A diamond converts white light
into a rainbow of colors called "brilliance", "dispersion" and "scintillation".
Many people have been told that setting a diamond up high
in the mounting will increase brilliance by allowing light
to enter the diamond from the bottom or sides. Fact: nothing
could be further from the truth. Only the light that enters
the diamond from the top will be reflected and then refracted
into the spectral colors we call brilliance.
So now you must be thinking, what’s the big deal?
Why doesn’t every diamond cutter simply cut all
their diamonds to ideal proportions? The answer is money!
Well, actually the real answer is retaining the weight
of the original diamond crystal when it is mined. It
wouldn’t make sense to take a two carat diamond
and chop it up into ten smaller stones. A diamond Cutter
would, however, want to cut that two carat diamond into
as big a diamond as possible because higher weight means
more money for the diamond cutter who will sell the stone.
In order to shape a diamond to "ideal" proportions,
the cutter must trim away more of the original stone
thereby reducing its weight.
In the next section "Determining a Round Diamond's
Ideal Proportions" we will explain in detail the
individual attributes associated with a well proportioned
diamond and the grading systems developed by the GIA
and AGS.
|
