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An understanding of diamonds cut begins with the shape of a diamond. The standard round brilliant is the shape used in most diamond jewelry. All others are known as fancy shapes. Diamond cutting style are separated into three main categories: Brilliant Cuts: This faceting style allows for better light reflection and is considered to have the greatest brilliance of all cutting styles. Step Cuts: This faceting style is composed of rows of facets that resemble the steps of a staircase, examples of this are emerald cut and baguettes. Mixed Cuts: Radiant cut diamond has the shape of the emerald cut, but the brilliant cut. Classic Diamond Shapes Round Brilliant This shape is the standard for all other shapes and is the most popular of all diamonds sold, and therefore usually runs about 15% higher in price. Radiant Square or rectangle, both combine the elegance of the emerald cut with the brilliance of the round cut. Oval This is an elongated round and gives an illusion of length to the finger Princess This is a relatively new cut and a variation of the radiant cut. The main differences are the corners and that this requires a deeper stone. Marquise This diamond is elongated with pointed ends which also adds length to the hand. Heart Shape This is another hybrid of the oval and marquise. Color choice is important in this shape, a higher color will be visible in it’s corners. Pear This is tear drop shape is a hybrid of the oval and marquise, mostly used for earrings and pendants. Emerald Cut This is a rectangle with cut corners. It is a step cut, because it resembles stair steps. A very classic and elegant cut. Antique Diamond Shapes Cushion Cut This is a mix of an old mine cut and a modern oval cut, It can is rare to find a more desirable square, most are rectangle. It is very popular to set this high in a pave mounting. Asscher Cut This was can be called a square emerald cut. The original Asscher cut had a small table, high crown, a deep pavilion and a square culet. This is a beautiful and elegant stone in larger sizes, because the table is small, it appears smaller than another cut of the same weight. Old Mine Cut The old mine cut was the first brilliant cut, which was cushion shaped. It has a high crown, small table, deep pavilion and large culet. Because it is not very brilliant, it is usually recut to a modern round cut to maximize its it’s brilliance European Cut. The old European diamond was round like the modern brilliant cut. It has a heavy crown and is very deep. It too is usually recut to the modern brilliant cut. Rose Cut The rose has no crown making it very flat. It has very little fire, but is still useful in jewelry that require little height, such as diamond by the yard. Because the top of the diamond is flat, it appears large, giving a lot of flash for little cash. Briolette Briolette cut diamonds are found in jewels from the Victorian, Edwardian and Art Deco Eras. It is a drop shape stone with facets all the way around. There is no pavilion, table or crown. Side Stone Shapes Trapezoid This unusual cut to accentuates the center stone. The trapezoid has the same step cut as the emerald cut so it is a beautiful side stone for any step cut diamond. Half Moon The half moon looks like a round or oval so it really highlights these shapes. It also looks great with a radiant cut. Trillion and Triangle There are variations of these stones the trillion has rounded sides while the triangle has straight sides. These make great side stones for a solitaire. Baguette and Tapered Baguette Theses are step cut diamonds used frequently as side stones, although it doesn't have the sparkle of a brilliant cut, it has a classic understated beauty. Single cut The single cut diamond is used to accent jewelry, It has only 8 facets so it is less brilliant than a regular 58 facet round, but the price per carat is much less. |