whiteflash.com/aca_princess/A-Cut-Above-Princess-cut-diamond-78231.htm#

 

[jayk9797]

How can I tell what a better CUT is exactly??????

There was nothing on that site at 2 carats in my price range for the ACA.

 

[Pupper]

Hi & welcome to PS! This one sounds like it wld be a lovely, well-cut princess: 2 cts, in your price range... but (isn''t there always a but) it''s an I SI1. Worth considering though...?

Excel 1.99 I SI1

best of luck with your seach!!

 

[Regular Guy]

Date: 5/12/2007 12:52:16 PM
Author: jayk9797
How can I tell what a better CUT is exactly??????

Jason, you''re getting good advice. AGS uniquely tests prinesses and rounds for visual performance, and getting an AGS0 is a primary test for getting a better cut. Other experts will have other means, and you can shop at vendors who employ them on your behalf...but otherwise, investing in AGS0 certification is reasonable...and excel is known to have attrative price points for these. Also, WF''s ACAs will all be certified with AGS0.

 

[peridot83]

You can also get an approximate idea of how good the cut is with an ASET image, which is an image of the light performance of the diamond. Both Whiteflash & Excel have a good selection of AGS0 diamonds which are cream of the crop, and therefore have higher prices.

You could also try wading through non AGS0 diamonds, unitl you find one that has a great ASET image. This requires a lot of work though.

Basically, you don''t want an ultra clear diamond, where you can''t see inclusions with a loupe, and have it be as dull as glass. You want it to sparkle

 

[MidwestDiamondHunter]

Let me break this down to you plain and simple.

Lots of people, when they first start looking for diamonds, worry about clarity and color.... However, that is NOT the biggest factor in determining a stone''s beauty. The biggest factor is it''s CUT. And that doesn''t mean shape. It means the quality of worksmanship with which the stone was cut in the cutting house.

The two major certifying labs, GIA and AGS, grade cut differently. I won''t go into too much detail on how GIA evaluates it''s stones, BUT AGS evaluates stones based on performance. And performance is a fancy name for how well they refract light (aka how beautiful the stone is). As far as AGS goes, the lower the number the better...hence 0 is the best. That means an AGS 0 will be an EXCEPTIONALLY beautiful stone. Probably in the top 2-5 percent of all stones available. But yes, they are more expensive. NOW... you CAN buy that big 2 carat stone close to your price range but the stone''s cut will not be as good and therefore not as beautiful.

There''s a lot more too it then this. Do some searches on here and look at some of the "webinar" videos. Also, go to www.goodoldgold.com and look in there "video" section and you will SEE the difference that cut makes.

 

[InlovewithJHK]

Here is the closest I could find to what you want:

http://www.bluenile.com/diamonds_details.asp?__fun_frm=i&pid=LD00368487&filter_id=0 - An AGS000, 1.76 G SI2 for $11,423
http://www.bluenile.com/diamonds_details.asp?__fun_frm=i&pid=LD00192468&filter_id=0 - AGS 1, 1.68 G SI1 for $10,010
http://www.abazias.com/database/NewDiamondInfo.asp?stock=1459767559 - AGS graded, can''t see cert, 2.08 H SI2, $13,096

 

[jstarfireb]

Whoa, a 2ct ring on size 3.5 fingers? That's going to be ginormous! The diamond will be larger than the diameter of her finger! No offense intended, but I alway thought engagement rings that were out of proportion to finger size just look a little tacky. Feel free to ignore me if you disagree and still prefer 2ct.

Personally, I'd knock the size down quite a bit and go for a better cut. (There's a very good video on Good old Gold showing how smaller, better-cut stones sparkle more than larger, less well-cut stones, by the way.) This will allow you to get the color/clarity you want within your price range...heck, you might even save a few grand to put toward a nicer setting. Even a sub-1ct stone will look huge on her fingers. As a few examples:

1.168 G VVS1 for $8294
1.246 G VVS1 for $8866

And lowering the color just a tad (a well-cut H will certainly face up white):
1.54 H VVS2 for $10558

Dropping the color/clarity will significantly lower the price without affecting the beauty of a well-cut stone. I believe I've heard that H/SI1 (eye clean, of course) is the best compromise.

