The Most Popular Cuts of Diamonds For Engagement Rings
The Most Popular Model Cuts of Diamonds
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| The Most Popular Cuts of Diamonds For Engagement Rings |
A major decision that you will be faced with in selecting the right diamond for that special someone is the question of shape, or cut. There are many, many different and unique shapes available in today's market. Determining the right one to suit your expectations can be very difficult.
In general, choosing which shape you want is really a question of personal preference. What shape visually appeals to you the most? However, every shape has different optical characteristics, so if you are seeking a specific property, such as brightness or fire, some diamond shapes may fit your criteria better than others. The traditional shapes are:
Round
Traditional Round Diamonds
The traditional round diamond has 57/58 facets, 57 without a Culet and 58 with a Culet. This is the traditional pattern that has been cut for about a hundred years. As time has passed, the precision with which the pattern is cut is about the only thing that has changed. The pattern is still the same.
When looking to purchase a traditional round, the goal is really to get a diamond that is balanced. Seeking optimal light performance in a traditionally cut stone is not a good approach and is going to leave you frustrated. What you want to be looking for is a good value for the weight, color, clarity, and cut.
You can definitely find a traditional diamond that will have a beautiful appearance. Many of the "old timers" of the industry still love what is known as the 60/60 diamond, meaning that the diamond has a 60% Depth and a 60% Table. These stones tend to be bright and glittery.
What you want to avoid when shopping for a traditional diamond is anything excessive. A diamond that is too deep or too shallow is going to lose something somewhere else. It is common for couples seeking traditional diamonds to find stones that are very shallow in an effort to obtain a "spready" stone, or one that looks bigger than its weight. This is ok, so long as the customer understands that the shallow depth will cause the diamond to sacrifice brilliance.
Once again, the goal with a traditional round diamond is to get a stone that has a balanced and attractive look that is also a good value for the money. This will ensure great results when setting in a classic engagement ring setting.
AGS Ideal/GIA Excellent Cut Diamonds
Ideal cut and excellent cut diamonds are stones that perform up to the cut criteria set out by the two world leaders in diamond grading and gemology.
These are diamonds that are going to look beautiful to the naked eye. You can feel confident when you purchase an Ideal or Excellent cut stone, because you will not get a diamond that looks poor in any way. These stones will all exhibit brightness, fire, sparkle, and scintillation.
Under critical analysis, there are going to be stones that are better than others. Also, to the trained observer, there are going to be some diamonds in this level of cut that look better than other similar diamonds.
The key to remember if you are purchasing a diamond in this range is that you are going to get a beautiful stone.
Ideal Hearts & Arrows Diamonds
True Ideal Hearts & Arrows Diamonds (H & A) are the pinnacle of cutting for a 57 facet pattern. They combine the exacting proportions that produce a top of the line ideal cut with the perfect optical symmetry of Hearts & Arrows.
The term Hearts & Arrows is not a fully defined term, so there is a range of diamonds that attain H & A status, as well as differences as to how professionals in the industry define the term.
Princess
The Princess cut is the most commonly thought of cut when the "square" shape is mentioned. This is a beautiful shape with lots of tiny sparkles. The princess cut is very faceted, and the sparkles and flashes that it gives off are much smaller than the sparkles given off by a round.
Finding a nice princess can be tricky, although thanks to AGS, who now has created an ideal cut grading standard for princess cuts, it is getting a little easier to get a nice stone. Shortages of AGS ideal princess cuts can still leave a customer somewhat lost and disoriented in a search for well cut princess stone.
Of course, seeing analysis on the diamond is the best way to know if you are getting a well cut diamond. However, a general rule that you can follow to help narrow down your selection is to look for stones that have a table measurement that is less than the depth measurement. Looking for tables in the 60% - 73% range and depths in the 65% - 75% range will produce most of your top performers in the princess world.
Numbers, however, don't apply as consistently to fancy (non-round) diamond cuts like they do to rounds, so even a stone with seemingly awesome measurements should really have some sort of critical analysis to ensure that you are purchasing a well-performing diamond.
Radiant
Rectangular Radiants
Radiant cuts are one of the toughest shapes amongst which to find nice stones. The issue that makes a nice radiant so hard to find is that of contrast. Unlike some other shapes, maximum light return is not what gives a radiant its beauty, but a well distributed balance of light return and light leakage.
Excessive light return can lead to a condition called head obstruction, which is where the head of the viewer is reflected in the diamond causing the stone to take on a very dark appearance. In order to avoid this, a stone with a well distributed mixture of light return and light leakage will give the contrast of lights and darks within the stone that will produce the beautiful "crushed ice" appearance that radiant cut stones are know for.
The radiant cut is one of those shapes to which numbers really don't tell the story of what the diamond is going to look like. To find a nice stone, a 3d model and reflector image will tell you much more than any set of numbers. Also, a good photograph of the diamond will tell you a lot about the diamond's personality.
Square Radiant
Oddly enough, the rules completely change for a square radiant. Since a square radiant is more like a princess in the way it handles light, light return is the key for this shape. The better the light return, the more sparkle, brilliance, and fire the stone will yield. Because of the square shape, the head obstruction that was a problem in the rectangle radiant is not at issue here.
