I talked about what makes a JP diamond in the basic 4 C's except Cut. Which is the most important and most elaborate of all the other C's, for the simple reason that there is so many things about it that it may not be even possible to cover everything on a blog.
Do note there are some things which I won't go into detail as well to prevent people from copying us. (The number of competitors that walk in to sit on our appointments D:)
The Basic Cut
Excellent Polish/Symmetry/Cut on GIA
or ideal Polish/Symmetry/Cut on AGS
This is pretty much a prerequisite.
IDEAL VS SUPER IDEAL (Important)
Ideal
Let's first talk about what is an Ideal cut. I'd like to first say that there is no absolute definition. There should be, but there isn't. Why? Originally it should be defined as a proper set of proportions defined by Marcel Towlkowsky. However, you will find tons and tons of jewelers internationally and locally that sell "ideal" diamonds that fall way out of this set of proportions and then they brand it, and they laser inscribe it on their certificate, and they define ideal that way. So at the end of the day, how can we define what is Ideal?
The HCA / Hollow's Cut advisor is a great Tool to help you out with this. That's me and Mr Holloway at the Las Vegas convention, great man who developed this tool for free(also developed the idealscope)and for people to filter out the good diamonds from the bad. There are limitations in the HCA as well which is why its only a filtering tool, which I will cover later.
Super Ideal
In a nutshell, an ideal cut is a given set of proportions of a diamond that returns majority of light. So what is a Super Ideal? A Super set of proportions of a diamond that returns majority of light?
Unfortunately the term Super Ideal is even more misused that the term ideal. Half the time jewelers will just use it for the sake of using it, even though they don't even know the definition to it.
This is probably a poor example, but it's more or less the best I can cook up in my head at this point of time, the Toyota MRS is an ideal sports car. To drive fast, top down, 2 seater, more or less gets the job done. The Ferrari is the super sports car. Does everything a normal sports car can do, but does everything better and looks better.
The ideal diamond gets the job done in returning light, however the super ideal diamond does everything better.
The difference is, between a MRS and a Ferrari there is a huge price difference. However a Super Ideal vs an Ideal can sometimes cost the same, cheaper or slightly more expensive.
Ideal Cut Diamond
- Ideal set of proportions to return majority of light
Super Ideal Cut Diamond
-A Tighter ideal set of proportions to return maximum light
-Every Facet alignment is taken into consideration
-Symmetry is taken into another level despite what the certification says. Tools are used to make sure the diamond is symmetrical from the bottom and top
-Overall light return is not enough, every facet of the diamond must perform to it's maximum potential in returning light
-Brightness/contrast patterning, fire, scintillation patterns must be taken in account. The diamond must be able to perform optimally under all lighting conditions
- Tools must be used to prove these claims. No tools, no claim.
In short, the super ideal diamond requires heavy scrutiny. Everything must be close to as perfect as possible.
In the next section I will cover these factors in detail