Diamonds have been known to man for at least 3000 years and possibly longer.
For hundreds of years, the stone’s hardness and rarity made it challenging to use in anything other than its natural form, as pulled from river gravels.
It wasn’t until the 1200s that diamonds began to be cut using diamond dust, oil, and a steel plate. Stones could then have a more finished appearance; however, they still lacked the brilliance, dispersion, and scintillation we know today.
Over the following 700 years, technology, optics, and trade-affected diamond cutting became more complex.
In the early 1900s, Marcel Tolkowsky quantified how diamonds should be cut mathematically and the proper proportions that would feature a stone’s maximum brilliance.
It is now commonplace for diamonds to be cut using the latest computer-controlled, fully automated machinery.
They can be graded using equipment that evaluates the perfection of the cut, from ‘Hearts and Arrows’ to the latest laser scanners that show angles and index settings.
Today, even the grading criteria have been developed to unheard of levels even a few years ago.
Modern cut diamonds are evaluated using these new technologies to benefit the modern consumer.
With that said, what can we make of a chance encounter with a historic point-cut diamond or any of the other cuts leading up to the round brilliant?
Would you be the type to evaluate an ‘old cut’ diamond against modern criteria, dismissing it as a poorly cut stone and only worthy of re-cutting?
Alternatively, would you be able to appreciate the efforts of an artisan and his assistants, toiling for years over a small rotating wheel in a dimly lit workshop, attempting to create an object of beauty out of an extraordinary piece of river gravel?
Only by understanding the evolution of the different diamond cuts and the challenges and difficulties others had in creating these old stones can their true beauty and worth be realised.
The journey begins
The first industrial use of diamonds was recorded by the discovery of a sapphire bead accurately dating back to 1000 B.C.
This would have been created using a diamond drill, where two small diamonds were attached to a wooden rod, probably using pitch or resin, then rotated using a string bow and pressed against the bead blank.
Diamonds were first mentioned in historical texts as early as around 400 B.C.; however, some scholars think it was much earlier. Regardless of written texts, the earliest piece of diamond jewellery that still exists is a small octahedral crystal set in a first-century Roman ring.
The first historical diamond deposits were located in India. Stones larger than 10 carats or a perfect crystal of any size were considered the property of the local Maharajah.
It was rare for any diamond to make it into the local market, and even if they did, they were probably smuggled and too small for the Maharajah to be concerned with.
It is recorded that when caught, violators were put to death by being tied to a stake and attacked by large half-starved dogs.
Diamonds were known to the Romans; however, as gemstones, they were so rare that they couldn’t develop much of a following throughout most of Europe.
There wasn’t a sufficient enough supply to make them that well-known or treasured.
Not only were diamonds scarce, they were also so hard that they couldn’t easily be shaped. This gave them a mythical property of being indestructible.
Imagine a person from that era observing a small octahedral crystal, flawlessly shaped and naturally polished, radiantly beautiful as it catches the light in a mesmerising manner, aware that its form cannot be altered.
No wonder they were held in such high esteem!
First Cuts: Crucial Discovery
Early European writings alluding to diamonds were inventories created in the early 1200s.
They described diamonds as found in their natural shape and placed in a setting; the art and science of diamond cutting had yet to be developed.
Unlike other gemstones, it was too hard to fashion, as nothing could be used to grind, shape, and polish it.
Somewhere between 1280 and 1310, inventories showed diamonds that were ‘made’ or altered from their original crystal form instead of ‘unmade’ stones in their natural state.
This indicates that someone finally discovered that the only way to grind a diamond was with another diamond.
These ‘made’ stones mimicked the octahedral shape, taking advantage of the decreasing softness as the grinding angle deviated away from the hardest surfaces (the crystal faces).
These planes lie at an angle of 54.74° from the base of the pyramid in an octahedron and the early point cuts had angles ranging from 45°–60°.
Changing the octahedral angles slightly required the least time and effort, so this was the first identified cut for jewellery.
New Cuts: Expanding Practices
The table cut first appeared around the mid-1300s. It was a point cut; however, one of the pyramid points was ground away.
This also increased the light entering the stone, so table cut diamonds were more brilliant than point cut stones.
However, both the table and point cuts had pavilions far too deep to take advantage of the optical properties of a diamond.
Even with a pseudo-table facet, table cut stones still appeared quite dark.
There are also table cuts in which a part of the point is ground opposite the table facet, resulting in a small culet facet.
This may have originally occurred if a damaged octahedron was purchased, and the point had to be ground to remove the flaw.
There are two schools of thought concerning the purpose of the culet facet.
The first is that it forms a dark spot in the centre of the stone, giving the eye something on which to focus so that the surrounding brilliance can be better admired.
The second purpose is to act as a mirror, capturing some of the stray light rays that would typically escape, and reflecting them to the eye for increased brilliance.
One thing to remember is that no mechanised equipment was used to grind down diamonds at that time.
Some writings mention cutters rubbing rough on a hard piece of wood with a diamond as the abrasive.
Later writings describe a rotating metal wheel powered by a foot treadle.
Either way, using these tools, it is easy to imagine the amount of labour and time required to place a small culet facet, let alone a large table facet, on an octahedron.
Consider, then, a gemstone cutter holding the rough by hand over a wheel powered by a treadle, with an assistant dribbling oil on it to make the grit adhere to the wheel and another assistant applying the diamond dust.
