A raw diamond straight from the ground is rarely a thing of beauty. Before the stone reaches gem standard for use in jewelry it must be carefully cut and polished; diamond cuts are one of the Four Cs of diamond grading.
Diamond cutting is an extremely skilled job, even with the aid of today’s modern technology. A mistake in the cutting process can destroy the value of a stone. Even the choice of which cut to use for a particular diamond will have a huge impact on its value. Different cuts will also allow different amounts of the raw stone to be kept intact; choosing the right cut is a matter of balancing maximum carat weight with a cut that will best show off the properties of a particular stone.
Over the years diamond cutters have developed a number of cuts which have become fairly standard – in latter years advances in technology have allowed fancier cuts with more complexity than old-fashioned standards such as mine, rose or cushion cut. Some square cuts have begun to catch up to round cuts in popularity.
Traditional round brilliant and square princess cuts can be given an American Gemstone Society (AGS) rating, with zero indicating the best cut.
Some of the many standard cuts that have been developed over the years include: