What makes
a diamond stand out beyond any other precious gemstone is its
fire and brilliance. While nature determines the color and clarity
of a stone, diamond cut is dependent solely upon the skill of
the cutter.
The cut of
a diamond is what determines how the light that enters the diamond
is reflected and therefore how much fire and brilliance the diamond
will exude. A diamond that is cut too shallow with respect to
its width will allow too much light to pass straight through the
diamond, leaving little light to reflect. Such a diamond will
appear dull and lacking in brilliance. Conversely, a diamond cut
too deeply will allow light to escape from the sides of the diamond,
also appearing dull.
Shapiro
Diamonds Carries Only Ideal and Premium Cut Diamonds.
Shallow
Cut: Light is lost out the sides, causing the diamond to lose
fire and brilliance.
Deep Cut:
Light goes straight through the diamond, causing the diamond to
appear dark and dull.
Ideal Cut: This is a very rare cut, that reflects nearly
all light that enters the diamond and creates the maximum fire and
brilliance. Represents roughly the top 3% of diamond quality based
on cut.
Premium Cut:
Reflects almost as much light as the Ideal Cut, but for a lower
price.
Good Cut:
Reflects most light that enters the diamond, but not as must as
a Premium Cut diamond. This is less expensive than the Premium Cut.
Represents roughly the top 25% of diamond quality based on cut.
Fair Cut:
These still are a quality diamond, but a Fair Cut diamond will not
be as brilliant as a good cut. Represents roughly the top 35% of
diamond quality based on cut.
Poor Cut:
These diamonds are deep and narrow or shallow and wide and tend
to lose most of the light out the sides and bottom. This includes
all diamonds that do not meet the proportion standards of a fair
cut.
The
depth and table measurements, which are used to determine how good
the cut is, are given in percentages of the girdle (the widest part
of the diamond). So, if a diamond's girdle measures 10 millimeters,
the table measures 5.6 mm, and the total depth measurement is 6.25
mm, it would have a table of 56% and a depth of 62.5%. What percentages
will yield an ideal cut vary from shape to shape. The table below
gives percentage ranges of a good cut for different shaped diamonds.
In order to cut a stone to ideal proportions, much of the rough
diamond is sacrificed, leaving a stone with a smaller carat weight.
Diamond cutters sometimes sacrifice ideal proportions to end up
with a larger, more profitable stone. Industry standard valuation
of diamonds (Rapaport) does not take into account a diamond's proportions,
thus a larger diamond with fair proportions will be worth more than
the smaller diamond with good proportions to a diamond cutter (color
and clarity being equal). Consequently, ideal cut stones are very
rare and hard for wholesalers and retailers to find, and as the
consumer, you will see that retail jewelry stores price accordingly.
It is important not to confuse diamond shape
with diamond cut.
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