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Super Ideal Diamonds, diamonds for the connoisseur

Go into any quality high street jeweller and they may be able to explain diamond qualities in terms of the 4 Cs - the Cut, Carat, Colour, and Clarity.

The Carat is easy for most people to understand and is easy to measure objectively as it is the weight of the diamond: 1 carat is 0.2 gramme. The clarity (degree of imperfections at x10 magnification) is also fairly easy to ascertain, at least for lower quality diamonds, however high levels of magnification are required to identify diamond imperfections in high clarity diamonds. The colour is also relatively easy to see, especially in lower quality diamonds where the diamond is not colourless. But, the cut is more complex.

CUT refers to the proportions, symmetry and finish of a polished diamond. To get from the raw diamond to the cut gemstone requires the skilled hand of a master cutter. The better the CUT proportions, the better the diamond handles light to create sparkle. Therefore CUT is the single most important factor affecting a diamond's sparkle, brilliance and visual fire as illustrated with the following diagrams for a round brilliant-cut stone. Super Ideal Diamonds are as close to perfect cut as can be achieved, these diamonds have the maximum sparkle. They are also rare, you are unlikely to find them in high street jewellers.

CUT is confusingly also used to refer to diamond SHAPE. There are a number of shapes which diamonds traditionally take, depending on the original nature of the rough, uncut stone. The most popular shape for a diamond is the round brilliant diamond which is aptly named as when well-cut, the round diamond reflects the maximum light and sparkles more than any other shape. They are also slightly more expensive than any other shape because 50% of the rough diamond is lost when cutting a round shape and less is lost when cutting any other shape.

After the round brilliant diamond, princess cut diamonds (a square shape) are the most popular. For example, out of 100 diamonds produced: 80-85% will be round brilliants, 5-10% will be princess cut diamonds and the remainder will be spread across all the other shapes possible e.g. pear, emerald cut, cushion, asscher, radiant, heart, oval, marquise, trilliant...etc.