spring cut spec.?

[GiGi]

A very special friend recommneded Spring Cut to me over the traditional Emerald Cut. I have been doing a bit research and found the Spring Cut's Depth% and Table% to be somewhat deeper than the emerald. Should I still go by David Atlas's Emerald/Radiant Cut AGA Chart to find Class 1A stones in Spring Cut?

 

[Richard Sherwood]

Hmmmm....

I dunno.

Rich, just fell from "expert" status

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

The facet structure is so different, but I am afraid i have to fall in with Rich

I think the people at ACA have an excellent reputation, and all the Ideal-scope images I have seen have been as good as a the best emerald cuts, and some have been unbelievable. Maybe it is a case of "trust them" but if you need a second opinion have them send your selection direct to Dave Atlas. Then maybe he can answer your questions for us too

 

[oldminer]

I don't believe I have ever seen a Spring Cut personally. Making a decision about how well one is cut with no reference to a head full of others one has previously seen is pretty much impossible. However, the way to judge these new cuts is compare their performance to the stones we are familiar with that are similar in shape.

Now, most diamonds I have recently seen with "new" faceting designs or shapes are meant to mimic and supposedly improve upon traditionally cut but similarly shaped stones prevalent in the market. Some of the new designs are pretty and some are not so hot. Innovation is to be encouraged, but many of these "innovations" are made with difficult to work rough that does not lend itself readily to making traditionally cut stones. Therefore, in order to do anything with this odd ball rough, a cutter makes a decision to experiment. Not every one of these its a great success although most are nicely fashioned.

Of the many innovative cuts I have seen I'd say most are either way too thin to be brilliant or overly deep. Very few have a good combination of depth to width or the correct angles to bring out the most performance for their shape. If I ask the cutter, "What are your best cutting parameters?", I get a reply that the stone I have in my hand is an example of the "best". Either it is 64 or 65% deep or about 55% deep and watery. I just inherently know that this reply is so self serving that no honest answer can then be expected.

You can't make AGA Cut Class parameters on diamonds that never exist and won't be cut. These grades are based on diamonds we have seen and appreciated over a long period of time. Sure, we saw very few Cut CLass2A and higher princess cuts, but we saw a few that were wonderful. We also have graded very few AGA Cut Class 4 diamonds because they are generally too poor for documents. But, we own many of them since we deal with old cut stones outside of our appraisal business.

I'd love to see a Spring Cut up close and expect we will at some point. Judging how it performs could only be done against a reference to similar shapes, not to other Spring Cuts at the present time.