Princess Cut
What is known as „Princess cut” is actually the second most preferred cut diamond shape, next to the round brilliant. Its face-up shape is rectangular or square and the profile, the side-on shape is like that of some inverted pyramid, having 4 beveled sides. A princess cut is an innovative diamond cut that was created in the nineteen sixties. It has risen in popularity of late as the more feasible alternative to the ever so popular round brilliant one, in which the diamond’s top, called the crown, get cut in a round face-up style and the bottom, or the pavilion, is carved like a cone. However, a princess cut sharing the same width and diameter with a round brilliant weighs more for it has 4 corners that would otherwise be cut off and rounded to resemble a round brilliant. A princess cut stone is called a “square modified brilliant”. While showing the same high level of brilliance, the faceting style is truly unique and does not resemble in the least the round brilliant. This Princess cut has its origins in the "French" cut, characterized by a step-modified "Cross" or "Double-French" cut crown, as well as a series of chevron-shaped pavilion facets, which combine and give a distinctive cross-shaped reflection as the stone is seen directly through a table. The Princess cut effectively combines the high level of light return of the round brilliant cut and the distinctive rectangular or square shape.
A square princess-cut piece is normally slightly cheaper than a round brilliant-cut diamond of the very same carat weight as it retains around 80% of the raw diamond, unlike the round brilliant, retaining only around 50% of the raw. The capability of retaining more crystal weight is why the shape is popular among diamond cutters.
Its name was originally used for another diamond cut, also known as a "Profile" cut, developed by a London cutter, Arpad Nagy in the 1960s. This name was later utilized and popularized by Betzalel Ambar, Israel Itzkowitz and Ygal Perlman in 1979 in Israel. A similar cut using only 49 facets, unlike the true 58 facets in the princess cut, got later branded as the "Quadrillion" and distributed initially in Los Angeles by Ambar Diamonds. Three years of research in optics produced a square stone having faceting like that of the round brilliant cut diamond.