Diamond shapes

Diamond shape refers to the silhouette or general look of a stone. There are many different shapes available in the market today, but some are more popular. Diamond shape and diamond cut are often confused when choosing a diamond. The cut of a diamond does not refer to the shape of the stone, but actually refers to how well a diamond’s facets interact with light. Cut is determined by measuring brightness, fire and scintillation. All three of these components have to do with the amount of sparkle the stone emits and how well it emits it. The closer a stone is to an Ideal Cut, the more sparkle it will emit and the more valuable it becomes.

 All shapes that are not a Round Brilliant are referred to as fancy shape diamonds. Each shape differs not only in physical form, but in light return as well. How much sparkle a stone emits is correlated with how many facets it has and their general pattern. While a Round Brilliant shape will emit the most amount of light return because of its ideal facet pattern, shapes like Emerald and Asscher, which are step cuts, will not have as much sparkle but are appealing because of their unique style.