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Quality of Cut question

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1st_time

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I am almost there and have done my due diligence. I am buying a Princess cut stone and am left with only one question. Other than just using my eyes, how can I tell that the quality of the cut is very good? Is there something on the GIA cert as far as rating or do I actually have to use the percentages and numbers on the cert to do the calculations recommended in the tutorial?
 

Regular Guy

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No expert, but I''d say only judge with an Aset, or give it up, and take advantage of an AGS option only.

Sorry.
 

kenny

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Buy an AGS 0 princess.

AGS is the only lab that rates the cuts of princess cut diamonds.
 

oldminer

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AGA, my own lab, has for years graded princess cuts although it is based on parameters and not performance calculations. These grades were based on our experience, which is real world experience, not theory. Added to that, we now offer a direct, technology driven measurement of performance on rounds, princess and marquise shapes. This furthers the ability to judge how well a diamond performs.

Admittedly, the best way to know if you like one diamond better than another is to use your own eyes and your own judgement. However, since there is some expertise involved in correctly using personal judgement, we find the results of screening and measuring tools very useful and more consistent than simple human grading.

AGS is NOT the only lab that grades the cut, of princess or of other shapes. People familiar with Pricescope know more than the average shopper because there is more information is here than most anywhere else and it is presented in an unbiased manner.
 

Regular Guy

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Dave, pre or post...


Date: 1/17/2007 1:23:56 PM
Author: oldminer
AGA, my own lab, has for years graded princess cuts although it is based on parameters and not performance calculations. These grades were based on our experience, which is real world experience, not theory. Added to that, we now offer a direct, technology driven measurement of performance on rounds, princess and marquise shapes. This furthers the ability to judge how well a diamond performs.

Admittedly, the best way to know if you like one diamond better than another is to use your own eyes and your own judgement. However, since there is some expertise involved in correctly using personal judgement, we find the results of screening and measuring tools very useful and more consistent than simple human grading.

AGS is NOT the only lab that grades the cut, of princess or of other shapes. People familiar with Pricescope know more than the average shopper because there is more information is here than most anywhere else and it is presented in an unbiased manner.
You probably do have some pre-imagemed options out there, in advance of someone finding them, and then, they could be found. But, if your shopping, and don''t have an AGA option pre-purchase...in consideration of, among other things, my link above...there could be a logic to buying a stone pre-graded, but...to send it to a grader post purchase...that''s a difference, right?
 

diagem

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I still strongly believe that in fancy shapes..., you eyes are the best JUDGE!!!!
Yes, AGS will inform you if the cut is "ideal" based on their parameters.

But your eyes will too, since this specific cut is all about fire, fire, fire...., and in my opinion, even non-ideal princesses but still above average cuts will shoot that fire...
 

oldminer

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Ira Z;

I''m not totally clear on what you were saying or asking. The cut grade screening one can do with AGA is available for free on the Internet so a consumer or a retailer can run the simple Sarin/Ogi numbers in the grader and get a screened result at no cost and no shipping fees. While some consumers rely on an independent expert''s eyes, others, the majority, go it alone or take advice directly from the vendor. Whatever makes the consumer happy and fairly informed works okay with me and many other advice givers.

Philadelphia buyers and retailers do enjoy, or suffer, with lots of AGA pre-graded diamonds in the retail marketplace, but realistically Philadelphia is not the center of the diamond universe....I sometimes wish it was, and then again, I''m sort of glad it isn''t. In other markets, consumers tend to find lab reports with no cut grade or not enough measurements even to get an informed guess from an expert. AGSL cut grades define a quite unusually cut princess cut and not the normal diamond most of us are accustomed to. We find them attractive and think there will be a growing market for them if more cutters can figure out how to make money in fashioning them. Missing the AGS 0 grade results in a diamond with a lower grade cut in sort of an unusual faceting configuration. The economics of this process are very complex.

There are still relatively few diamonds being put through ImaGem equipment although we have worked for a year with one of the very largest chains grading in excess of 25,000 diamonds and giving each one an ImaGem Light Behavior measurement and documentation. I promise there will be more diamonds being directly measured for Light Behavior as people wake up to the possibilities and as the kinks of a new technology get worked out. I think you will see a large increase in ImaGem results being promoted in the coming months. A lot more interest is being shown in this technology than two years ago. So long as the industry, consumers and vendors are well served, I have no problem with hoping to get better grading into the hands of all concerned. Its my passion to see these good things happen. If there is ever any financial benefit for it, that''s fine, but nothing feels better than hoping to make a worthy effort and contribution to what has been a good business that supported three family generations.
 

Regular Guy

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Dave

While everyone''s looking at the WF demo now...I''ll respond.

Partly a) this is an order of operations issue, and partly b) it''s a "what are we talking about anyway" issue.

Let''s do (b) first.

In terms of what you''re describing is on the internet now, do you mean this chart...picked up from the Pricescope tutorial, and also at your site, and developed by you? I understand you think it''s worth has been surpassed by your own imagem, and I read here (on many threads, no?) these numbers are not a good predictor of performance. Maybe the central objection you have is with this conclusion. With respect to numbers in principle, I recently, frequently, post Garry''s post, as I did above, and do here again...(though that post is admittedly unfinished)...Still, the motivation behind the title of the thread is telling

Then, there''s (a).

Generally, for those seeking to start their search with diamonds that have been pre graded for cut...well...the posters original question was...


Date: 1/17/2007 10:30:02 AM
Author:1st_time
I am almost there and have done my due diligence. I am buying a Princess cut stone and am left with only one question. Other than just using my eyes, how can I tell that the quality of the cut is very good? Is there something on the GIA cert as far as rating or do I actually have to use the percentages and numbers on the cert to do the calculations recommended in the tutorial?
...and I''m saying that I read that if the concern is for the cut to be good, and the meaning is that the light performance is optimal...then, besides "just using his eyes...," diamonds pre-analyzed for light performance are limited. AGS options ostensibly are nationally available, though on a limited scale.
 
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