Diamond Cut Quality

Diamond Cut Quality has two aspects the first is the shape and secondly how well it is crafted in its symmetry and light performance. Until the event of international diamond certification about a decade ago the importance of a diamond’s cut quality was a relatively under estimated and under explained aspect of a diamond. The cut of a diamond affects how well a diamond will sparkle and can make up to 50% difference in the price of the diamond between a poor and excellent quality cut diamond.

Cut and Symmetry of a Diamond

Diamond Cut Quality is probably the most important of the 4 C’s because the quality of the cut of the diamond will affect how each of the other three qualities will be presented in the stone. This is also the most difficult aspect of a stone to determine and often the least emphasised quality by dealer trying to sell inferior quality diamonds. Any modern diamond over 0.50ct should now carry an internationally recognised diamond certification by an independent laboratory like GIA, AGS, HRD, IGI or EGL and if they do not they are really not worth buying and should be assumed to be of the lowest quality cut. Diamond cut has to do with how even and how well the diamonds facets are proportioned to enhance its ability to refract light. Scintillation is key because without sparkle a diamond will not have brilliance, the colour will not present correctly, inclusions become more difficult to conceal and the measurements may not be well proportioned or equal the standards required of the carat weight. As many of these aspects can be difficult to identify unless you have an in depth knowledge of diamond quality the best way to ensure you are buying the right quality diamond the certification will give you a simple and accurate assessment of the overall quality of the diamond. The two grades to look at are the cut and symmetry or proportions, all of the aspects of the diamond are examined then simplified into a final grading of the diamond as either Excellent, Very Good, Good or Fair. Although certification gives you most of the information and expert opinion will also help locate some of the more subtle aspects that may be within a stone that are not fully expressed in the certification to choose the best stone. Also not all certifiers are of the same standard and you need to understand the difference between certification laboratories. The best and most expensive diamond will be graded Excellent in the cut and symmetry and are considered perfect and are now commonly available. A Very Good cut quality diamond will still be very close to perfect with fantastic sparkle and for most fancy shape diamonds is generally the highest symmetry grade given. Once you drop down to a Good grade symmetry there is going to be a drop in quality which needs to be identified why but can still be a nice stone for a lower budget if the certifier is good.

Diamond shapes

With the advent of new cutting techniques there are now a very large number of patented and specialised polished diamond shapes as well as the several traditional diamond shapes. The round brilliant cut diamond is by far the best performing shape diamond and the most popular. They make up almost 70% of all diamond sales leaving all of the other fancy shapes to make up the rest. The round brilliant cut is also the most expensive cut due the the low rough recovery yield and precise grading standards being up to 30% more expensive than the fancy cut diamonds. At the moment the princess is the most popular fancy shape diamond with the cushion cut also gaining a lot of interest recently for its unusual facet design and relatively good value. Although often more difficult to resell fancy shape diamonds prove to be great value but it is highly recommended to buy a very well cut stone to get the best light performance.