Why Princess Cut Diamonds Are Perfect for Engagement Rings

Why Princess Cut Diamonds Are Perfect for Engagement Rings

Clean, modern looks combined with brilliant shine and sparkle are the key features of princess cut diamonds. Couples in search of a stone that will provide the most value for their money, may want to consider this lovely contemporary design. It allows stone cutters to maximize the amount of rough diamond saved during cutting and helps hide any potential flaws in the stone. You’ll love how a well-cut princess diamond flares to life under the spotlight and the multiple sparkles it returns under regular lighting.

princess cut diamond engagement ring

What are Princess Cut Diamonds?

A princess cut diamond is square or slightly rectangular when viewed from the top, but features a slightly curved pyramidal shape from the sides. This unique design has many small facets to reflect as much light as possible. However, its primary purpose to is to provide the most carats for your diamond cut.

A princess is among the most popular diamond cuts on the market, as it allows couples to get larger 2-carat stones for less money compared to a round cut stone. They also still offer a high-level of brilliance, sparkle, and fire. Of course, the final appearance of the stone has a lot to do with the skill of the diamond cutter.

The princess cut features between 57 and 76 facets. Generally, the more facets a diamond has the better it can reflect light within the stone. This doesn’t mean that more facets are always better. It’s up to the cutter to decide how to cut the diamond to achieve the best brilliance and fire.

When you examine a well-cut princess diamond under light, you’ll see that it has plenty of sparkle and shine with few dark spots inside. Some less expensive princess diamonds have visible dark areas within the stone that are thought to detract from its overall beauty.

In general, the great thing about princess cut diamonds is that they work well to hide flaws in the diamond. This style reflects more light inside the stone compared to other diamond cuts, which helps hide the dark spots that inclusions can create. A less-expensive flawed diamond can become quite beautiful with the right level of skill and proper cutting choices. So, if you are willing to pay a little more, you’ll still end up with an affordable large stone that has plenty of sparkle.

History of Princess Cut Diamonds

vintage princess cut diamond

The modern princess cut diamond first appeared in 1979 after years of research and development by jewelers, Betzalel Ambar, Ygal Perlman, and Israel Itzkowitz. However, the name was first assigned to another diamond cut developed by London stone cutter, Arpad Nagy in 1961. Nagy’s cut later became the ‘profile cut’, which has fewer facets and a larger table.

Before achieving the modern princess cut diamond, Ambar, Perlman, and Itzkowitz, also developed the ‘quadrillion cut’ in 1970. This early square cut stone only featured 49 facets. Wanting to get more out of their design, the cutters spent years on optical research to develop their princess cut, which had 58 facets when it was first released on the marketplace.

Another precursor of the princess cut is the barion cut, developed in 1971 by South African diamond cutter Basil Watermeyer. He created this square cut with rounded corners to improve the sparkle and brilliance of square cut stones. Before the barion cut, many square stones had a flat, dark appearance.

Buying Guidelines

It’s always important to consider what you want in a diamond before buying a princess cut diamond ring. For some customers, the carat or size of the stone is the key factor, but for others, it is the sparkle or ability to reflect light.

Jewelers generally value fewer flaws, sparkle, and brilliance over size alone. However, pick what you want. If you are looking for a ring that fits the ideal, you’ll want to examine the stone under diffuse light to see how much white light is reflected. This is the brilliance of a stone. If you see visible dark areas, that it an indicator that the diamond was cut to maximize size rather than appearance.

You may need a larger carat princess cut if you have a larger ring size, so the stone looks good on your hand. This particular cut also looks great on long fingers. Of course, princess cut diamonds offer clean, modern lines and look good on a variety of jewelry from earrings to tennis bracelets.

princess cut diamond engagement ring

Popular Settings for Princess Cut Diamonds

One of the most popular settings for princess cut diamonds is the solitaire. It is just a thin metal band with four prongs to hold the stone in place. This minimizes the amount of metal and distraction and puts all the focus on your diamond. This setting also allows more light to enter the diamond, which improves its brilliance.

Other great choices are the pave setting and the channel setting. These two work well for rows of small princess cut diamonds. The channel setting is a snag free design that holds the stones securely in a single row, while the pave setting features multiple rows of stones and highlights a larger center stone.

Generally, the pave setting provides extra sparkle for a stone that may not be cut as well. Get exact ring sizing early on to prevent sizing problems after the pave setting ring is finished.

The princess cut is a practical and attractive design that we commonly find a variety of jewelry. Couples who want the best look and biggest size for their investment can do so with this cut. It helps to hide any inclusions while enhancing the sparkle, brilliance, and fire of square diamonds.

You can usually find this in a 2-carat size, but bigger stones are available. Highlight a single princess cut stone in a solitaire setting or use multiple stones in a channel or pave setting. If you like the princess cut, let us know why and whether you prefer carats or brilliance.

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