The wide selection of diamond choices often demand a lot of thought before you make up your mind about one. Cut quality, clarity, color, setting type and ring style, the crucial factors are many when it comes to the selection of a marquise diamond engagement ring. People who want to experiment diamond cuts that add a modern charm to the diamond engagement rings, often try out a fancy cut.
Here is a comparison of two popular fancy cuts, marquise and princess.
| Parameters | Marquise Cut | Princess Cut |
| Preferable clarity grade | SI1 or better | SI1 or better |
| Excellent depth percentage | 66% to 54% | 75% to 66% |
| Shape | Elongated | Square or rectangular |
| Price | High | Low |
| Size | Larger than actual size | Larger than actual size |
Marquise Vs Princess: Shape
Princess and marquise cuts do not have even remotely similar shapes. Marquise cut is commonly called the boat-shaped cut or football-shaped cut and the characteristic elliptical shape is centuries old. The cut dates back to 18th century and was worn by the courtiers of Louis XV to flaunt the rank they had in the society. The long body of marquise cut makes the fingers look longer when your wear it.
Princess cut is has an entirely different shape from that of marquise cut and they generally have a square shape although it may get slightly rectangular too. The rectangularity of the cut reduces its monetary value. The cut originated in 1980 indicating that wasn’t existent before centuries unlike marquise cuts.
Cut Quality
The length to width ratio is crucial in deciding the overall appearance of a diamond shape and a cut will look narrow or broad according to the characteristic ratio of length to width. When it comes to marquise cuts, the ratio will always be greater than 1 as the cut is a blend of oval and pear shape. Common length to width ratios of marquise cut are 1.5, 2 and 2.5 with diamonds looking longer and narrower as the ratio keeps on increasing.
In marquise diamonds, depth percentages between 66% and 54% as well as table percentage between 66% and 52% are considered to be of excellent quality.
The length to width ratio of princess cuts decide whether it will look square or rectangular. The ideal ratio for a square princess cut is in the range of 1.00 to 1.04 and if the cut is rectangular princes, the ideal range is 1.07 to 1.15.
In princess diamonds, depth percentages between 75% and 66% and table percentages between 75% and 66% are considered excellent.
Clarity
Marquise cuts are prone to bow-tie effect, which is a dark area in the middle of the stone in the shae of a bow tie. The bow tie effect will affect the light performance of the diamond because less light will penetrate it. To avoid the bow tie effect, inspect your diamond thoroughly to make sure it is eye clean.a perfectly cut marquise shape will have enough space to allow proper reflection of light.
As the clarity grade drops, there are chances for greater number of inclusions in diamonds but higher clarity grades obviously cost more. If you have set a tight budget, you could go a few ranks down in the clarity scale, provided the inclusions are in the sides because the settings selected for both princess and marquise cuts usually cover the corners. The reason why ring settings of princess and marquise cuts cover the corners is that the sharp corners of the cuts are susceptible to chipping.
Setting Style
A marquise diamond does not require any additional diamonds or metal work to enhance its chram because it can make a statement without these additional features. But if you need, you may add small diamonds or metals to make the marquise diamond engagement ring more aesthetically appealing. Aligning a marquise diamond parallel to the band by setting it sideways is a popular trend in use especially suiting marquise diamonds of carat size 2 and more.
The attractive shape of the princess cut and its daring corners make it a suitable cut that can be used in solitaire rings but there are a multitude of options other than this. by choosing a halo setting for princess cut, the center stone can be made to look larger than its size.
Size
The characteristic elongated body of the marquise diamonds makes it look larger than its actual carat weight enabling you to choose slightly lower carat weights without compromising on its visible size. Princess cuts have a slightly smaller face-up size but its long diagonal measurement makes it look larger than actual size.
Price
Marquise diamonds utilize the length of rough diamonds well contributing to reducing the wastage of rough diamonds. The fact that it looks larger than princess shapes even when the carat sizes are same increases the value of the cut.
Princess cut is cheaper than many popular diamond cuts owing to its cutting process featuring the use of same rough stone to cut out two princess shapes. Square shaped princess cuts are preferred to rectangular shapes, and as the diamond gets rectangular, its price starts dropping.
The choice of diamonds depends on personal taste and aesthetics and the primary factor that many consider is the visual appeal of the stone. No matter your preference, RockHer has all kinds of rings where you can customize it to your liking.