Are all diamonds cut to be beautiful?

Description

It surprises many people that only a small fraction of diamonds are cut with the intention of making the diamond as beautiful as possible. Most are cut to maximise the carat weight or the clarity of the diamond. Why is this the case?

Video Summary

The angles and proportions of the diamond are often called the 'cut' proportions, not to be confused with the shape of the diamond. A diamond which has better angles and proportions will have noticeably superior amounts of brilliance, fire, and scintillation.

The brilliance of the diamond is the proportion of light which is reflected back to the eye. The scintillation is how the light reflects off the top facets of the diamond and gives the diamond its sparkle. The fire of the stone is how the facets refract the light into the colours of the rainbow. So as you move the diamond through the light, you see flashes of blues and reds within the diamond.

If the cut it so important, why are all diamonds not perfectly cut so they look as beautiful as possible? The answer is all about yield. It is more tempting for a polishing company to cut a diamond to retain more carat weight, as this is more easily explained to a customer, than to cut the diamond with more fire and scintillation.

At Samara James, we would recommend choosing the diamond with the best cut, even it means reducing the colour and the clarity, to keep within budget. This is because the perfectly cut diamond will have visibly more brilliance, fire and scintillation and look more beautiful to the eye.