Make sure you take your GF to some B&M stores, just to get an example of how different sizes look on her fingers. We all will still recommend buying online, of course.

 

[kcoursolle]

I would drop in clarity to the SI range if you want to get near 2 carats. As the others said, focus on cut quality. This is what will really make a diamond sparkle and shine. Color and clarity are secondary. You are going to have to compromise on size a little, but if you get a well-cut stone it will blow her away better than a big hunk of something else that doesn''t look as nice.

 

[jayk9797]

How much do you think I will have to compromise in size? So if I got a well cut SI 1, could I be just under 2.00 carats, could I be in the 10,000 range.

How do I even go about buying diamonds online, I don''t know how comfortable I would be buying something that expensive that I couldn''t see or touch in person first?

 

[jayk9797]

So an AGS 0 is the best an AGS 00 is next best and so on... What is the complete range they use??

Also for the finish some say "ideal" is that the best or is there something higher?

 

[peridot83]

Ideal is the highest.

There is AGS0, AGS00, AGS000, AGS1...and then it keeps going but I''m not sure how =P

I would def. sit down if you haven''t already and go through the GOG tutorial on color:

http://www.goodoldgold.com/4Cs/Color/Colorless/

and maybe the one on clarity as well. Both these tutorials extremely exaggerate differences due to lab settings, light etc. However, it will give you a good idea of what your tolerance is and are non-video so require v. little time commitment.

While D, vvs1 is overkill for most on this site, that doesn''t necessarily mean you want to jump down to I SI1 without doing the research first

And since she has a small finger, you def. have some wiggle room, since it''ll look big regardless!

 

[peridot83]

About buying online, stick to AGS 0 princesses and you have nothing to worry about. Get an ASET image if at all possible and you want to be nitpicky.

Whiteflash has a very good selection. So does exceldiamonds (though website not as user friendly). Good Old Gold is great, but does require a lot of interaction (not as many diamonds listed, most e-mail or call). Mark T at engagement rings direct has been getting some really good reviews lately (also e-mail or call).

If it is not an AGS 0 (and there''s tons of great princesses that aren''t it just requires more work!), then you definitely need to pour over the ASET images, and stick to AGS 0,00,000 and GIA Ideals. The cut charts above under "knowledge", "fancy shapes" provide some basic paramaters.

 

[belle]

Date: 5/14/2007 3:00:02 PM
Author: jayk9797
So an AGS 0 is the best an AGS 00 is next best and so on... What is the complete range they use??

Also for the finish some say ''ideal'' is that the best or is there something higher?

that''s not really the way it works. well...it kinda is but not the way you are putting it forth. ags has made some changes to their grading system over the years, so the terms ags0 and ags000 have become interchangable. basically ags0 is the same thing as ags000. really, the main thing you need to be concerned with is getting a ''0'' in light performance. there are minor variables, especially in the ''finish'' grade (that includes polish and symmetry) that could cause a diamond to be an ags1 but it in no way makes the diamond less beautiful, or sparkly, or spectacular as if it would have been given an ''0'' in finish. the compromise in quality starts happening when you get something less than a ''0'' in the all important ''light performance'' grade. of course, you aren''t likely to find many diamonds that don''t earn the top grade in light performance because they will be sent to a lab that will make it look better on paper.

 

[jayk9797]

What do you guys think of these?????
PPC Total$ New Light Performance Fluor Pol Sym Dim
1.56 PR G SI1 AGS 6,276 9,790 73.4 70.9 None ID ID 6.37x6.31x4.63 86016
1.76 PR G SI2 AGS 5,893 10,371 74.8 62 None ID ID 6.57x6.52x4.88 47736
1.58 PR F SI2 AGS 4,988 7,880 72.5 72.9 None ID ID 6.50x6.69x4.71 4044


Princess Cuts.

My girlfriends finger is a 3 1/2. Any comments would be great.