Like the Old Miner's cut, the Old European cut is a rounded, hand faceted cut of diamond. The Old European,
as with its direct descendent, the round brilliant, is cut with fifty eight facets in an effort to maximize
brilliance and fire. However, it was developed before the perfection of the diamond saw, and so
was primarily hand faceted. This lead to the Old European cut being cut and polished with a
small table, high crown, deep pavilion and an open culet. The deep, faceted pavilion
and small table in the Old European cut is designed to bring light in, and reflect
its inner fire of color back to the viewer's eye when looking
down upon the table.

It is important to note that candlelight and gaslight were the main sorces of lighting for gemstones prior to the early
20th century. Each of these is much dimmer, and far more forgiving of flaws, than modern electric lighting.
Under the softer lighting of the 19th century the hand faceting, deep pavilion, open culet and small
table resulted in a scintillation that had been unseen in diamonds until then.

This type of faceting, along with the open culet, is effective under candlelight, but under electric lighting the culet
often creates the image of a hole in the bottom of the diamond. However, it is also due to this type of shape
that the Old European cut, like the Old Miner Cut, is better able to hide their actual color. The less
than exact nature of the hand faceting, along with the deeper cut and smaller table, provide
less light dispersion, and so the diamond can appear lighter in color than
it actually is.

While the Old European cut demonstrates greater attention to the effect of light dispersion on the diamond, it was
nevertheless cut for maximum carat eight retention. This is to say that the diamond was still cut and polished
in accord with the shape of the rough diamond. Regardless of the Old European cut's lapse in popularity,
the current proportions for the ideal cut of diamond owe a debt to the timeless charm of the
Old European cut. Due to the hand-faceting anture of this cut, there
are no ideal measurements



2265 Roswell Rd.
Suite 500-B
Marietta, GA 30062

770-973-7881 | blackwells@earthlink.net | 770-973-4508