Asscher cut engagement rings in Canada

In this section of the guide, we’ll take a look at the selection and prices for asscher cut diamonds, and how a couple of Canadian jewellers stack up.

Finding an asscher cut diamond from a Canadian jeweller is difficult

First thing’s first, we need to address an unfortunate truth: purchasing an asscher cut diamond engagement ring in Canada can be quite the challenge.

For example, Peoples (probably the largest jewellery chain in Canada, with over 150 locations), offers only three asscher cut ring options:.

(While five items are listed, the other two are asscher cut Topaz earrings and a necklace.)

This is where online retailers such as James Allen come into their own – they offer nearly 2,000 asscher cut diamonds to choose from.

In the next section, we’ll look at what the experience of buying an asscher cut engagement ring is really like from Canadian jewellers.

Buying an asscher cut diamond ring from Serli and Siroan

The first jeweller we’ll look at in detail is an upmarket jeweller that specialises primarily in diamond jewellery.

Founded in the mid 1970’s in uptown Toronto, Serli & Siroan gained national prominence with loyal customers in all 13 provinces and multiple states in the U.S.

Looking on the Serli & Siroan website, they have a 1 carat asscher cut diamond engagement ring in a classic solitaire setting:

The centre diamond for this ring has the following specs:

• Carat weight: 1.21 carat
• Colour grade: H
• Clarity grade: SI1 ( Slightly Included 1)

This is priced at C$14,275.32:

C$14,275 is a significant price for a diamond ring, and if you are spending that much money, then you should expect to get a diamond that looks great. Unfortunately, that might not be the case.

If we look at the grading report from Serli and Siroan for this diamond, we can see that there is significant feathering along the edges of the diamond, a general term for any fracture or fissure in a diamond that extends to the surface.

The diamond also has a dark inclusion near the centre also shown on the grading report:

When we look at what that actually looks like in real life, the inclusion appears as a black mark right in the centre of the diamond:

This isn’t the worst inclusion I’ve ever seen, but it’s likely that this would be noticeable when the diamond is mounted into a ring setting – not what you want when you are spending C$14,275 for your diamond ring.

Finding a similar stone for much, much less

If you did want to buy an asscher cut diamond like this, you certainly don’t need to spend that much to get a diamond with the same specs as the stone above.

In fact, by being smart with where you buy, you can pay less than half that amount for a diamond with the exact same specifications.

Serli and Siroan are charging C$13,500 for a 1 carat, H colour, SI1 clarity diamond.

We can find a diamond with identical specifications (1.21 carat, H colour, SI1 clarity) through one of my recommended retailers for C$6,854:

This diamond may have sold as you read this, but you can see today’s prices for similar sized asscher cuts here.

However, when examined closely we can see that this asscher cut diamond has its fair share of inclusions as well.

It should be noted that this is a US-based retailer, which means that taxes in your province will need to be added to this.

I have a whole blog on importing a diamond into Canada with the specific taxes listed for each province, but the short version is that the highest HST that could be added is 13% on top of the sale price. 13% would add $891 to this diamond, bringing the total to C$7,745.

If we add the same 13% tax to the Serli and Soan diamond, it brings the to to $15,255:

The James Allen stone obviously delivers considerably more value and if you had to choose between the two, it makes sense to save thousands of dollars by buying from James Allen.

But.. hold it right there!

Neither of these diamonds is actually worth buying!

Something to know when looking at this comparison is that I wouldn’t recommend that you buy either of these diamonds – either the one from Serli & Siroan, or even my recommended retailer.

They have too many compromises in their colour and clarity which means they won’t look good in your ring.

For asscher cut diamonds, I recommend that you choose a stone that has been graded G colour or above:

Going lower than this means that warmer / yellow tones may be able to be seen, which many people find undesirable.

The exception to this would be if the diamond were going to be set into a yellow gold setting, in which case up to J would be an acceptable colour. To get a better idea of the colour difference for yourself, visit here and have a play with the colour filters to see how it affects what the diamond actually look like..

The other factor that rules out this diamond is the clarity grade.

With an asscher cut diamond, I recommend that people choose either a VS2 or a VS1 clarity. This ensures that the diamond does not have any visible inclusions but also that you aren’t paying extra for higher clarity grades which don’t make a difference to what the diamond actually looks like.

The diamonds above are both ‘SI1’ diamonds, which the GIA describes as:

“the term SI1 stands for “slightly included 1” which means that there are inclusions and they are visible under 10x magnification, but they may or may not be noticeable with your bare eyes.

Inclusions in SI1 diamonds often are seen by the unaided eye. SI2 inclusions are easily seen”

Just by taking a quick glance at the reference image provided for the SI1 asscher cut diamond on the Serli & Siroan website you can see the stone has feathers along its edges, and a large dark inclusion near the centre.

So, with either of the diamonds above, it’s likely that it will look yellower than you would like and would have visible black inclusions – something that most people are keen to avoid.

Get a better asscher cut for less money

My usual starting recommendation for an asscher cut diamond would be G colour and VS2 clarity, which will mean that it looks perfectly white once set into a ring setting and will be ‘eye clean’ ie. there are no ugly inclusions.

The price of a 1.2 carat diamond that fits these specs is C$6,2333:

That’s actually lower than the H SI2 diamond listed above – clear evidence of the importance of searching around the available options.

Adding the maximum 13% HST which would be due when importing into Canada and the total is C$7,956.

So, for nearly C$7,000 less than the Canadian retailer is asking, you can get a significantly higher quality diamond, which will look perfectly white and have no visible inclusions.

Of course, a setting needs to be added to this too, and this comes in at $440:

Again, this is just one example, but while researching we found many other Canadian jewellers with a similarly limited selection and high prices – none of which came close to James Allen‘s choice and value.