Solitaire Diamond Rings: Certification And Grading

By Author: Jack Smith
Total Articles: 2
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The quality of a diamond's cut is the only property that should be dependent on the viewer. Although often overlooked, cut is probably the most important aspect to consider when choosing diamond jewelry like three stone diamond rings. What makes judging cut difficult is that beauty is in the eye of the beholder; different people perceive the beauty in different ways.

The word "cut" actually refers to two different traits of a diamond:
1) the shape: round, princess, radiant, emerald, pear, heart, oval, marquise
2) the cut grade: how well the shape is cut, including proportions, finish, and symmetry.

Light should enter a diamond through the table and crown without being reflected off the surface. The light should be reflected off the diamond's inside and refracted or dispersed, and travel back out throughout the top at the speed of light. This refraction causes colors to separate and creates a diamond's fire. The white light return is a diamond's brilliance. We like to think of this as the ice. The movement of light is called scintillation. The color and clarity of the diamond also affects this light ...
... return. Inclusions may absorb some colors in the spectrum and blur others. Fissures or cracks in the diamond will change the specific gravity and return of light. Graining in a diamond's polish also interferes with the lights absorption and return. The carat weight may mean that a set of proportions that work at one weight will not work at others.

In manufacturing a diamond, a diamond cutter will analyze a rough diamond and determine how to extract the most beauty and most profit out of the rough crystal. A poor cut combined with many inclusions can make an actual diamond worthless no matter what the size. So, you have to be careful while buying three stone diamond rings and other diamond jewelry.

It is extremely important to learn about the cut grade of a diamond for three reasons:
1) the cut varies greatly from one diamond to another
2) the cut grade determines over 80% of the beauty of a diamond
3) a concise grade for the cut is not included on most diamond certificates prior to 2007, including the GIA Diamond Grading Report. AGS, GIA, EGL, and AGA are now the only recognized lab that does give a cut grade and provides extensive details about the cut and proportions.
Ask yourself the following questions to find out which category three stone diamond rings you would place yourself.

Perfection:

If you want perfection regardless of cost - start by looking at brand-name Super Ideal Cut round brilliants, like Hearts on Fire, SuperbCert, or our Distinct Diamonds. It used to be that you wanted a diamond to show the famous "hearts and arrows" pattern under special viewers to be sure you are getting the top cuts, but now we see a lot of other cutters that can create diamonds with beauty that rivals or matches the overall brilliance and fire of the hearts and arrows stones, but do not necessarily show this pattern. Branded diamonds sell for quite a premium, so expect to pay perhaps 20-30% more for that luxury.

Excellent Quality:

If you want with quality and beauty for a lot less money while buying three stone diamond rings; ask for an Ideal Cut. This is not the same as the hearts and arrows and they are not cut by brand name cutters that have spent millions to promote their names and logos, but they usually show a good combination of brilliance and fire.

Large and Beautiful:

If you want a larger stone without sacrificing beauty, ask for an Excellent cut (called a Premium Cut at most places these days). These will give you a good balance of beauty but at a greatly reduced price.

Large and Nice:

If you want a larger stone for your money, ask for a Good to Very Good cut grade, usually a 2 cut grade on an AGS certificate. These are still beautiful and more brilliant than any other natural gemstone. If cut goes below this, you sacrifice too much, but these are still nice enough for special three stone diamond rings.

Largest:

Even if you are mainly concerned about getting the largest size, we do not recommend Fair to Poor cu grades for three stone diamond rings. They have a noticeable lack of brilliance and fire (even when color and clarity are very high). Such diamonds are fine for regular decorative jewelry, but not appropriate for an engagement ring.