princess depths

[Sizzle]

My friend just got engaged with an amazing 2 ct princess solitaire. (trying to convince her to let me show her photos on here!). She showed me the paperwork and I was shocked to see that the depth was only 60% with a 73% table. From everything I''ve read here and 60% depth would be "dead" on a princess. I wondered if she recieved the incorrect paperwork (she has not taken it to be independantly appraised YET!!, Still working on her) . Does anyone have a princess that is beautiful, despite not so nice numbers? I see nothing but fabulous sparkle so no way I would bring any of this up to her as she is THRILLED!!! I just took a QUICK glance at the cert so I can''t be sure of any other numbers..

 

[icemyster]

Hi Sizzle,

I agree with you that the depth seems a bit shallow. Most of the time when I am buying a princess I am looking for depth between 66 - 74. I do have to say this though, in answer to your question, I have definitely seen fancies with some really wacky numbers, that have still had a beautiful appearace to the naked eye. This has definietly been the exception to the rule, but I have seen it several times.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Maybe, the stone is not actually a princess, but some proprietary cut, in which percentages are often noted differently.

Live long,

 

[oldminer]

A 60% depth will give the stone a fairly large spread, the visible size will look large. HOWEVER, while it sounds good to see a lot of diamond, you should be sure to examine other combinations of parameters which surely will have deeper depths. Compare the looks and beauty of the diamonds and be sure to pick one which pleases your eyes.

While 60% depth could be a good stone choice for you, you may want to select a different diamond after doing some searching. Some princess cuts with far greater depth % numbers have excellent beauty.

 

[Sizzle]

Actually my personal princess diamond is too deep. It only faces up 6.01x5.9 for a 1 1/2 ct. I gues we''re two extremes!

 

[HPLouis]

Hi,
Where is everyone getting the information for "good" measurements or percentage ratios on princess cuts? I would like to know what is considered good so I can better search. I''m looking at Blue Nile and I see the depth, table, measurements, etc. but it''s hard for me to decipher them.

Thanks,
Henry

 

[Sparkalicious]

Date: 12/3/2007 3:46:15 PM
Author: HPLouis
Hi,
Where is everyone getting the information for ''good'' measurements or percentage ratios on princess cuts? I would like to know what is considered good so I can better search. I''m looking at Blue Nile and I see the depth, table, measurements, etc. but it''s hard for me to decipher them.

Thanks,
Henry

I found the following info online. Maybe it will help you? Princess Shape Diamond Education

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Date: 12/3/2007 3:46:15 PM
Author: HPLouis
Hi,
Where is everyone getting the information for ''good'' measurements or percentage ratios on princess cuts? I would like to know what is considered good so I can better search. I''m looking at Blue Nile and I see the depth, table, measurements, etc. but it''s hard for me to decipher them.

Thanks,
Henry

The basic measurements will not help you in finding a definite ''good'' princess-cut. And there are two schools of thought in this regard.

The ''old school'' thought that some basic idea could be deducted from basic measurements, and from actual observation of existing princess-cuts. This resulted in some very broad rules, and for instance Blue Nile is using something along these lines as their in-store-classification.

The ''new school'' follows the approach of AGS, which starts not from existing stones, but from calculated combinations. The AGS-research has shown us totally new combinations with amazing light performance, and they fall totally out of the ranges of the abovementioned ''old school''. As a result, you will find that Blue Nile in their own classification judges AGS-0''s as part of a lower-performing category.

My experience is that one needs at least a total depth of around 73% (depending on the table-size) in order to possibly get an ideal-grade from AGS.
My experience also shows me that if a princess is not graded by AGS, it is extremely unlikely for that stone to have ideal light performance, if it were sent to AGS afterwards. In other words, a stone can generally only obtain AGS-0, if it was intentionally cut for that purpose, and in that case, it will also have an AGS-report.

And after giving you all this info, I realise that it does not solve your problem. I am sorry, but this is reality.

Live long,