Referring to the pattern of angled facets on the surface of the diamond, the cut of a diamond determines its brilliance and fire. People often confuse a diamond's cut with its shape. Whereas shape refers to the physical form and contour of the diamond, the quality of its cut dictates overall proportion and how it reacts to light. A diamond's sparkling character and reflective brilliance increases in proportion to the fineness of its cut.
The cut of a diamond includes considerations like symmetry, depth, crown and pavilion angles, uniformity of facets, quality of polish and the overall skill of the cutter that sculpted the stone. Most gemologists consider cut to be the most important diamond characteristic. A poor cut will dull the brilliance of a diamond of perfect color and clarity.
Cutting a diamond to ideal proportions sometimes requires sacrificing up to half of the crystal's initial weight. Consequently, such diamonds are sold at a relatively higher per-carat price.
Grading Cut:
Cut is the most difficult characteristic of a diamond to grade because it is based on a combination of aspects. These include crown depth, crown angle, pavilion depth, pavilion angle, the symmetrical arrangement of facets, polish - and more. Since the perfect balance of each is difficult to determine, the variance in the proportions between an Ideal Cut and a Poor Cut can be difficult to discern. Accordingly, the industry developed Diamond Cut Grading Standards to help in determining the quality of a diamond's cut.
The cut grade only applies to Round diamonds because they were the focus of the initial research conducted by cut grading laboratories. Though grading laboratories are slowly introducing cut grades for the fancy shapes like the Princess, Emerald, Oval, Radiant, Cushion and others, fancy shape diamonds with a laboratory cut grading remain rare. Each diamond shape has its own set of cut parameters that produce the optimal light performance and beauty for that particular shape.
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