CUT

Of all the 4 Cs, cut has the greatest effect on a diamond’s beauty. Diamonds have a unique ability to manipulate light efficiently.  This unique ability can be released and maximized only by cutting and polishing the diamond to an extremely high level accuracy.  In determining the quality of the cut, the grader evaluates the cutter’s skill in the fashioning of the diamond; technology assesses the diamond’s light performance.

Though extremely difficult to analyze, the cut of a diamond has three attributes: brightness (the total light reflected from a diamond), fire (the dispersion of light into the colors of the spectrum), and scintillation (the light flashes – or sparkle – when a diamond moves).

An understanding of diamond cut begins with the shape of a diamond, with the standard round brilliant dominating the majority of diamond jewelry. All other diamond shapes are known as fancy shapes or fancy cuts and include the marquise, pear, oval, and emerald cuts. Hearts, cushions, triangles, and a variety of other new shapes are also gaining popularity in many forms of diamond jewelry.