Popular diamond shapes

Diamonds may be one of the hardest substances on earth but they’re fairly brittle and have planes of weakness (grain) along which they can split. So rounding off a diamond’s corners and points helps protect them from damage and makes them easier to mount.

The most famous and popular of the diamond shapes is the round brilliant which offers the best optical properties for any diamond. See below for the cuts most widely available today.

• Round Cut
• Heart Cut
• Emerald Cut

These are not all of the possible diamond shapes and cuts available but are the most popular un-patented designs.

Sometimes diamond accents/baguettes are tapered at one or both ends to be able to be set along the band of a ring setting. Sometimes triangular diamonds (trilliant cut) adorn the center stone or in some cases can be set solitaire style, it’s all a matter of personal taste.

Choosing good cut grades in fancy diamond shapes is very difficult to do  and extensive 鑽石知識 is required – unlike round brilliants which can be calculated mathematically.

Even so, there are a few rules of thumb you can follow to make sure you get a quality stone. These are all things you can find on the diamond grading report that accompanies any reputable certified diamonds.

• Check that the polish is very good to excellent.
• Choose clarity grades that are no worse than VS2.
• Make sure that the symmetry is very good to excellent.
• Go for stones graded with low or no fluorescence.
• Check that the girdle isn’t too thin or very thick.
• Check the length to width ratio: Long short-width stones fair worse than stones close to round or square. If looking at a rectangle, oval or marquise make sure that the width is adequate in relation to the length. Plump is o.k. – long and skinny generally isn’t so good.

There is a fair amount of controversy surrounding cut grades in fancy diamond shapes so at the end of the day it’s “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” time.

Even the experts can’t agree on quality issues surrounding cut grades in fancy diamond shapes, so if you’re in any doubt stick to the trusted round brilliant or appraise your chosen fancy diamond shape on how much it pleases you.