The cut of a diamond is often thought of as the shape of the stone itself. However, it is in fact referring to the ability of a diamond to refract light to produce brilliance and fire up through to the table and crown. Precise workmanship will be required to ensure that a diamond is trimmed to maximise its brilliance and fire.
The main components used to determine a diamond cut grading includes depth percentage, table percentage, polish grade, symmetry grade, pavilion angles, crown angles and girdle thickness.
Diamond Cut Characteristics
Diamond Cut Characteristics If the cut of a diamond is too deep, light would escape through the side of the stone. If the cut of a diamond is too shallow, light would escape through the bottom of the stone before getting refracted back to the top, thus reducing its brilliance. A well cut diamond displays 3 characteristics – Brilliance, Fire and Scintillation.
DIAMOND BRILLIANCE
When light hits a diamond surface, the light will either be reflected or refracted. The light that is reflected from the diamond is known as its Brilliance.
Diamonds with excellent brilliance will appear very bright while those lacking in brilliance will appear dull. The physical faucets within the diamond is responsible for reflecting the light and it is highly affected by the angle and tilt.
The more faucets are available in the diamond, the more opportunity for light to reflect. It is listed as an important factor to consider when it comes to the cut of the diamond.
DIAMOND FIRE
Visible light exist as a spectrum of different colours. When light hits a diamond, the diamond is able to disperse it into its separate light spectrum colour. These colourful flashes is what is known as Diamond Fire.
The diamond cut determines how exactly the light that enters the stone will be broken into it and reflected back to us. The depth of a diamond is as crucial for the adequate dispersion of light as well as the reflection of white light.
Diamond fire is such a clear indicator of a diamond’s cut quality that it is has been listed by GIA as one of seven key components to rate the quality of its cut.
DIAMOND SCINTILLATION
Scintillation is a flash of light produced in a transparent material by the passage of a particle. This is often seen as the sparkle the diamond produces when light shines on it.
When you move the diamond in light, it will split the white light into different spectrums of colours that bounce off along the surface of the diamond. This is the sparkle that we often see on diamonds