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.