Round Brilliant
01since 1919
The mathematically brightest cut. 58 facets, defined by Marcel Tolkowsky.
III.A short library
Learn the stone,
then choose the stone.
Every good diamond decision begins with vocabulary. Here is what to know before you walk into a viewing — from any dealer, ours included.
i.The four Cs, unpacked
Cut, colour, clarity, carat — in that order.
Cut is angle, symmetry and polish — how the facets meet, how much light returns, how the fire is distributed. Two stones with identical carat, colour and clarity can look worlds apart because of cut. On the GIA scale, our loose-stone floor is Very Good; for house selections we insist on Excellent or Ideal. Look at cut first; every other C is negotiation.
PoorFairGoodVery GoodExcellentIdeal
ii.A history of shapes
Eight cuts, each with its own century.
Princess
02since 1961
Square face, brilliant pavilion. Modern, angular, high yield from rough.
Emerald
03since 1500s
Step-cut rectangle with cropped corners. Clarity shows — buy VVS or better.
Oval
04since 1957
A round stretched. Wears larger than its carat, flatters longer fingers.
Cushion
05since 1700s
The old-mine cut, softened. Warm, romantic, rewards a large table.
Pear
06since 1400s
A teardrop. Point should sit toward the fingertip, always.
Marquise
07since 1745
Louis XV's commission — inspired, so the story goes, by the mouth of Madame de Pompadour.
Radiant
08since 1977
A brilliant-cut rectangle. The scintillation of a round, the shape of an emerald.
iii.Beyond the four Cs
Four things a dealer would tell a friend.
Chemically, they are identical — the same carbon atoms in the same tetrahedral lattice, formed under the same pressure. The difference is time and story.
A natural diamond took a billion years and a mantle to make. A lab-grown one takes a few weeks in a CVD or HPHT reactor. Both are graded on the same scales, both come with certificates, both sparkle the same.
The market prices them differently. Natural retains resale value; lab-grown has fallen ~70% at retail in the last five years and continues to soften. We sell both, always with the origin clearly stated on the card and the invoice.