The cut is one of the defining characteristics of a diamond. Perhaps you have heard about ideal cut diamonds, but what exactly does “ideal diamond cut” term mean and what if the diamond has too deep or too shallow cut?
What is Diamond Cut?
The cut is one of the four main characteristics (the 4 Cs) of a diamond. Cut should not be confused with the diamond shape, which can be round, oval, cushion, emerald etc.
Diamond cut refers to how many facets and what proportions the stone has, and how proportional are the parts.
What is Ideal Diamond Cut?
True diamond lovers should know that cut quality greatly affects the appearance of a diamond.
The arrangement of the stone’s facets defines how the light enters the diamond, and how it is reflected back. The term “ideal diamond cut” refers to a cut with such proportions when a diamond exhibits maximum brilliance and sparkle.
The closer a diamond to this ideal cut, more brilliance and sparkle it exhibits and looks better.
What is Deep Diamond Cut?
First of all, let’s see what’s the depth or height of a stone. It is the vertical distance from the stone’s top/table to the bottom/culet.
The ideal diamond cut dictates what optional depth a stone should have. The optional depth is one of the preconditions for maximum brilliance.
To find out the ideal cut parameters for each diamond shape click the links below:
When a diamond’s depth is too high relative to the stone’s width, it is said that the diamond is too deep. As a result, the light doesn’t reflect back properly, and the diamond looks less lively and have lower brightness compared with more proportional ones. In general, the deeper the cut of the stone, the duller it looks.
Moreover, diamonds with deep cut look smaller than ideal cut diamonds of the same carat weight when set in a mounting. This effect appears because the cutter sacrifices of the stone’s width to achieve a greater depth. When the stone is set in the mounting, the additional depth is hidden in it. The only visible part is the diamond’s top, which is smaller than of the ideal cut diamond.
What is Shallow Diamond Cut?
A diamond can also have too shallow cut. Such stones are called “spread diamonds”.
Spread diamonds lack depth compared to ideal cut diamonds. Since a spread diamond has a shallow cut, most of the light entering is not reflected back but leaking out from the bottom of the stone sacrificing its brilliance and sparkle.
The reason for this cut is to make diamonds look bigger. From above, shallow cut diamonds look wider than normal and it seems that they are of larger carat size.
As a general rule, whenever a cut is different from the ideal proportions, the beauty of the diamond is lost.
