The Kinds of Cuts

June 2, 2017
Garth Sleater

When it comes to buying a diamond, you look at the Four Cs. We have talked about it elsewhere on the blog. One of those C’s is Cut. Largely describing the shape of the diamond. But there is so much more to cut than just that. Today on the blog we are going to run through some of the more popular cuts, and just what exactly goes into them.

While understood as the shape of a diamond, the cut is more accurately a design guide. These ‘patterns’ detail how the diamond should be cut to enhance brilliance. The most common cuts of diamonds are as follows:

  • Round Brilliant
    • The single most popular cut. Consisting of 58 facets, 33 of which are on the crown. The number of facets are standard, while their exact shape is not so.
  • Princess
    • The second most popular cut for diamond. A more square or rectangular shape, the Princess cut is one of the newer cuts, being created in the 1960’s. Sometimes called a square modified brilliant.
  • Cushion
    • The cushion cut is largely based on the old mine cut, which had 33 crown and 25 pavilion facets. The modern variant of the cushion cut is somewhere between an old mine cut and an oval cut. It is rounded and rectangular, sometimes called an antique cushion cut.

… and many more! There are radiant, emerald, pear, oval, rose, baguette, heart, fancy cuts. The list goes on! Many of the fancy cuts are done using raw stones with unique sets of flaws or inclusions as a means of maximizing the best portion of the stone for crafting.

The cut of a diamond is one of the four facets (forgive the pun) of diamond buying so it is key to know what the differences are between cuts and what you are looking for in a diamond. It is a lot to take in, and any professional jeweler will be happy to go over the ins and outs of the various stones. Until next time!