What’s the prettiest color or the most attractive flower? There’s just no correct answer to a question that has so many variables and is so subjective. It’s exactly the same with diamonds: there are definitely factors that determine a well-cut stone and factors that would indicate a poorly cut stone, but trying to say there is one best cut is like saying there is one best political party. You might think so, but there are lots of people who will disagree with you.

 

Changing and evolving since about 1920, a cutting style referred to as the Ideal cut is popular in many jewelry stores today. Though marketed as “ideal”, recent studies by major international diamond grading laboratories have discovered that there are many cutting variations outside the Ideal parameters that yield equally brilliant and dispersive diamonds.

 

This is not to say that an Ideal cut diamond is not beautiful. On the contrary, it is one of the most beautiful cutting styles in existence. But it is not the one, single best cutting style for round diamonds.

 

Recent research into a diamond’s optics has confirmed what many diamond cutters have been saying for decades – that there are many combinations of angles and proportions that create a beautiful diamond. Smart diamond buyers today turn to professional jewelers to help them make sense of all the different cut variables – angles, proportions, percentages and dimensions.

 

And finally, the smartest buyers of all use their eyes to find a diamond that radiates the beauty and brilliance they find most attractive.