Princess shopping

[eddie]

Can anyone please tell me if this looks like a good princess cut diamond? Also in the comments of the GIA grading report it says "minor details of polish are not shown". Should that be enough to scare me away, since I haven't seen the diamond? I keep seeing things in the comments like extra pinpoints or clouds not shown. Is this normal, or does it reflect negatively on the diamonds?

Carat weight: 1.10
Cut: Signature Princess
Color: H
Clarity: IF
Depth %: 66.3%
Table %: 68%
Symmetry: Very good
Polish: Excellent
Girdle: Slightly thick
Culet: None
Fluorescence: None
Measurements: 5.75x5.72x3.79 mm
Crown height: 13.3%
Length/width ratio: 1.01


Thanks in advance.

 

[pearcrazy]

I wouldn''t be as concerned about the polish details as I would about the depth. The diamond seems a little shallow I don''t know a lot about princess diamonds but usually the better cut ones are in the low 70''s for depth.

 

[valeria101]

Nothing "scary" aside the top cut grade by AGA standards (THIS) ...

(quote from gemappraisers.com)
Table % 68.0% Grade: 1A
Crown Height % 13.0% Grade: 1A
Girdle Thickness Slightly thick Grade: 1A
Total Depth % 66.30% Grade: 1A
Polish Excellent / Very Good Grade: 1A * Not a primary determining factor.
Symmetry Excellent / Very Good Grade: 1A * Not a primary determining factor.
Final Grade: 1A


It's always much better to see those diamonds at leats in picture, but by numbers this sounds like a darling.


Too bad there are no more princess cut below 70% - these are unusual, just because they are more wasteful to cut.

Pearcrazy is right to say that better cuts are around %70 - especially since the usual choices are much deeper ! The usual concern is to avoid overly deep, small-looking stones. And then, there are these shallow princess cuts with flat crown that just look dead. So sorting through widgets, even that 70% standard may be too harsh to accomplish.

It is just not feasible, IMO, to judge cut using only one number alone: AGA uses all those, and then the new AGS cut grades for princesses will use even more detailed stats to predicy brilliance.

Just my o.2, of course.

I see crown height given... is there any image of this stone or Ideal Scope picture ?

 

[valeria101]

"Minor details on polish"...on INTERNALLY FLAWLESS

Well, if they did not affect that clarity grade, they must really be "minor". And no, polish details are not really a concern unless the polish grade gets worse than "good", and even then...

Does it have to be IF? Regardless, this seems to be a fine cut hard to replace in kind. Just curious where the H/IF choice comes from. These are not usual.

 

[eddie]

Val,

Appreciate the reply. Unfortunately there were no pictures given with the numbers. I had already used the chart you linked into your reply. That is what made me think that this might be a nice stone. That''s what makes some of these online places so scary to me. I guess I should keep looking...

Any advice on the extra comments in the GIA reports? Is that anything to worry about when they add comments for defects that aren''t included in the pictures?

Thanks

 

[valeria101]

Date: 12/4/2004 100:32 PM
Author: eddie

Is that anything to worry about when they add comments for defects that aren''t included in the pictures?

Lots of things are never in those picture - only the major inclusions relevant to the given clarity grade are there. Whatever gets a note but no plot is usually much less visible than the things that got on the plot and determined the clarity grade: nothing to talk about if you are looking at VS clarity, but relatively more so for the notes on a I1. No idea why these things could not be simpler...

H/IF just appeared as an unusual price point: this is the most expensive "H color" ! Understandable if you consider "flawless" to have some poetic meaning, but otherwise?

AGA does not promise to predict brilliance with their cut grades.
Quite a while back, I asked David Atlas if these grades could be used to predict brilliance to any degree. ANd I got a diplomatic response... yes and no

I tend to take for granted the comments on the "Fancy Shapes" page here, saying that anything in the top three AGA grades is great, and look for some pictures afterwards. This is not just me. You may want to look among the posts of david Atlas for some simmilar advice from the right source.

Now, this stone would not be a pass off the bat especially if the price is attractive at all. At least IMO. Can the seller provide some representation of the stone (Iscope, ideally) ? There isn''t much choice of princess cuts listed with light return analysis in toe...

 

[valeria101]

Well, you must have seen THIS, right ?

 

[eddie]

The price looks okay compared to other diamonds, on the site, that are near in quality. This one is priced at just under $7K. While there is a 1.1, G, VS1 thats measurements are mixed between 1A and 1B grades that is going for $7400. Compared to what I am seeing on other sites, it seems fairly priced. Do you think so?

Thanks