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Books
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How to Buy a Diamond
by Fred Cuellar
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This book comes from an industry insider who will tell you all about the business and how
to protect yourself when purchasing diamond jewelry. Highly recommended.
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Diamond Ring Buying Guide
by Renee Newman
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The clear illustrations and enlarged pictures of actual diamonds are what add tremendous value to this book. You can
learn to recognize blemishes, inferior cuts, etc., without having to set foot in a jewelry store. Also recommended.
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Cut
Cut is by far the most confusing of the 4 Cs, since it
can refer to the cutting style, the shape of the stone
(round, square, heart-shaped, etc.), its proportions, or the workmanship
of the actual diamond-cutting process. Each of these four characteristics are
important while evaluating a stone, so we will discuss each separately.
1. Cutting Style
Diamonds, as crafted by nature, consist of translucent crystalline
carbon. If the outer rough could be peeled away, the resulting stone would be as
smooth as glass; unfortunately, it would be no more aesthetically pleasing than a piece of
glass crystal. The art of the diamond-cutter is to transform that chunk of
crystallized carbon into a beautiful piece of jewelry.
The diamond-cutter has two basic types of cuts in his
arsenal: The step cut and the brilliant cut.
You may also hear of hybrids of the two basic cuts, such as the emerald cut,
or you may also encounter some of the older-style cuts, such as the rose cut,
the old European cut, or the old mine cut. If you
are planning to purchase a diamond for a modern engagement ring, you only need to concern
yourself with the two basic cuts.
The step cut has parallel facets that usually
span the length or width of the stone. Refer to the picture shown here, and notice
the "steps" that lead from the outer edges to the top of the diamond. If a
step-cut diamond has rounded-off facets in the corners, this is a variant of the step-cut
called the emerald cut.
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Step Cut |
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Emerald Cut |
The brilliant cut has triangular facets that
surround the stone and usually culminate on a flat top called a table.
Again, refer to the picture shown here and notice how the triangles fit into each other.
The modern and popular brilliant-cut round engagement diamond has 58 of these
triangular facets -- 33 above the middle of the stone (or the girdle),
and 25 below.
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Brilliant Round Cut |
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The choice between a brilliant-cut or
step-cut stone is simple: If you want the shiniest diamond possible, select a
brilliant cut. If you prefer a more glassy, elegant stone, the step cut is for you. |
One point of clarification is that you cannot just go to
the jewelry store and purchase a generic step-cut or brilliant-cut diamond -- you must
select a stone with a given shape, that will in turn be created using step-cuts,
brilliant-cuts, or a mix of the two. Continue with the tutorial to learn more about
diamond shapes.
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