In the past year, princess cut diamonds have considerably more popular than in past years, selling at the rate of approximately 70% of round diamonds.
The princess cut, as opposed to the round is square with sharp corners. This allows for a sleek modern look, as opposed to the more traditional round.
The princess cut has the following advantages:
- A lot cheaper – sometimes nearly half the price of an equivalent round diamond.
- Unlike other fancy shapes, such as oval or marquise, light return is similar to rounds for AGS Ideal grades.
- Can be graded using the AGS cut grading system.
- To the naked eye, princess cuts generally look bigger than an equivalent round diamond.
Below are two diamonds, one round, one princess, both 0.75ct. As you can see, under magnification, the princess cut diamond looks only slightly smaller, despite being half the price:
The princess cut also lends itself to “corner claws”, as opposed to prongs, like say a Tiffany setting, as seen below:
AUD 
December 4th, 2008 at 8:39 pm
I personally find Princess cut diamond rings more elegant-looking than the traditional round cut. Perhaps it’s just that these round diamonds have already been over-exposed, thereby losing its appeal to the majority of diamond ring buyers. But then again, round or princess, diamonds are still diamonds and they are for-ever! 🙂