shape
carat
color
clarity

Trick to finding cushion that faces up well?

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Hello everyone! I've been doing a lot of reading here on PS and thank you all for your contributions, I have learned a lot by going through the forum. This is my first time posting and I am grateful for any advice you can share.

I know my gf prefers a cushion cut, so my research has been focused on figuring out their requisite attributes. I see a lot of discussion about cushions that face up well with relatively large length and width dimensions for carat weight and price. Is there any trick to finding cushions that faces up well? In looking for a stone around 2 carats, I keep seeing lengths and widths below 7 mm, but many of the cushions recommended in this forum have significantly larger dimensions.

How do you all find the stones with the best dimensions? Thanks a lot!
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
You really should be looking for stones that reflect light well. I dont think there is really any trick to finding stones that
face up large for their size besides just going through and looking at tons of stones. You can always look for shallower depth
and non-thick girdles but the real key is to find stones that reflect light well....then look at the mm size.

The easiest way to find nice stones is to give your specs and maybe what mm you are hoping to get and let some of the Pricescopers
go on a hunt for you. Many Pricescopers know what to look for as far as cushions that reflect light well...from there you can look
at the mm and find the biggest one that is well cut.

Sorry...I wish there was an "Easy" button...maybe someone else will have some ideas.
 

Rockdiamond

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
9,711
HI Sammy,
The term" face up well" is the issue here.
I believe that Tyty and many members here share a concept of what "the best light performance" should be.
I have different ideas and goals when searching.
For example- spread.
As was suggested you could search for measurements and girdle measurements.
Unfortunately that's not going to necessarily work.
There's a specific combination of factors that allow a given stone to look great, and have a bigger spread than other stones of the same weight. Stones that do this well are indeed, quite rare.

Based on many years working with buyers, spread is extremely important to many consumers.
In general, the stones that will tick the boxes of "best light performance" here on PS are not going to be "spready" diamonds.

I totally agree with tyty that there is no "easy button" unfortunately.

Do you have any pics that she's given you to show what she loves? That might help us to give more specific advice.
 

pinn

Rough_Rock
Joined
Sep 11, 2016
Messages
23
Gypsy seems to be the resident expert on cushions and has helped many PSers find well cut cushions with great light performance while accounting for spread. Hopefully she will chime in or maybe you can call her out in another thread
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Thank you tyty333 and Rockdiamond for your responses!

I'm not surprised to hear there is no easy button for this one, but I feel slightly better to know I am not missing something major!

Including a picture from her pinterest to show what she's thinking (her other ring pins looks nearly identical). For a setting, she is clear that she wants a thin, solitaire pave. She is trying to give me space to select the ring, but has said that her priorities (in addition to size) would be eye-clean and close to colorless as not to look yellowish with a platinum setting. I don't think she has considered any particular type of faceting. I know she'd like 2 carats, but I'm not sure that will fit with my budget, so I am thinking somewhere in between 1.5-2. I want to stay under $15k for stone and setting, preferably under $12.

I had been thinking H color, VVS2. She has pretty big hands but skinny fingers (size 5), and we live in an urban area where bigger stones are rather normal, so I want to make sure there's enough coverage with the stone in a solitaire setting. Would be grateful for your suggestions how to best accomplish this without breaking the bank. Thanks again!

65184c17c3f213acdab5a72d7334f99b.jpg
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Thanks, Asolut! The gf says she has no prefernce on square v. elongated, and she okay with either the modern or antique.

AC, just saw your suggestions, I'm checking into them now. Appreciate you helping me out!
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
sammy7|1481742503|4107234 said:
Thank you tyty333 and Rockdiamond for your responses!

I'm not surprised to hear there is no easy button for this one, but I feel slightly better to know I am not missing something major!

