The 4 C's - Cut

In the case of a coloured stone like a sapphire, a major portion of the beauty and therefore value, comes from the beautiful colour. Ideally, a diamond has little or no colour. Because of this, it must get it's beauty from the way that it plays with light. Therefore, they are usually cut a lot better than coloured stones.

In fact, a diamond's cut is so important, that it makes a huge difference in the value. Ideally, a diamond is cut to certain angles and proportions that allow the maximum amount of light which enters through the top of the stone, to bounce around and exit from the top of the diamond, as "brilliance" . Also, when light bounces of the well-cut facets of the diamond, this is called "scintillation".

In a way, you are fortunate in that a diamond has to be cut very close to the proportions below, in order to be attractive. If cut varies too much from ideal, the stone will not look attractive

A facet, is the tiny polished face on the outside surface of the stone. There are 58 facets on a Round Brilliant Cut diamond.

The closer that a diamond is cut to the above proportions, the better it will play with light. This is an important part of grading a diamond. Make sure you ask about cut when you buy your diamond.

The closer that a diamond is cut to the above proportions, the better it will play with light.