To get the grit for grinding, one would have to find a non-gemstone-quality diamond, grind it to dust, and then sift and sort it.
It was only then that it could be applied to the wheel.
It’s no wonder that only royalty possessed diamonds, as the hidden costs of production were far out of reach of any commoner.
Around the 1300s, once diamond cutting was discovered, diamonds began to travel overland to Europe along northern trade routes or by ship across the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
Venice and Lisbon became diamond trading centres in the 1300s. These two locations parsed out diamonds to the rest of Europe, with one of the earliest cutting centres starting in Antwerp.
A guild of diamond cutters was also formed in Nürnberg, Germany, in 1375.
As an aside, it is estimated that more than $USD16 billion in diamonds are traded through Antwerp today.
The single cut was developed in the late 1300s, which added more facets along the sides to improve light return; however, stones were still dark due to the high pavilion angles.
From the cuts so far, it is apparent that artisans were beginning to discover that diamonds had optical properties that could be harnessed to turn a piece of river gravel into a prized treasure.
It must be remembered that in the 1300s, the science of optics had yet to be invented and wouldn’t be discovered for another 400 years.
There was no scientific understanding of the properties of light yet; however, by advancing cuts through trial and error, it is apparent that artisans were aware of brilliance and scintillation.
The cutter’s interest in bringing out the maximum beauty of a piece of rough could have significantly impacted the understanding of the concept of light and how to use it.
Striking Symmetry: Pendeloque and Rose Cuts
The development of the pendeloque cut emerged in the early 1400s.
This was a rather flat, pear-shaped cut used for unusually shaped, thin rough.
It was not brilliant due to its flatness; however, the concept of symmetry became increasingly important, as was the technology to create it.
The rose cut was developed in the latter part of the 1400s and certainly no later than the early 1500s. It has primarily triangular-shaped facets. If the back side of the stone was flat, it was considered a single cut rose.
If the top and bottom were both cut and facetted, then it was a double cut rose. Stretching out a double cut rose resulted in a briolette.
Diamonds became increasingly popular in Europe when the Portuguese conquered the Indian port of Goa in 1510 and established a trading centre.
More formal commercial traffic was implemented, and diamonds became increasingly available to European cutters, confirmed by historical paintings of this period.
Whereas paintings of royals from the 1400s showed at most two or three diamonds, paintings of the 1500s show royal clothing bedecked with diamonds on the bodice, sleeves, and lapels.
Rising Complexity: Light on the horizon
As can be seen, cuts became more complex as the nature of light and optical properties were explored.
The Mazarin and Peruzzi cuts – more styles than specific cuts - were developed by the early 1600s, with 17 and 33 crown facets, respectively.
This additional complexity increased brilliance and scintillation. The process of bruting had yet to be developed, so stones were still primarily square or octagonal outlines, sometimes with rounded corners.
The old mine cut was developed in the early 1700s and is considered the first of the brilliant cuts. It is characterised by a high crown, a large table, and a large culet facet.
In the 1800s, the bruting machine was developed, and circular diamonds could now be created.
The old European cut, characterised by a tall crown, a small table, and a tall pavilion, was developed. This was the beginning of the true brilliant cut, which possessed 58 facets and was circular. However, due to the steep crown and pavilion angles, brilliance, dispersion, and scintillation still suffered.
The invention of the light bulb in 1879 radically changed how diamonds appeared. Before this, diamonds were owned by the wealthy and worn in posh surroundings, typically lit by candlelight.
Hundreds of candles could illuminate a single room with softly flickering flames with a spectrum very heavy in the reds. Candlelight was replaced by a light bulb – a single point of steady light with an entirely different spectrum.
This changed everything! Diamonds now appeared far duller. The light bulb, therefore, changed the way diamonds would be cut.
Around 1860, jeweller Henry Dutton Morse opened the first American diamond-cutting factory in Boston. He challenged tradition and went against the dogma of conserving diamond weight at all costs, focusing instead on brilliance.
His angles and proportions went on to be used by Tiffany & Co., among other high-end jewellers. Diamond cutting was now beginning to be a more scientific process to maximise brilliance.
Modern World: A Legend Emerges
In the 1900s, Marcel Tolkowsky, a legend of the art of modern diamond cutting, conducted an in-depth study of optics and its relationship to diamonds.
His work was published in 1919: Diamond Design, A Study of the Reflection and Refraction of Light in a Diamond.
It has been considered by some to be the definitive work on the art and science of diamond cutting.
It spelled out the scientific logic for the brilliant cut as we know it today. However, it was different from the American cut by only a fraction of a degree in pavilion and crown angles. In fact, a GemRay analysis shows that the American cut returns about 3 per cent more brilliance than the brilliant cut.
Although Tolkowskyis credited with developing the brilliant cut, Morse actually beat him to it by several decades. This oversight is due to a lack of communication between European and US cutters and the industry's belief that Europeans, who developed diamond cutting in the first place, had more knowledge and, therefore, more expertise in the art.
The 1900s ended with the process of mining, grading, evaluating, and cutting diamonds, all of which became mechanised and computer-controlled.
Today, there is little reason for a human to actually touch a diamond. As a result, the romance of a diamond cutter struggling to make an existence by spending years cutting a single stone is disappearing.
The Old World was forced to yield to the Computer Age. A diamond may be forever; however, romancing the stone is now gone.
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