Including a picture from her pinterest to show what she's thinking (her other ring pins looks nearly identical). For a setting, she is clear that she wants a thin, solitaire pave. She is trying to give me space to select the ring, but has said that her priorities (in addition to size) would be eye-clean and close to colorless as not to look yellowish with a platinum setting. I don't think she has considered any particular type of faceting. I know she'd like 2 carats, but I'm not sure that will fit with my budget, so I am thinking somewhere in between 1.5-2. I want to stay under $15k for stone and setting, preferably under $12.

I had been thinking H color, VVS2. She has pretty big hands but skinny fingers (size 5), and we live in an urban area where bigger stones are rather normal, so I want to make sure there's enough coverage with the stone in a solitaire setting. Would be grateful for your suggestions how to best accomplish this without breaking the bank. Thanks again!

65184c17c3f213acdab5a72d7334f99b.jpg

the stone in this ring is huge. Probably 3 carats plus. You need to have a talk with her on expectations of what a 2 carat will look like- it won't look like that, and it's hard for most people to wrap their heads around as saying you have a 2 carat stone, you expect something really big.

If her pins all look like this she is looking for a Tiffany novo- esque Ring. Thin pave band, square cushion, more modern faceting. VVS2 is overkill, put that money into the stone size. Please do not look at carat weight, look at dimensions.

Gypsy def knows how to find stones but she hasn't been on too much on RT that I have seen. A few of us other cushion fiends can help you look. It is possible to find a more squared shape cushion with a huge spread but its hard- i did it and it took a LONG time, and I dropped in both color and clarity to get there.

A well cut I can also be colorless unless she is very sensitive.

Have you gone and tried things on with her so she can see what this looks like on her hand? Maybe say you want to take her on a fun date and go to Tiffany, try on the Novo in different sizes and see how it goes. That will really give you a good indication of how she feels.

Can you also post a few of her other pins? They may look identical to you but there may be some variations that we can pick up on that can help.

Was just about to post some links and AC posted literally all of the diamonds that jumped out to me. HAHAHAHA. This is my fav of the lot of its eye clean
https://www.jamesallen.com/loose-diamonds/cushion-cut/1.90-carat-i-color-si1-clarity-sku-1991342
 

Rockdiamond

Ideal_Rock
Trade
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
9,711
I agree with Dolly on the VVS aspect- VS is perfectly sufficient.
Also about posting a few more pics.
Dolly's point about size is also extremely important- because a 2ct won;t look like that.
The stone in the picture would need to be square to have that sort of light performance.
It looks like a Cushion Brilliant, as opposed to a typical Cushion Modified Brilliant- although some CMB will be able to mimic that look ( where's that easy button when you need it:)
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Hi Dollyanjuli,

Thanks for replying. Regarding the stone size, she definitely doesn't expect 3 carats. That picture was intended to demonstrate style only, not size. Here are a couple more pictures she has pinned.

I actually read over some of your posts about your cushion earlier today. I do still have some time to look, her birthday is in March and that's what I was thinking for timing. She's not set on square but I think you are right in that modern is the way to go, that would be fitting with her overall style.

We went to try on rings and figure out her size last weekend, though not at Tiffany's. It was a bit of a shock going from the magnification on my screen to how small they are in real life. I did think that 1.5 looked small on her finger, and she definitely preferred the stones closer to 2 carats. I was checking out the dimensions and thought the specifications were subpar for the price (from what I have seen), which led me to this post to try to find better dimensions for my price range.

The JA you linked looks like a great option. It was also really helpful that you reminded me it would be eye-clean. I think I have been looking at the x20 magnification and expecting that to clean!

518da50f517c9d1cfbb49ba748a6ada1.jpg bfcc5ccb7d5d1288ac61c64dc76361de_0.jpg
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
Going to put you at the top of your budget...
https://enchanteddiamonds.com/diamonds/view/C190-405792975????? 7.15x7.0

This one has a feather on the side you would have to ask about if interested (not sure what your tolerance is) 7.36x7
https://enchanteddiamonds.com/diamonds/view/C191-092183231?????

https://enchanteddiamonds.com/diamonds/view/C180-31Z701213????? 7.18x6.83

And here is a relative look of the 1.91 I posted and a 1.7 that I found on enchanted. This is on a size 5 finger with a 2mm band...

diff_between_cushions_on_size_5_finger.png
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Wow that comparison tool is awesome! You can barely see the difference at only 8%.

