Princess Cut Diamond

The Princess Cut was designed to maximize brilliance and sparkle and produces a diamond that is truly breathtaking. It’s combination of angles and clean lines gives the Princess Cut Diamond its characteristic square shape, with sharp uncut corners which make it the perfect centerpiece for diamond engagement rings, earrings, pendants and necklaces.

The Princess Cut diamond is second in popularity only to the Round Brilliant Cut. There are only two square shaped diamond cuts, the Princess Cut and the Radiant Cut. Both of these cuts exhibit almost as much brilliance and fire as the Round Brilliant Cut, which undoubtedly contributes to their popularity in both contemporary and traditional jewelry styles. So let’s take a look in more detail at the beautiful Princess Cut Diamond.

If you are looking for an engagement ring that embodies sophisticated elegance combined with a dramatic modern presence then a Princess Setting Engagement Ring is the perfect choice.

01

THE HISTORY OF PRINCESS CUT DIAMONDS

The Princess Cut is one of the more modern diamond cuts. It first emerged in 1961 as a ‘profile cut’ created by Arpad Nagy a London based diamond cutter who first used the term ‘Princess Cut’. However, it was not until the 1970s that the Princess Cut that we see today was fully developed.

It is widely believed that the Princess Cut was a hybrid of two new diamond cuts – the ‘Barion Cut’ and the ‘Quadrillion’, which led to the development of today’s Princess Cut. In 1979 Ygal Perlman, Betzalel Ambar, and Israel Itzkowitz were involved in optical research that led to the creation of today’s Princess Cut that exhibits facets in a similar arrangement to those seen in a Round Brilliant Cut.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF PRINCESS CUT DIAMONDS

When viewing a Princess Cut diamond you will see that it has an inverted pyramid profile and displays a flat square or rectangular face. This combination creates a unique dispersion of light which is greater than other square cuts, and helps to give the diamond the illusion of being larger than its actual size.

Dependent upon the shape of the Princess Cut Diamond and the way that the underside (the pavilion) of the diamond has been cut, it will be comprised of 53 to 144 facets. Princess Cut diamonds with less than 50 facets will not show the level of brilliance that is desirable with this cut, therefore the majority have 58 – 76 facets. This amount of facets achieves the optimum level of brilliance and sparkle for which the Princess Cut is loved, and makes it the most stunning of all the square and rectangular shaped diamonds. Plus, this number of facets and the level of light dispersion also means that a Princess Cut Diamond hides inclusions from the naked eye more readily, which also adds to its brilliance.

Unlike the other diamond cuts available which are of one shape only, Princess Cut diamonds can be found in two shapes – a square or rectangular crown. The shape of a Princess Cut diamond is determined by the length to width ratio of the cut. A square shape is created by a ratio of between 1 and 1.05 and a rectangle between 1.10 and 1.20. Princess Cuts in a square shape are the more highly valued of the two shapes.