Briolettes
The Briolette Cut is a drop-shaped stone with triangular or diamond-shaped facets all the way around. There is no table, crown or pavilion. The more facets, the more brilliant the stone appears. The facets on a Briolette are all triangular in shape entirely covering the circular cross section of the stone.
Briolette diamonds are popular with designer-manufacturers, designer retailers and in the auction market. Antique and estate dealers look for Briolettes to replace broken or lost stones in old jewelry. Often the antique ones have broken tops that then have to be recut and re-drilled. Briolettes are sold unmounted and mounted. Briolettes are set in earrings, necklaces and pendants.
SS CUT
The SS Cut is a drop-shaped stone with triangular or diamond-shaped facets all the way around. There is no table, crown or pavilion. The more facets, the more brilliant the stone appears. The facets on a SS are all triangular in shape entirely covering the circular cross section of the stone.
Beads
The diamond bead is a diamond that has been faceted and drilled. It is seldom completely spherical, and many have any shape, from round to a disc. The diamond bead is covered with small facets on all sides, often in steps. There is no girdle, table or culet. The diamond bead is always cut from a particular type of diamond rough crystal that is near-spherical in shape.
A key consideration with diamond beads is the drill hole. Many diamond beads are drilled too narrowly to allow the wire to be threaded effectively. Larger holes, as those found in pearls, are not possible, since the diamond bead reflects the line of the hole throughout the body of the bead. Sometimes drill holes can be widened slightly, but only at the expense of losing some of the diamond’s brilliance.
Rose Cut
The Rose Cut: The Rose Cut appeared in the early sixteenth century and was popular into the Georgian and Victorian eras of the eigthteenth and nineteenth centuries. Unlike the Table Cut, it provided the diamond cutter an efficient way to produce the largest possible gem from the flattened rough. Rose-cut gems have flat bottoms and triangular facets that come to a point at the top. The Rose Cut’s facets produce considerable brilliance, but little fire. Cutters also developed a variation on the Rose Cut: Instead of a flat bottom, the Double Rose has faceted peaks on both sides.
Taviz Cut
A Taviz cut, sometimes called a trillion or trillian, is a triangular type of gemstone cut. The cut has many variations. It may have curved or uncurved sides.
The taviz cut was introduced by the Asscher brothers in Amsterdam and was later trademarked by the Henry Meyer Diamond Company of New York in 1962. Now that the patent has expired, the term “Trilliant Cut” is used to refer to all triangular shaped gems, even step cut and cabochon stones. Triangular Brilliant and Triangular Modified Brilliant are the common terms used by GIA when referring to non-branded diamonds.
Old Mine Cut
The Old Mine Cut: An early “brilliant cut” that has a cushion shape or squarish girdle with gently rounded corners, a high crown, deep pavillion, and a large flat culet. The Old Mine Cut sometimes called the Old Cushion Cut has the same number of facets-58-as the modern round brilliant diamond produced today. “Old Miners” became the most popular cut diamond of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.