Brilliant Cut Diamonds
When people thing of diamonds, more often than not they are thinking of the Round Brilliant cut.
The simple elegance of the shape of a round diamond makes it one of the most versatile designs around. In addition to being a popular choice in engagement rings, round brilliant diamonds can also be found in earrings, necklaces, pendants and inset into many other pieces of jewellery.
The reason a diamond sparkles is due to a complicated relationship between the stone and the light surrounding it. The facets on the surface reflect light, both internally and externally and what we see when we look at a diamond is a combination of the two.
Professionally, this light show consists of three distinct qualities: Brilliance – the degree to which the light inside the diamond bounces back out and returns to our eyes. Then there is ‘fire’ – the play of colours from the refraction of light within the stone and finally ‘scintillation’ – the bits of light that flash as the stone is moved.
Why the Round Brilliant Cut Diamond?
Round brilliant cut diamonds tend to be more desirable because they generally have these three qualities in abundance. However, they are also among the most expensive diamonds on the market, partly because of their great popularity but also because the act of cutting a diamond into this shape usually results in a loss of at least 50 per cent of the original uncut stone.
The proportions of the stone have to be carefully considered before any cutting takes place. If the pavilion – the cone shaped part of the stone at the bottom – is too shallow or too deep light will pass through the table at the top and then leak out of the bottom. It is only when the pavilion corresponds to certain proportions that the light reflects back out of the top producing the effect all diamond lovers so admire.
The reason jewellers are willing to make such great sacrifices is because the end result is a diamond that has the ability to truly dazzle. When cut in its ideal proportions, the Round Brilliant Cut Diamond will outshine virtually all other stones. They are always exceptionally beautiful.
Developed by Belgian Marcel Tolkowsky in 1919, the cut is also known as the ‘Tolkowsky Cut’ and the ‘Tolkowsky Brilliant’ and usually has 58 facets.
The more facets a stone has, the less able you are to see any flaws or inclusions it may have. This means a lower quality stone that is cut in the round brilliant style may actually outshine a stone of higher quality that has been cut in a different way.
Round brilliant cut diamonds are also slightly more durable that cuts with straight edges as the force of any impact against the stone tends to spread throughout it evenly rather than being concentrated at one corner or edge.
The modern round brilliant cut is very much a modern invention. In the early days of diamond cutting, back in the 1300, everything had to be done manually and only two ways of cutting diamonds existed. The first was to find natural flaws in a stone and then, with the aid of a hammer and chisel, split the stone along that point. This was a risky business with a good chance the stone could shatter completely.
After this process was completed, the rough stone would be shaped by a process known as ‘bruting’ in which one diamond was repeatedly smashed against another to break off small pieces.
The invention of mechanical cutting machinery in the 1900s changed all that, allowing the craftsmen a far greater level of control over how and where cuts were made and, for the first time, allowed them to produce stones that were perfectly symmetrical.
Today many diamonds are cut by computer controlled laser allowing cuts to be made with a complexity and accuracy that hitherto could only be dreamt of, resulting in the finest round brilliant cut diamonds.
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