Depth and table percentage for Radiant Cut Diamond

[yfiteit]

Hello,

Is there anything I should stay away from in regards to depth and table percentages? I'm looking for around a 3 carat diamond and was told I should stay under 70% depth, but I dont understand why? Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[bcavitt]

From DiamondArticles.com:

RADIANT CUT
Excellent Very Good Good Fair / Poor
Depth % 60.0% - 63.0% 59.0% - 59.9% or 63.1% - 65.0% 58.0% - 58.9% or 65.1% - 70.0% Outside the ranges
Table % 53.0% - 57.9 % 58.0% - 65.0% 65.1% - 75.0% Outside the ranges
Ratio 1.00 - 1.20:1.00 1.21 - 1.25 :1.00 1.26 - 1.35 : 1.00 Outside the ranges
Girdle Medium Thin to Thick, Facted Very Thin to Very Thick, Facted Outside the ranges


Kind of hard to cut/paste a table into a forum.

Remember that the beauty of a diamond is how well it reflects the light. I would think that it would be hard to get a radiant to reflect light well if it is too deep as it is with most diamonds.

Bryan Cavitt

 

[farmer gal]

With fancy shapes I trust my eye more than anything. I would never buy one based on numbers without seeing it first. What is your budget we might be able to find you something

 

[Gypsy]

Over 70 depth will result in a stone that face up small for it's carat weight. But with radiants a lot of them are cut deep.

There are no real ideal specs. You need images to buy. A LOT of really well performing radiants will have depths over 70.

I don't think anyone really needs IF clarity, but this one has potential from the pic and is under 70 in depth: http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/F-IF-Ideal-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1360057.asp You would need an ASET image of it to see what the performance looks like.

You don't buy fancies by the numbers. You buy them from their visual appearance and their performance.

This one is interesting as well. http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VVS1-Very%20Good-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1376411.asp I like the small table.

This one is interesting too, if the crown height is over 12% : http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-VS2-Very%20Good-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1373842.asp

Deep but nice table and patterning: http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/G-IF-Very%20Good-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1355014.asp

 

[ariel144]

Historically, the depth should be High 50's-65% ...I purchased a 2c radiant about 6 years ago and with the depth in that range and they will face up larger.. BUT, after looking at the radiants on James Allen, they now have a square cut cornered radiant that has the facet pattern of a princess cut and are very beautiful. Princess cuts are cut deeper in the high 60 to low 70% range, thus they usually face up smaller. Thus these radiants with that facet pattern are deeper in the low 70% range.

Just stay away from the "crushed ice" look of a radiant. To me, that is very unappealing You can go to GOG www.goodoldgold.com and see what that looks like in his videos.

Here are 3 beautiful facet patterns on radiants at the lower end of the 3 carat budget range.

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/I-VS1-Ideal-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1375375.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-VVS2-Very%20Good-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1337236.asp

http://www.jamesallen.com/diamonds/J-VVS2-Very%20Good-Cut-Radiant-Diamond-1459956.asp

You must see these diamonds in person to know if they are great performers. There may be some tutorials on radiant cuts on GOG on Vimeo or youtube.

Very hard to find radiants cut in the mid 60% range these days, they are obviously cutting them deeper now than even 6 years ago when I got mine. it was more of a brilliant cut. Watch out for the "bow-tie"effect too...very bad.

GOG will search out some nice radiants for you and do a video comparison on a couple of stones and make sure they are good performing diamonds (they have a great testing lab).

Hope this helps. (Its been a long time since I looked at radiant cut diamonds.)

 

[Rockdiamond]

Hi yfiteit, there's no "right" numbers when it comes to judging a radiant cut diamond.
As has been mentioned, if a stone is too deep, it will face up smaller in many cases.
I would not make a rule that you need to stay under 70%- but I can understand why someone would say that.
But remember, don't eliminate a 71% stone for that reason alone.

In terms of appearance- the originator of the radiant cut- Henry Grossbard- designed a look with an infinite number of small virtual facets- what your eye sees it a million sparkles- with such ferocity that you can't see the bottom of the diamond.
Someone once termed this " A bottomless Barrel of Crushed Ice"

Somewhere along the way that term has been bastardized to be indicative of a negative aspect- particularly by vendors who sell stones with a different type of look- such as hearts and arrows.
It would be very beneficial if you can see some radiant cuts- both those with larger and smaller facets to see which your eyes prefer.

 

[Gypsy]

You must see these diamonds in person to know if they are great performers.

An ASET image will help you determine if the stone is a great performer. If you have no idea what a great performing radiant is supposed to look like... then seeing them in person isn't that great a help.

James Allen and many (but not all) Pricescope vendors can provide you with an ASET image of the stones.


Here is a tutorial about the ASET and how to read the image you see: http://www.lexusindia.in/products/gb-aset-scope.aspx