What do you all make of the Enchanted cut scores?
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
sammy7|1481753821|4107299 said:
Wow that comparison tool is awesome! You can barely see the difference at only 8%.

What do you all make of the Enchanted cut scores?

I ignore them and look at the aset images and the faceting pattern.

GOG may have some worth looking at but I cant get the website to respond to me... cant get the ASET images up but I'll post anyway as
a reminder to go back and look when the website is working better. Aset looks like it has lots of red under the table but not sure about
the rest of the stone.
This is an SI1 so you would have to ask about that (I cant get the report up) but the size is 7.62 x 6.95.
http://www.goodoldgold.com/diamond-search/1.80-platinum_select_modern-N-GIA-H-SI1-diamond-stock-14861-cert-
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
ok I'm going to throw this out there.

I bought my stone from B2C, blind. I had them check on almost a dozen stones for me based on what I thought could be "promising" reports. I found what I call my "needle in the haystack" stone this way, a very white facing, very big face up, very clean J SI2. They were super nice and always got back to me incredibly quickly.

I just saw this on the B2C website. It will put you at the top of your budget but they also offer a small pricescope discount. They didnt have the report up so I went and pulled it up from the AGS website- screen cap enclosed. I DONT KNOW IF THIS IS EYE CLEAN. It could heavily included and hideous. It could also be one of those secret eye clean SI2 stones. Ask them to get you a photo of this stone then post it here. I am not an expert ASET reader but it looks like it could be ok, hopefully someone else can chime in on that.

http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8604919-2.50-carat-Cushion-diamond-I-color-SI2-clarity.aspx



Wont hurt to ask! And while you are emailing them, ask about this one as well then report back. You want photo, video if they can get it, ASET

http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8009261-2.12-carat-Cushion-diamond-I-color-VS2-clarity.aspx

_38690.jpg
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Thanks Dolly! I'll reach out to B2C and report back! I like the idea of a literal diamond in the rough!
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
Okay here is the image for this B2C stone: http://www.b2cjewels.com/dd-8604919-2.50-carat-Cushion-diamond-I-color-SI2-clarity.aspx

8604919.jpg

Certificate should be forthcoming, but B2C advised they aren't able to get ASETs for either stone at this point, but if I were to purchase, they would have the stone sent to their lab in NY where they could take the image and email it before shipping the stone out to me. If it was unsatisfactory, I could cancel the purchase. Still waiting on information for the other stone, apparently it was being handled by a different representative.

LLJsmom, I really like the look of that antique Canera. Going to run that style of cut by the gf!
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
second stone is gross. What do you think of the first stone? It's only one picture but it looks promising...very clean for an SI2, at least from that first image. A video would be best though...maybe they can send one when it gets to NYC. If you like it, you can have it sent over and taken to an appraiser and then return it if you aren't WOWd. Also you don't need an ASET on the first stone- its right there in the report.

That VC stone is a beauty. It is a very different flavor, so yes run it by the lady. I totally agree with LLJ's mom that a really bright smaller stone can still look huge- but I'm not at all afraid to say I am a SIZE HO and if the bigger, modern cut looks good in person...i would probably still pick that one. lol. I hate putting my preferences on other people- as you can see everyone values different things and thats one of the beauties of Pricescope, you can become aware of all these factors and decide what is most important to you and your wifey to be.
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
The first stone looks great. I think it could be good enough to justify putting me towards the upper limit on budget, I didn't expect something this big to be in the realm of possibility. The B2C team was really responsive and there are enough guarantees that I could return it if the inclusions turned out to be too apparent.

