If the idea of how to buy a diamond seems daunting and riddled with terms and processes that you’re least aware of, then you’ve reached the right place. This post will tell you exactly what you need to know about how to buy the fancy cut diamond that your heart desires. From the popular round cut to the pear, heart, oval, emerald and marquise shaped diamonds featured in every jewellery store, we tell you how to tell the different fancy cut diamonds apart. So read on and you’ll soon understand how differently shaped diamonds make for different styles of jewellery settings.
Emerald cut diamond
Originally developed to cut emeralds due to their brittle nature, the emerald cut is a stepped – usually rectangular – cut that makes for a stunning diamond shape. Its long lines give it lesser sparkle than the more traditional round diamonds, however this makes for more drama as they produce clean dazzling cuts.
What to look for: You will need to pay attention to the diamond quality (carat weight, clarity, and colour), because it is easy to spot flaws in the stone due to the emerald cut’s ‘openness’. An important point to note: The emerald cut is usually more affordable than most other cuts due to its simplicity and lower demand.
Heart shaped fancy diamond
If you’re one for romantic jewellery, then the heart-shaped fancy diamond cut is your safest bet. This cut is essentially a pear-shaped diamond with a cleft on top; the resulting heart shape makes for some great sentiment when gifted to the one you love.
What to look for: You need to check for the rough diamond’s length-to-width ratio to decide how wide, long or round your resulting diamond’s heart shape with be. Since the placement of such a heart-shaped diamond’s cleft is crucial, it is important to buy it only from the best place you can afford. Choose the highest grade cut within your price range, and rely only on the most skilled cutters you can access.
Marquise diamonds
The long and narrow marquise diamonds give the illusion of being larger than their actual size because of greater crown surface. If not chosen carefully, marquise diamonds may display a bow-tie effect – a dark area running right to left mimicking the shape of a man’s bow-tie – in varying degrees and need inspection to ascertain how evident this effect is.
What to look for: Rely on excellent cutters to ensure perfect symmetry between the diamond’s end points to avoid a lop-sided effect once the cut is ready. Opt for a setting that has two prongs to protect your marquise diamond’s end points since these are vulnerable to damage due to pre-existing roughness; additionally, the prongs will also help hide any flaws that may persist post-cutting.
Oval shaped diamonds
An oval version of the round diamonds, oval shaped diamonds are different while retaining the classic brilliant appeal of their traditional round cousins. Similar to marquise diamonds, the ovals have a tendency to display the bow-tie effect as well therefore, expertise in picking the right diamond is essential.
What to look for: Don’t settle for anything less than the best quality diamond that you can afford. Ensure that you consult with the best diamond cutters you can access, especially since such diamonds need to be carefully measured so as to give you the finished cut that you prefer – long, short, wide, and so on.
Pear shaped diamonds
Also called tear-dropped diamonds, pear shaped diamonds are part marquise cut and part round brilliant. Therefore, as with both these mentioned cuts, it is important to select the highest quality diamond that you can afford.
What to look for: The bow-tie effect along with potential unevenness and inconsistencies in shape can add up to an inferior pear-shaped cut. Therefore, you need to rely on expert cutters, or if buying such a diamond online, then a service that has a good return policy.
Princess cut diamond
A more affordable cut out of the two most popular diamond cuts for engagement rings – round and square, the Princess cut is the classic four-sided pyramid shape. The Princess cut also owes its popularity to the fact that it gives the illusion of a larger diamond because of a 15% greater corner to corner measure than a round diamond of the exact same weight.
What to look for: Princess diamonds are very flexible when it comes to which setting works best. While the cut traditionally translates into a square stone, it isn’t uncommon to see slightly rectangular Princess cuts as well. Ideal settings include four prongs so as to protect the four corners.
Round cut diamonds
The quintessential diamond shape preferred by most, especially for engagement rings, the round brilliant cut is truly a classic. The round cut diamond can be tailored to suit a wide budget range with quality depending on how equally its facets reflect light.
What to look for? When buying a round cut diamond online, look for one that has the least number of inclusions and the highest cut grade available within your budget.
Trillion cut diamonds
Trillion, trilliant, and trillium – the triangle diamond shape is known by many names. A Trillion cut diamond may have sharp or curved corners depending on the preferred cut. Such diamonds can be placed within a V-shaped prong setting, or standard prong settings based on how sharp the desired edges are.
What to look for? Due to its significant corners, a coloured Trillion cut diamond will not have the same colour throughout. Trillion cuts make for great accent stones to support central pieces made of other cuts in traditional jewellery. However, this is not a rule and several customers do prefer dramatic triangular centre pieces in Trillion cuts for unique designs.
Which one’s your favourite?
Selecting a diamond can either be a daunting task or, instead, a highly pleasurable and exciting one – depending on the place from which you intend to buy the diamond. As with all products of significant value and appeal, you are better off choosing to purchase your diamond and diamond jewellery from experts in the field. For this reason, diamond certification and grading expertise is crucial.
So before you decide whether you prefer the round, trillion, oval, pear, emerald, heart, princess, or marquise cut diamond, you will need to decide which professional diamond selling service you wish to select. It is a good strategy to approach full service diamond sellers who help you select the right diamond for your budget while offering a trustworthy, vetted list of merchants and jewellers.
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