Article: The Modern Cut Diamond, by Ravi Kewalramani

The Modern Cut Diamond
By Ravi Kewalramani

Rose Cut

Early diamond cutters were unable to polish rough diamonds. However, they found out that they could polish or grind diamonds into a point by polishing almost parallel to the diamonds rough faces. They also realized that only diamonds cut diamonds. Hence they used a wooden table covered with diamond dust to achieve any kind of polishing. This resulted in the rose cut. It was a primitive and non-symetrical shape and derived its name because it resembled a rose.

The rose cut came into existence in the early sixteenth century and was widely used till the early nineteenth century.

Old Mine Cut

A direct ancestor of the modern cut round diamond is the old Mine Cut, which came into existence in the late seventeenth century. The old Mine Cut was the first diamond cut that had all the facets of the present round brilliant cut. However, the facet alignment and sizes were in a different manner as compared to the current round brilliant. The old Mine Cut was also more of a square or cushion cut, rather than being round.

Old EuropeanCut

The direct descendant to the old miner is the old European Cut. This cut is the father of the present round brilliant cut. The Old European cut was more evident in the late eighteenth century till the early twentieth century. Many experiments were done on the old European Cut during the early twentieth century regarding it’s various facet positioning and angles.