The princess cut is a square or slightly rectangular shape introduced in 1980. It uses a brilliant-cut facet pattern (chevrons of triangular facets) to mimic round-brilliant sparkle in a square outline.
Pricing runs 15-20% below round at the same color/clarity/weight. You get more visual surface for the dollar — a 1.0ct princess looks slightly larger than a 1.0ct round face-up.
The trade-off is structural. Princess cuts have four sharp corners that concentrate stress and chip easily if hit. Settings need to protect the corners (V-shaped prongs are standard). A bezel or half-bezel mount is more secure than four solitaire prongs.
Best in modern, geometric settings. Looks dated in vintage-style mounts.
At a glance
- Price vs round
- -15%
- Face-up coverage
- 1.0× (square)
- Sparkle character
- Brilliant
- Resale liquidity
- Strong
- Length-to-width
- 1.00-1.05 (square)
- Clarity to buy
- VS2 floor; SI1 if the plot is off-table
- Colour
- G-H in white metal
- Setting
- V-prongs on all four corners, or bezel
- Watch out for
- Sharp corners chip, deep pavilion hides weight
What the princess cut optimises for
The princess is a brilliant facet pattern forced into a square outline: chevrons of triangular facets running down the pavilion under a large flat table. It keeps most of a round's sparkle while wasting less of the rough crystal than a round does, and that yield advantage is part of why it has sat below round in price since it went mainstream in the 1990s.
What it gives up is a little light performance at the corners. A round cannot be cut with corners at all, so no light path is being sacrificed to geometry there; a princess trades those corner angles for the flat, modern face that people actually want. The result flashes hard face-up and reads unmistakably contemporary in a way no round can.
Proportions, ratio, and the depth problem
Three numbers decide whether a princess is worth buying.
Length-to-width ratio
1.00 to 1.05 is a true square. Past 1.10 the stone is a rectangle and will be sold as a "rectangular princess" — some people prefer the extra length on the finger, but make that an active choice rather than an accident of what happened to be in stock.
Depth
Princess pavilions commonly run deep — the chevron pattern needs the room — which means weight sits below the girdle. That is normal for the cut, but it makes carat an unreliable size proxy: compare millimetre dimensions across stones before comparing carat, because a deep 1.0ct can face up smaller than a leaner 0.90ct.
Face-up size versus round
A princess covers roughly the same face-up area as a round of equal weight — the comparison table puts it at 1.0×. You are not paying for extra spread here; you are paying for the square, at about 15% below round.
Clarity and colour for a princess
Brilliant faceting helps, but a princess has one large flat table, and an inclusion sitting in that table is far easier to spot than the same inclusion under a round's busy centre. VS2 is the comfortable floor. SI1 works when the report plots the inclusion near an edge rather than dead centre — ask for the plot before you accept the grade.
Colour is more forgiving than it looks: tint tends to disappear into the pavilion flash, and G and H read white easily in yellow gold. The corners are the exception — they are where colour shows first on a square stone — so check all four in daylight before committing, especially in platinum or white gold.
Settings, mistakes, and who it suits
Settings that protect the corners
V-shaped prongs folded over each corner, or a bezel and half-bezel that wrap them. Four round solitaire prongs that merely pinch the corner tips leave the point exposed, and a knocked corner usually means a chip that runs into the stone and cannot be repaired invisibly. Princesses set neatly into channel and flat modern mounts; they look out of place in milgrain Art Deco.
Common mistakes
Buying a mount without corner protection; ignoring the depth figure because the carat was right; accepting an SI1 with the inclusion plotted under the table; and paying for top colour while letting cut slide. Also worth checking: the corners are genuinely sharp. Chamfered or rounded corners belong to a different cut — that is a radiant.
Who it suits
Modern, geometric taste; anyone who wants a ring that sits close to the band; and buyers who want round-level sparkle at 15-20% under round pricing. It is a poor fit for very active hands unless the setting wraps the corners.
Price, resale, and what to expect
Princess sits about 15% below round on the comparison table and carries a 0.85 multiplier in the site's price model — the smallest discount of any fancy shape after oval, because demand for the square look has stayed strong for three decades.
Resale is rated Strong, the second-best tier. A princess is a known quantity with a steady second-hand market, but a square stone still moves slower than a round of the same specification, and pawn shops quote fancy shapes over a carat at the low end of their range — they know the resale buyer pool is thinner. Get written offers rather than verbal ones, and expect the first number to assume the stone will sit for a while.
Frequently asked questions
Do princess cuts chip easily?
The corners do. A pointed corner concentrates impact force, which is why V-prongs or a bezel are standard advice rather than preference. A corner chip is also hard to repair invisibly — the stone has to be recut, and you lose weight and symmetry.
How much cheaper is a princess than a round?
About 15-20% at the same carat, colour and clarity on this site's numbers. On a $5,000 ring that is $750 to $1,000, which usually buys a better colour grade or a noticeably heavier stone.
What clarity should I buy?
VS2 is the safe floor, SI1 is fine when the plotted inclusion sits away from the centre of the table. Because the table is wide and flat, an inclusion right in the middle is the one case where you should step up a grade.
Why does GIA not grade princess cut quality?
GIA only grades cut for standard round brilliants. For princesses you get proportions — depth, table, crown and pavilion angles — and you judge them yourself. Get the millimetre dimensions and the depth percentage; those numbers say more than a missing grade does.