Last updated on February 7, 2021
Perhaps you have heard about single cut and full cut diamonds. But have you ever wondered what these terms mean? Let’s see how these two compare and how the difference between them affect the price. Single cut diamonds vs. full cut diamonds. Let the battle begin.
What are Full Cut Diamonds?
In general, the choice of the cut depends on the size of the stone, its colour, clarity and the need to utilize as much of the raw material as possible. Diamond cutters try to strike a balance among several quality considerations to come up with diamond cuts that have the highest potential to sell well.
A full cut diamond is a stone that is shaped into a round brilliant cut and has 57 or 58 facets.
The round cut is considered a classic diamond shape while other cuts, also known as “fancy cuts”, can take many different forms and have a varying number of facets.
It’s worth mentioning that diamonds can be cut into round brilliant shape and have fewer facets than standard 57 or 58. In this case, the stone won’t be considered a full cut diamond.
What are Single Cut Diamonds?
A diamond that is cut into round brilliant shape but has fewer facets than standard 57 or 58 is referred to as “single cut diamond” or “melee”. Such stones typically weigh less than 0.10 carats and are often used in pavé settings.
Since a classic single cut diamond features 8 facets on the crown and 8 facets on the pavilion, it may also be referred to as an “8 cut diamond”.
As a rule single cut diamonds have only 16, 17 or 18 facets.
In fact, a diamond that should be cut into round brilliant is shaped into single cut first, then additional facets are added making the stone into a full cut diamond. However, smaller diamonds that will be used as side stones/accents, will remain single cut.
May Cut Affect Diamond Price?
Since cutting fewer facets takes less time, it’s not a surprise that single cut diamonds are cheaper than full cut stones.
It really doesn’t make sense for tiny diamonds to be full cut as the additional facets would not be visible anyway. Besides, cutting 57 or 58 facets on them is much harder to do that on large stones and it will make small diamonds unreasonably expensive.
You should not worry if you find single cut diamonds on a certain piece of jewellery. It’s a normal practice and won’t detract from the appearance of your jewellery. Moreover, you should prefer tiny stones to be single cut to save money.
