Diamonds

A fancy cut diamond, is defined as anything other than a standard round brilliant. The most popular include: Princess Cut, Emerald Cut, Asscher Cut, Cushion Cut, Pear Shape, Oval Shape, Radiant Cut, Heart Shape and Marquise Cut. However, many diamond buyers are still confused, especially when it comes to the cut quality of fancy shapes, as to what they should buy.

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Just like mobile phones have evolved over the past three decades, diamond cut grading has as well. Over the years, we’ve gone from assigning a cut grade by measuring a diamond’s table and depth to using advanced ray-tracing techniques to assign cut grades.

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In a recent article from The Israeli Diamond Portal, a diamond manufacturer states, when talking about a diamond’s “smile”:

“So it can be a big embarrassment for them when they see a certificate for a beautiful, lustrous diamond with a SI1 clarity grade compared to a certificate for a cloudy diamond with a higher clarity – VS1, for example.”

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There are still many amongst the trade and even consumers who still think that you can judge the cut of a round brilliant cut diamond by its table and depth. The more educated may also look at the crown and pavilion angles as well as the table. However, there are 24 facets on the pavilion of round brilliant cuts that play an important role in what the face up appearance of a round brilliant will look like.

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Having dealt with many customers over the years, I have become accustomed to what consumers, and indeed a lot of the trade think about diamonds versus what really is true. Below I have made a list of some of the expectations I’ve encountered and the “truth” behind them.

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Yesterday we received a diamond from our International Selection that had an inscription that I had never seen in real life before.

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It is a common belief amongst the diamond buying public that diamonds are unbreakable. After all, they rate 10 on the Moh’s scale, so they must be tough, right?

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Over the past 18 months, we have been stocking a good number of diamonds with fluorescence. In days gone by, high colour diamonds with strong fluorescence were marketed as “blue-white” diamonds and commanded a premium. In modern times however, fluorescence has been typically frowned upon by the trade and therefore consumers. However, is this about to change?

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Just before Christmas, we sent nine diamonds to the GIA for grading. As per usual, the results are below.

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Last week, we sent two GIA certified stones to the AGS lab. The reason being was that the GIA both gave them a “very good” cut grade, despite them being what we thought top stones deserving of a higher cut grade.

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