Princess cut diamonds are commonly used in engagement rings, but how much does one actually cost?
It depends on a huge range of factors, but a princess cut diamond ring can cost anything from a few hundred to hundreds of thousands of dollars – there’s no real top end. It all comes down to the size and quality of the diamond, and the ring it is set into.
Read on to learn more about princess cut diamonds, what they actually are, and how much they tend to cost.
One Of the Boldest Cuts You’ll Ever See
The princess cut diamond style has only really existed since the 1980s, but the origins of the cut are muddied somewhat. There are sources that suggest the cut was first introduced in the 1960s by a London-based jeweler, but it’s a disputed fact.
Another source claims that the princess cut diamond style was created by two Jewish diamond cutters, Betazel Ambar, and Israel Itzkowitz, in the 1980s. However, we found a third source that claims the cut was created at least in part by a jeweler named Basil Watermeyer in 1971.
Regardless of who created it, the fact remains today that the princess cut diamond is an extremely popular choice for engagement rings – particularly big ones. It’s a bold and brilliant cut that instantly stands out, regardless of its size.
When you examine a princess cut diamond, you’ll immediately notice how intense the brilliance is, and how incredible the ‘sparkle factor’ is. It’s a square stone with fifty-eight facets that is cut in such a way that it uses much more of the ‘rough diamond’ that the cutter starts with.
In many cases, a diamond cutter will only be able to use around forty percent of a rough diamond, particularly where more traditional styles are concerned. However, a princess cut diamond uses up to eighty percent of the rough stone, a fact that actually reduces the cost of the diamond.
Therefore, a princess cut diamond ring immediately becomes a fantastic entry-level purchase for the less extravagant shopper, but it doesn’t end there. As with most gemstones in the jewelry world, a princess cut diamond doesn’t necessarily have a real top end, where pricing is concerned.
Although you can purchase a princess cut diamond ring for just a few hundred dollars, the upper end of the scale is much, much higher. If you shop around, you’ll easily find princess cut diamond rings with price tags that climb into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Size Matters
Ultimately, it all boils down to the size of the diamond, as you might expect. For example, if you were to purchase a 0.3-carat princess cut diamond ring, you could expect to pay around four to five hundred dollars.
However, if you’d prefer something a little more extravagant, you can pick up a 5-carat princess cut diamond ring for around sixty thousand dollars. Although, it’s worth bearing in mind that our first example was a white gold ring, and the latter example a platinum ring.
When it comes to purchasing diamonds, and more specifically, diamond rings, it’s all about the size and clarity of the stone. There’s a diverse spectrum where diamond ‘ratings’ are concerned, with each level of the scale coming equipped with a completely different price point.
We examined a company based in the United Kingdom, called Diamonds Factory, which offers a range of diamond rings that can be customised with the diamond of your choice. When you’re purchasing a ring, you can pick anything from a 0.2-carat to a 3-carat diamond.
Furthermore, you can select the clarity of your diamond from a diverse range, from IF (Internally Flawless), to I1, which will have multiple flaws or ‘inclusions’. We discussed the issues that can be caused by gemstone inclusions in another article.
So, on Diamonds Factory, you can start with a 9-carat white gold ring, adorned with a certified and natural I1 princess cut diamond for around one thousand dollars. However, if you switch that up to an 18-carat rose gold ring, topped with a 3-carat, IF-rated natural diamond, you’ll be paying a cool fifty thousand dollars, with ease.
Of course, that’s just one outlet out of hundreds, and the prices will vary massively depending on what you want, where you’re purchasing it from, and the current global value of diamonds. However, if you want to purchase a small and dainty princess cut diamond ring, you can certainly do so without breaking the bank.