Square Radiants, sometimes called box radiants, with a great cut are exceptionally difficult to find. A search for this type of stone requires patience and dedication to finding the correct diamond.
The basic guidelines of depth and table measurements for princess cut diamond apply to square radiants, but once again, do not guarantee or even predict with measurable accuracy that you will find a great diamond.
These stones, when the right one is located, are amazingly beautiful square stones, combining brightness, fire, and scintillation into a unique modified square shape that will attract attention.
Cushion
One of the hardest parts of choosing a cushion is finding out which look you like best. In the world of cushions there are really three main types of cushion cuts. Unfortunately, cushions are not officially separated into these three categories, so finding a particular type is a hit and miss project.
Antique
The antique style of cushion cuts is a stone that has the look that is was cut by hand. The facets are wide and chunky. The shaping of the diamond is usually not prefect, and sometimes even noticeably off. Most of the time these stones have a large culet that is visible.
These stones have an old world charm and romance to them that the modern diamonds don't have. They are very beautiful, and tend to throw off a lot of fire. They are quite difficult to find and generally do not come with an AGS or GIA certification. These types of diamonds usually come with an EGL certification. This is a more liberal grading lab, so the color may be slightly darker than the lab report would suggest.
Crushed Ice/Modern Cushion
The modern style of cushion cutting is a very crushed ice look. The stone has almost a Princess look. The look is appealing for customers who are after a glittery, sparkly appearance that does not have overwhelming fire or brightness.
Generally a well-cut modern cushion will have the look of sliver glitter, and small pinpoints of fire.
Hybrid Modern Cushion
For lack of a better description, we refer to these diamonds as a hybrid modern cushion. They are a cross between the larger facets of the antique and the crushed ice appearance of the modern style.
These are becoming ever more popular since they combine the fire and flash of the larger facets with the glittery brightness of the modern cut.
For customers that would like a more consistent cut and shape than that offered by the antique cut cushions, the hybrid cushions can provide the accuracy of modern cutting, while maintaining some of the old style look.
Cushions in general follow the rules of all fancy shapes. Every diamond looks different, and judging by the numbers is virtually impossible.
A good place to start with cushions is to look for diamond with tables ranging from 55% - 67% and depths ranging from 60% - 68%.
Emerald
Emerald cuts are a whole new facet structure. These stones employ the "step cut" pattern. This name is derived from the fact that the diamonds are cut using a literal step pattern.
Many times, couples experience a certain amount of frustration when shopping for an emerald cut. This is usually due to the fact that the stone is being asked to do something that an emerald cut is not designed to do.
Emerald cuts are not cut to have spectacular fire or brilliance. Although they will have some, the cut was designed to be a classic, deep looking cut that draws the viewer's eye into the stone. The "pool" like look of an emerald cut is really where the beauty of the stone is held.
Finding a beautiful emerald is a delicate balance of light return vs. contrast within the diamond. While an emerald that has a high percentage of high angle light return may yield very impressive fire, this will also create excessive head obstruction within the diamond, causing the diamond to look dark or have areas of black in the stone created by the shadow of the observers head.
On the other hand, an emerald with excessive light leakage will not only lack fire, but will yield a dead, gray appearance to the naked eye. In addition, because the naked eye is able to see through the diamond where facets are leaking light, it is possible that the setting could be visible through the stone, causing the appearance of gray imperfections in the stone. Although this is not common, I have seen this occur a handful of times.
As with all fancy diamond cuts, numbers alone just don't tell the story, but a great place to start is to look for diamonds with depth and table measurements in the 60% - 70% range.
Asscher
An asscher cut is essentially a square emerald. There are branded types of asscher that have incorporated additional facets; however, what most people purchase every day as an asscher cut, is just another name for a square emerald.
Asschers share the step cut facet pattern with emerald. They are very beautiful stones, and function in much the same way as the emerald cut. The only major difference is that asschers, because of their square shape, produce more fire than emeralds do. Because they are square, the high angle light return, which produces the fire, does not impact the square stone as much as it pertains to head obstruction. This allows for the asscher to be cut to return more high angle light return, which results in greater fire.
Once again, the main object of the stone is to give a deep, "pool" like appearance and to draw the eye of the viewer in. A crisp internal pattern and tight proportions can make the asscher one of the more beautiful cuts produced on the market.
Just recently, AGS released their specifications for the Ideal Asscher Cut. Although there are very few being produced at the moment, this new standard is definitely going to make finding beautiful asscher cuts more possible as time goes on.
When it comes to looking for a beautiful asscher cut stone, the same rules as emeralds apply. As with any fancy, analysis is needed, but looking for depth and table measurements that are between 60% - 70% is a great place to start.
Oval/Pear/Marquise/Heart
These shapes of diamonds are really impossible to find by the numbers. There are so many variables in look, that the ideal stone for you will completely depend on what you are visually looking for. At quality diamond retails, they will handle searches for these diamonds one at a time, and work with you to determine exactly what you are looking for, and what is most important to you in the diamond.
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