Learn About
Antique & Vintage Cuts
For centuries, royalty and jewelry artisans had been fascinated with the unique scintillation of the once rare diamond crystal. In the course of over 400 years, human skill and technology have been re-inventing how to capture the life of a diamond and how to maximize its fire and brilliance.
We denominate Antique & Vintage Cuts to those cutting styles (predominantly unique to diamonds) found in jewelry produced previous to the 1950s.
Character
Core Features
We love antique cuts, and you should too. Here is why.
Light show
Old cuts have superior light performance in many real-world lighting conditions (dimly-lit restaurants, your living room, etc.) They were designed to perform well under candle light, then gas and oil light, then early (dim) electric light
Glowing face
They often face up with better color than modern cuts (i.e. a K often faces up beautifully, meaning the money saved vs. buying an I color can go towards buying a larger stone).
Not just rare. Unique
Unlike modern diamonds, antique diamonds are truly rare and a dwindling resource. Botswana currently mines more diamonds in one month than the entire world produced in 1900. An old mine cut from the 1850s is infinitely more rare still, because it was mined in scarce deposits from Brazil, Borneo, or India.
Cut by Eye, not by numbers.
Each antique stone is unique, truly one of a kind, with its own distinct character. Diamond cutters always followed the material, not a predetermined criteria of "ideal" proportions.
History
Let's dive in
Here is a quick journey through the dated diamond cutting styles and what made them special or relevant to their period.
Click on the name of each style to learn more.
