When it comes to diamonds, the cut is highly important. While many focus on carat weight and color, diamond experts know that the cut is the most crucial factor in determining a stone’s beauty and value, significantly impacting the diamond price. But what exactly is a diamond cut, and how does it differ from a diamond’s shape?
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This comprehensive guide will unravel the mysteries of diamond cuts, exploring how they affect a gem’s brilliance, fire, and scintillation – all key elements in determining diamond prices. From the anatomy of a diamond to the grading scales used by professionals, we’ll cover everything you need to know to make an informed decision when purchasing a diamond.
Whether you’re a first-time buyer or a seasoned collector, understanding diamond cuts is essential for appreciating the true artistry behind these precious stones and for grasping why certain diamonds command higher prices in the market.
Do you want to know the secret information all the diamond experts share?
If you know this confidential data, you’re not a beginner diamond buyer. Professional diamond appraisers don’t make this severe mistake in the jewelry shops. But the amateurs do think it’s true.
They think the carat weight only defines the price of diamonds.
How far-out is this! The majority of customers come to our office and say, “I want a beautiful diamond.” And when we ask about the details, everything they can tell is its carat number and color. That’s everything they know!
Our mission is to show the variety of factors that change the price tag of your stone. Each diamond element deserves a separate post. This time, we’ll concentrate on the diamond cut. This is one of the most determining elements for diamond value.
Diamond Cut 101
For the basic understanding of how different diamond cuts change a diamond, here are 3 main dimensions they affect:
- Brilliance how the stone reflects the white light;
- Fire the way the white color turns into the rainbow inside a diamond;
- Scintillation the sparkling that appears because of the contrast between dark and light areas.
Many people mistake diamond cuts and diamond shapes. We’ll dive deeper into this topic a bit further. What you need to know right now is that cuts of diamonds change 2 things in a stone: its sparkling intensity and light transmission. That’s why cut quality determines the price of diamonds. Even if the stone you’re holding in your arms has the clearest clarity grade and the heaviest carat weight possible, a poor diamond cut will make it look fake and plastic (and surely, not a masterpiece like a Radiohead song about fake plastic trees).
How to understand the types of diamond cuts: Glossary for the diamond structure
The concept of a diamond cut refers to the specific anatomy of the stone. To understand it better, let’s dive a bit closer into the basic elements of a diamond:
- Facet each flat surface on a diamond;
- Table the most visible facet. It appears when a diamond is placed in a ring setting;
- Crown the space between the table and the widest part in the stone;
- Girdle the line between the crown and the pavilion that creates circumference;
- Pavilion the bottom part closer to the sharp point of a diamond;
- Culet an (ideally) invisible part of the diamond, or its tip facet;
- Width the length of the widest part of a diamond (or the girdle in its widest part);
- Depth the length from the table to the culet (the longest distance in a diamond).
You may ask: how the knowledge of these elements can help you in life? Easy! First, you’ll understand any information on cuts of diamonds better. Also, you can distinguish the exact look of a brilliant diamond cut, which is the best pick among all the variety of diamond cuts. This top choice (or an excellent cut) has the perfect symmetry and quality of polished diamond facets and a corresponding girdle thickness.
So, the answer to the question “How much are diamonds worth?” centers around the elegance of its proportions.
What is a brilliant diamond cut
The brilliant diamond cut is a result of outstanding mastery of its cutter. Professional skills and an exceptional aesthetic sensitivity are the must to make a diamond of perfect symmetry and polish.
Here’s the typical procedure of determining diamond cuts:
- Defining the proportions of facets,
- Measuring brightness through light reflection parameters,
- Observing fire, or how iridescent a diamond is,
- Determining the intensity of sparkling and the unique balance between dark and bright areas the diamond cut produces.
Distinguishing cuts of diamonds requires laboratory equipment and technical expertise. However, it’s important to understand the basics of grading so that you won’t get in trouble while judging about types of diamond cuts.
Diamond cuts and diamond shapes: Is there any difference?
Diamond cuts are not diamond shapes. And the difference between these two concepts is simple:
- diamond shapes are the variety of forms a diamond can get cushion, radiant, round and many others,
- diamond cuts are different degrees of mastery in making diamond sparkle and permit light through its surface.
Different diamond cuts include the variety of possible diamond shapes besides other aspects, like the correlation between design and carat weight of a diamond. That’s because a diamond shape changes the proportion of a diamond and their ratio influences a diamond cut. But this is only a side-effect.
2 Approaches to range different diamond cuts
Among diamond professionals, it’s common to use a simple 5-stage approach to grading diamond cuts:
- Ideal (AGS gradation) or Excellent (GIA gradation) the brilliant diamond cut that guarantees an exceptional diamond quality;
- Very good this diamond cut is not extraordinary, but a stone still reflects the impressive amount of light;
- Good the diamond surface sparkles nicely and reflects most light entered through its surface. This is still a fair choice among various cuts of diamonds;
- Fair this is a stone of blurry sparkle. The white light leaves the diamond without a trace. Selecting fair cuts of diamonds is satisfactory for tiny stones only;
- Poor the worst choice among different diamond cuts. Such jewels have no brilliance, symmetry, and sparkle. Buying these diamonds is a waste of money.
Many diamond buyers still consider diamond shapes as certain types of diamond cuts. This category of customers are likely to ask questions like “What is a cushion cut diamond?” or “What is a princess cut diamond?”. To address these inquiries, we show the typology of diamond shapes and diamond cuts in the image below.
How the price of diamonds depends on their cut
All the types of diamond cuts change the evaluation of proportions, and the tiniest shift in this dimension changes the value of the stone. The key elements compared here are the width, depth, and table. And their ratios affect the quality of diamond cuts directly.
Among the other aspects that change the price of diamonds, experts always check these 3 parameters:
- The symmetry of all the facets (beyond the proportions of key diamond parameters);
- The extent of brilliance, scintillation and fire (by using laboratory equipment and building 3D computer models);
- The quality of finishing touches (by checking diamond polishing).
As it turns, the tiniest details determine how much are diamonds worth. And when it comes to the diamond cut, the concept of beauty is not a subjective one. It comprises two key elements: the optimal depth of cut and the exact size of facets.
What is the most expensive diamond cut
A gentle touch of a true professional’s hand has its cost. This rule applies to the world of different diamond cuts as well. Among the various shapes available, all the diamond cuts reveal their best in round stones. If you want a perfect stone, go for an ideal cut in this diamond shape.
Please, don’t compromise on less when it comes to the quality of your diamond cut!
Choosing a diamond with an Excellent cut grade in the GIA certificate is a fair guarantee of quality. Still, you need an eye of a diamond expert to evaluate whether the proportions of the stone and its sparking are truly exceptional. To get this information, contact Diamond Registry consultants. We’ll be delighted to help you make a wise choice!
