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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Diamonds and Cut

Diamond Cutting - Effect On Value
The methods of the diamond cutter has not changed much over the years, but the shape of the diamond has.

The object of the slow laborious process of cutting and polishing the rough stones is to obtain as much of a total reflection of light as possible, used to dazzle the beholder. A very popular cut is the round brilliant. The brilliant serves to refract and reflect the light that falls upon it, which also takes place dispersion of white light into prismatic colors. Rarely does a cut reduce the carat weight of the stone more then fifty per cent.

What Shape Diamond
There is no definite form which will totally reflect light falling upon it from every direction equally. From trial and error and experience, cutters make shapes that give maximum possible effect for light that enters the stone from the front. Cutting the stone only a few degrees different from the angles of the ideal shape, results in a decrease or increase of the brilliancy of the stone, and hence the value.

To obtain total reflection of light within the brilliant, the back of the stone must be cut so that no considerable amount of light should strike it more steeply than 24 degrees from a perpendicular to the surface at the point where the light strikes. Anybody with knowledge in geometry and trigonometry can calculate what angle the back should have, after an angle has been chosen for the top. Some good angles for a diamond are 35 degrees for the top and 41 degrees for the back. Angles cut more or less will most likely lead to less light being reflected, equaling a far less brilliant piece.

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