The Brilliant Cut Diamond

Diamonds are with us for a very long time but they were not always coveted for jewellery purposes. Even in the Middle Ages people knew that diamonds are very hard and this persuaded the rulers to wear them to show they are as tough as diamonds.

The Table Cut

Previously the diamonds were cut in a way known as the ‘Table Cut.’ This was a simple cut and was square type in nature. However, the aristocracy started liking the diamonds and gemstones more as a symbol of beauty and wealth. This is when the new cuts began to emerge mainly to fit jewellery designs. This created the revolution which gave us the modern brilliant cut.

A Diamond Standard

Some people say that someone in Venice named Vicenzio Peruzzi had created the first brilliant cut around 1680. However, there is no existence of Vicenzio Peruzzi on further studies at all.

If we talk about written proof we get David Jeffries who was a renowned English jeweller in 1750. He wrote a book where he described his ideal brilliant cut. He described it as having high angles and somewhat rounded corners. This design would make the diamond long but his designs were not implemented immediately as at that time diamonds were sold by weight. Cutters wanted to keep as much weight as possible and good symmetry was also difficult due to hand cutting.

Re-cut the diamonds!

The brilliant shape and symmetry was gaining popularity rapidly and in the meantime mines in India got depleted in the 18^th century. At this time the old and ugly table cut diamonds were re-cut into smaller brilliant cut diamonds. However since these were not very perfectly cut in the first place the cutters made brilliant cushion cuts from these diamonds mainly rather than round pieces.

Diamond Factories

All of the problems of hand cutting brilliant cuts were gone when the diamond industry adopted industrialization. Steam power was used to cut the diamonds now instead of horses. A steam-powered bruiting machine was invented by Mr. Henry D. Morse which created perfectly rounded diamonds every time. This saved a lot of time and labour costs. Most factories in Europe took up this technique and used machines to create round diamonds. These huge supplies of round diamonds were known as old European diamonds.

Despite industrialization cut was still not perfect and advance of industrialization brought the idea of a perfect sparkle on the board. Frank Wade and Marcel Tolkowsky found out how this can be achieved and they gave us the brilliant cut we see today. The ideal brilliant cut has 57 sides and has the correct angles to reflect all light out of it.

This brilliant cut is now the best and costliest cut possible for a diamond. This is mainly because of its tremendous sparkle and round shape. Jewellers find it easy to fit round stones in jewellery.

The brilliant cut diamond is the most popular diamond because of its round shape that can easily fit many jewelry designs. The compact design makes it also great value for money.