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Diamonds >Grading > Diamond Cut
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Cut
refers to the shape and proportion of a diamond.
Diamonds may be cut in a wide variety of shapes but the most
popular are round, oval, marquise, pear, emerald, radiant,
princess, and heart. While other diverse cuts are available
on the market, the round brilliant cut is still the top choice.
There are standards of cutting to produce the optimum of
brilliance (light reflecting from the table) and dispersion (light
refracting from the crown). Originally designed by
mathematician Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919, his design became one standard for the modern brilliant cut today. In cutting
to these proportions, a cutter must often be willing to sacrifice
much more of the valuable rough to yield a diamond of superior
beauty but of far smaller size.
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Most
diamonds are cut for weight retention, which often results in a
deviation from "good proportions". Often, the
Diamond Cutter will sacrifice some of the beauty of the stone by
cutting for a minimum of weight loss from the rough, which usually
deviates from ideal proportions, but gets a larger finished stone.
The truth is that less than 1% of all diamonds are cut to ideal
proportions.
Care must be taken to avoid buying a stone that has been cut too
far from the "good" proportions. When a
stone has either a very shallow or very deep cut, light is lost
through the sides and bottom of the stone (pavilion), reducing its
brilliance. Since cutting a stone that has the
"very good to good" cut or proportions usually results in a smaller
carat weight stone,
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| Special notes on the term
" Ideal Cut"
The term "Ideal cut is used to
describe a range of dimensional tolerances that produce
exceptional quality diamonds in terms of brilliance and
dispersion. The term "Ideal Cut" does not intimate a
single set of dimensions.
The
cut of a diamond is expressed as a deviation from a standard
adopted by a grading laboratory. Care should be taken of the loose
use of the term “Ideal Cut” as there is no universally
accepted standard. There is some overlap in the dimensional
criteria used by the recognized laboratories
to establish a grade of "Excellent to Very Good”. The major
internationally recognized laboratories, HRD, GIA, EGL and IGI
each
grade cut as deviations from one of several standards and always
within a range of tolerances,
It
is highly unlikely that there will ever be a single set of
dimensions that will be universally accepted as the "Ideal
Cut" as there is a relatively large range of dimensional possibilities
that produce exceptional diamonds.
"ICE Brand diamonds are selected from a range of
tolerances that are included in both American and European standards
with a special emphasis on visual beauty
Take an
interactive tutorial "
How to buy a Diamond"
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