Whether you're buying an engagement ring or any other piece of jewelry featuring a diamond, the choice of shape is crucial. A diamond's shape depends on the cut your diamond cutter gives it.
The quality of that cut will be decisive in bringing out your diamond's visual properties, especially its brilliance.
While there isn't necessarily a single best shape for a diamond, one cut is nonetheless considered the most perfect: the "round brilliant" cut. Designed to maximize light refraction, it has 57 facets.
A facet is a flat surface that absorbs and reflects light at optimally calculated angles.
For the round diamond, it was Marcel Tolkowsky, a diamond cutter and engineer, who calculated and calibrated the angles and facets in 1919 to draw the greatest brilliance from the stone.
The round brilliant cut has remained the best known and most requested ever since, especially for the classic engagement ring.
Cut parameters are graded according to their quality by gemological laboratories such as GIA, HRD and IGI. Grades range from "poor" to "excellent" and appear on the diamond's certificate of authenticity issued by the laboratory.
What other diamond shapes are there?
Besides the round brilliant cut, there are so-called "fancy" shapes for diamond jewelry.
The princess cut diamond
This is a square or rectangular shape with 76 facets, which gives it excellent brilliance. However, it has a wide table (the flat surface visible from the top of the stone). It is therefore important to choose a diamond quality free of inclusions or impurities, or its sparkle may suffer.
The emerald cut diamond
It borrows its name from a cut designed for another precious stone: the emerald. More fragile than diamond, emerald is cut in a rectangular shape with trimmed corners, to limit the risk of chipping during setting.
As with the princess cut, the table is wide and therefore requires a good diamond quality. This cut has 57 facets, like the round diamond.
The radiant cut diamond
This is a combination of the emerald and round cuts, with 70 facets. Such a large number of facets requires a good diamond quality to achieve strong brilliance.
It is mostly used for colored diamonds, because the color looks more uniform in this particular shape.
The pear diamond
Taking the poetic shape of a drop of water, the pear diamond has 58 facets and a symmetry that gives it a distinctive shape. The pear shape is used for many kinds of jewelry, such as pendants, earrings and, of course, rings.
It is the shape Victoria Beckham chose for the pendant she wore at her son Brooklyn Beckham's wedding.
The marquise cut diamond
Oval and elongated, with pointed ends, this shape gives an impression of size. Designed to evoke the smile of the Marquise de Pompadour at the request of Louis XV, it has 55 facets, which give it excellent brilliance.
The oval cut diamond
With 55 facets, it combines the "marquise" and "round" cuts. When well cut, it can reveal dazzling brilliance.
The Asscher cut diamond
The world's first patented diamond cut, it bears the name of its creator: Joseph Asscher, who understood how important the cut is to unlocking a diamond's sparkle.
Octagonal in shape, with 74 facets, this cut is similar to the emerald cut, with the same trimmed corners.
The difference lies in the square rather than rectangular table, which gives it more sparkle.
The cushion cut diamond
Square or rectangular, it recalls the shape of a pillow. Its rounded corners and large facets give it good brilliance.
This cut is used for combinations of diamonds set side by side. The best example is the engagement ring Prince Harry gave Meghan Markle.
The heart cut diamond
The shape of love par excellence, the heart shape, with its 59 facets, has perfect symmetry. It is the very symbol of love, often set in rings or pendants.
How can you tell a natural diamond from a lab-grown diamond?
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To the naked eye, it is virtually impossible to distinguish a natural diamond from a lab-grown diamond. They have the same composition and are formed by the crystallization of carbon at high pressures and temperatures.
The only difference between these two types of diamond is how they are formed. A natural diamond forms beneath the Earth's mantle and takes millions of years before it can be mined. A lab-grown diamond is made in a laboratory.
This results in two main differences that can be detected with advanced equipment:
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the presence of small amounts of nitrogen in natural diamonds. Formed in a natural environment, a diamond may trap nitrogen during the crystallization process. Since a lab-grown diamond is produced in a laboratory from a carbon substrate, it cannot contain traces of other components.
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the difference in shape. Here too, the formation process is involved. Formed underground, a natural diamond can undergo deformations such as striations, caused by changes in pressure. A lab-grown diamond will have a much more regular shape.
As you can see, a diamond's beauty does not depend on how it was created. The visual properties of diamonds depend above all on:
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the clarity of the stone: impurities or inclusions will detract from its brilliance. Natural diamonds are logically more prone to these flaws than those made in a laboratory.
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the cut given to the stone by your diamond cutter. The challenge of this human craftsmanship is to cut the stone optimally according to its characteristics, to bring out as much brilliance as possible.
The purest stones will mainly be cut as round diamonds, since this is the cut that requires the highest diamond quality.
Which diamond color is the most expensive?
Several colored diamonds are famous worldwide for their purity and beauty. Most of them have sold for several million euros.
The Pink Star
Discovered in South Africa, this pink treasure weighed 132.5 carats when it was mined. It took two years of work to cut and polish the gem, which lost half its weight in the process. It now weighs 59.6 carats and is the largest diamond the GIA has ever graded. The laboratory certified it "fancy vivid pink," the grade corresponding to the finest color. It sold for $71.2 million.
The Williamson Pink Star
Here is another world-famous pink diamond, which currently holds the record for price per carat (4.475 million per carat). Weighing 11.15 carats, it sold for $49.9 million.
Discovered in Tanzania, its purity and the intensity of its color justify its price.
The Oppenheimer Blue
It was dethroned by the Williamson Pink Star, but until then had held the record for the highest price per carat. Of a unique blue, it was graded "fancy vivid blue" by the GIA. It weighs 14.62 carats and is mounted as an emerald cut in a ring.
The Koh-i-Noor
It is said to be the most expensive diamond in the world, or at least the one with the greatest intrinsic value. But for security reasons, no official appraisal has ever been made. It is set in the crown made for the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953.
Oval in shape, it weighs 105 carats and has a pale yellow color. It is displayed with the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
The Hope
Its blue color inspired the famous "Heart of the Ocean" in the movie Titanic. It is one of the most viewed works of art in the world and once belonged to Louis XIV.
Discovered in India, it weighed 115 carats when mined and 69 carats after cutting. It is on display at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington.
The Cullinan
It is the largest rough diamond ever discovered: it weighed 3,160 carats when it was mined in South Africa.
The cutting was entrusted to Joseph Asscher (mentioned above for the Asscher cut), who, after practicing on replicas, split it into 9 large diamonds.
Among them: the Cullinan I and the Cullinan II, on display at the Tower of London.
This list is not exhaustive, and other diamonds have sold for several million euros. Examples include the De Beers Centenary Diamond, the Winston Blue and the Princie.
As you can see, in the world of diamonds we talk about value more than price… Buyers aren't buying a weight, but a unique clarity and color. The colors that have sold for the highest prices are pink and blue.
What is the difference between a diamond and a brilliant?
The terms "brilliant" and "diamond" are often associated and confused. Yet they don't mean exactly the same thing.
A diamond is a precious stone, renowned for its brilliance.
A brilliant actually refers to a type of cut mentioned above: the "round brilliant cut."
As mentioned earlier, it is the most requested shape, especially for engagement rings. The round brilliant cut optimizes the diamond's brilliance and brings out its sparkle when worn on the finger.
