Many of these have their origins in
antique jewelry, where they are bought at auctions or scrapped, which is how we get our hands on most older
cuts. While there are modern ‘old cut’
diamonds being produced as well, the uniformity in proportion and finish are vastly different. Many older
cut diamonds over 1-
carat weight are re-cut into the modern brilliant style.
Features of an Old Cut Diamond
Ever heard of ‘old mine cut’? These refer to
diamonds,
which were
cut before the beginning of the 8th Century. Before bruiting was invented, most diamonds were
cut in a
square shape and looked like something that gave birth to the
cushion cut.
Stones had polished culets and higher depth when compared to
modern cuts. The
shape of old European
cuts was rounder, and their facets were differently arranged. Some of the old
cut diamond ring styles were also named ‘Victorian
cut’, and they had deeply
cut proportions, a smaller table, and polished
culets.