I spent some time this afternoon looking further into the antique cushions and do want to get her take on that style, too. But point taken on the size, I know she would be happy (and surprised!) to receive something as big as the B2C. I think that is the direction I am leaning in at this point.
 

tyty333

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
27,198
sammy7|1481843203|4107589 said:
The first stone looks great. I think it could be good enough to justify putting me towards the upper limit on budget, I didn't expect something this big to be in the realm of possibility. The B2C team was really responsive and there are enough guarantees that I could return it if the inclusions turned out to be too apparent.

I spent some time this afternoon looking further into the antique cushions and do want to get her take on that style, too. But point taken on the size, I know she would be happy (and surprised!) to receive something as big as the B2C. I think that is the direction I am leaning in at this point.


That one does look promising...was B2C able to tell you whether it was eye-clean or not?
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
Hey Sammy,

What price are they giving you? They almost always knock a few hundred off the wire only price for PS members. Make sure to tell them!

If you can get it for 13, you should be able to get a nice setting (not hand forged but a nice one) like what she wants for around 1500 or a bit less. So you should net under your "top" budget- but you will have a knock out ring. I'm excited for you!
 

mrcushion

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
3
dollyanjuli|1481756736|4107314 said:
Wont hurt to ask! And while you are emailing them, ask about this one as well then report back. You want photo, video if they can get it, ASET

I would definitely want to look at photos, video, and ASET and get the gemologist opinion before purchasing the 2.5. The most likely reason it got AGS 1 for light performance is too much contrast(or head shadow) so the blue areas of the stone in the ASET may remain dark too long within dynamic motion or when you view the diamond too close to your head.

This isn't necessarily a problem because AGSL overemphasizes contrast in their generated ASET and cut grading but it is something to check before pulling the trigger.
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
dollyanjuli|1481844837|4107599 said:
Hey Sammy,

What price are they giving you? They almost always knock a few hundred off the wire only price for PS members. Make sure to tell them!

If you can get it for 13, you should be able to get a nice setting (not hand forged but a nice one) like what she wants for around 1500 or a bit less. So you should net under your "top" budget- but you will have a knock out ring. I'm excited for you!

Good morning everyone. I wrote back to B2C and requested more photos and/or a video along with their gemologist's opinion if it is eye clean. I also gratuitously mentioned all the help I am getting from PS and asked if they could price it under $13k! :naughty:

Btw, Mrcushion, the cut grade and light performance is AGS Excellent 1, and the polish and symmetry is AGS Ideal 0.

aset_18.png

Agreed that I won't be able to swing a custom setting, but are there any particular non-hand forged settings you all would recommend that would achieve the look of the Novo? I know she also really likes the "floating" look like in Kim Kardashian's engagement ring.

Oh, B2C just wrote back: Bank Wire Price w/ PS discount: $12,943.21. But they can't get any additional pictures or video until they get the stone to their lab.
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
you can definately get a novo-esque setting at a pretty good deal- where are you located? ID Jewelry in NYC is said to have an affordable bench that produces quality pieces. David Klass in Los Angeles is also affordable. Most people here can recommend someone in most major cities- I myself "have a guy" in downtown LA I use for all my bench work and I think he is the best "affordable" bench i have ever used.

If you want to go more custom (a la Kimmy K) you are going to need to pony up a bit more, but as long as you do CAD you shoulddddd be able to squeak it in at budget.

Awesome that they knocked the price down! I knew they would =) B2C honestly is so low sometimes, it kind of boggles my mind...i know they are a drop shipper but as an example, this same stone is on other sites for up to 1k more. And its not like their service is lackluster, they are ON IT!
 

sammy7

Rough_Rock
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
12
We are in the arctic land of Chicago.
 

dollyanjuli

Brilliant_Rock
Trade
Joined
Apr 25, 2013
Messages
592
are you opposed to shipping it somewhere? and did you decide to keep the 2.5?
 

AprilBaby

Super_Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Jul 17, 2008
Messages
13,234
Well hello from the fellow arctic land of Chicago!
 
Be a part of the community Get 3 HCA Results
Top