How to pick princess cut diamonds for three stone ring
“I’m interested in the three stone princess trellis setting from Brian Gavin and am trying to decide between the 1.074 carat, G-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature princess cut diamond, or the 1.210 carat, I-color, VS-1 clarity, BGD Signature princess cut diamond; the latter of which tempts me because of the larger size, but I’m not sure how yellow an I-color diamond will look in a white gold setting. I also need help picking the princess cut accent stones because I’m not seeing a matched pair small enough when I use the search for matched princess cut diamonds feature on the web site.”
Choosing between diamond color and carat weight:
When the characteristics of the diamonds being considered are close enough, such as they are in this case, where both of the diamonds being considered are Brian Gavin Signature princess cut diamonds, so the overall cut rating and degree of optical symmetry is going to be comparable, thus so is the volume of light return and sparkle factor; and the color of the diamonds is within the same range, which in this case is the G-H-I near colorless diamond color classification; and the clarity grade of the diamonds is similar; I’m almost always going to recommend purchasing the larger of the two options, because most people will be able to discern carat weight over diamond color or diamond clarity.
Of course before making the call, I’m going to carefully look at the diamond details for both diamonds, evaluate the information provided on the Diamond Quality Document (DQD) issued by the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL), and look at the reflector scope images that we use to evaluate the optical symmetry of the diamond, which is the degree of perfection that the facet structure of the diamond has been crafted.
The details of the lab reports pertaining to the overall diamond cut quality are pretty much the same, in both cases the proportions of the diamonds have been optimized to deliver the highest volume of light return. The 1.074 carat, G-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature princess cut diamond features a three chevron facet structure, while the 1.210 carat, I-color, VS-1 clarity, BGD Signature princess cut diamond features a four chevron facet structure, so there will be a slight difference in the size of the sparkle and overall look of the two diamonds, although I’m not so sure that it is enough of a difference that the average person would be able to see a difference between the two diamonds without a great deal of coaching.
Both diamonds look great in the reflector scope images, the ASET scope, and Ideal Scope images look fantastic, which indicates that the optical symmetry of the diamonds is as perfect as can be, and as a result, both diamonds are drop dead gorgeous!
When it comes to diamonds, is bigger, better?
In the name of due diligence, I walked the two diamonds next door and asked the ladies in the next office which diamond they preferred, and the consensus seems to be that bigger is better, go figure. Nobody seemed to notice a difference in the sparkle factor of the two diamonds, so the chevron facet thing does not seem to be an issue.
We’ll need to search for a matched pair of princess cut diamonds to accent the center stone with for the Brian Gavin Princess Trellis II that you’ve selected, it is quite common for us to have to put together matched pairs of diamonds for clients who are looking for three stone rings, don’t stress over it, this is what our customer service department is here for.
