DIAMONDS
Diamond cut guide
Cut is the only one of the four Cs that a human decided. It is also the only one you can see from across a room, which is why we buy it first and everything else second.
- IDEAL
- The top few percent. Light in, light straight back out.
- EXCELLENT
- Indistinguishable from ideal to the eye in most stones.
- VERY GOOD
- Slightly deeper or shallower. Often the value pick.
- GOOD
- Visible loss of life. We rarely stock it.
What cut actually measures
The angles and proportions of the facets against each other, plus how well the cutter executed them. A stone cut too deep leaks light out the bottom. Cut too shallow and it leaks out the side. Either way you paid for carat you cannot see.
The trade off nobody explains
Cutters lose weight to cut well, and weight is what the price list rewards. A one carat stone cut properly often started as a stone that could have been sold at 1.15 carats cut badly. You are paying for the discipline, not the loss.