Parts of Round Brilliant Cut Diamond

Round Brilliant Cut becomes the obvious choice if the rough stone is a flawless. As this cut enhances the stones high quality and gives maximum fire and brilliance.

As an informed buyer you must be familiar with the general terms that are commonly used when referring to the cut and proportion of a round brilliant diamond. The parts of a diamond can be varying in proportions and these variations result in differences in a stone’s appearance.

So, it is necessary for you understand the basics of parts of diamond, knowledge of which will definitely help you at the time of purchasing diamond.

Table

The table is the large, flat plane (facet) at the very top of the diamond. It is the largest facet on a stone, often called the Face. The term Table Spread is used to describe the width of the table facet, often expressed as a percentage of the total width of the stone.

Crown

The crown is also called the top of the stone. As the name suggests, it is the upper portion of the stone, the part above the girdle.

The function of crown is to split the entering white light into colored light which in turn imparts fire (light dispersion) effect in diamond.

Girdle

The girdle is the edge or border of the stone that forms its perimeter. It is the edge formed where the top portion of the stone meets the bottom portion. It is the dividing line between crown and pavilion.

Girdle protects the diamond from abrasion and damage and this is the part usually held by the prongs of a setting in jewelry.

Pavilion

The pavilion is the bottom portion of the stone, the part from the girdle to the point at the bottom.

The job of pavilion is to reflect back the light entering through the crown. This phenomenon imparts brilliance (mirror-like) effect in diamond.

Culet

The culet refers to the "point" at the bottom, which is actually not a point but a tiny facet. The smaller the culet of diamond, it means finer is the cut of diamond. However nowadays, many diamonds are cut without a culet.

A large culet when viewed through table of diamond, will appear like a hole in diamond.

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