Don’t cut corners when it comes to diamond cut! Here are some fun facts about diamond cut grades you might not know:
- Cut grades are based on seven factors: brightness, fire, scintillation, weight ratio, durability, polish and symmetry.
- Only round brilliant diamonds receive cut grades. All other shapes receive polish and symmetry evaluations.
- Cut might just be the most important of the 4Cs! An Excellent cut makes a diamond bright and lively. A Poor cut leaves it dull and lifeless.
- Thanks to GIA’s introduction of diamond cut grades, polishers responded by adjusting their techniques and now most diamonds on the market today have an Excellent or Very Good cut.
Learn more about diamond cut at the link in our bio.
What are the major differences between natural and laboratory-grown diamonds?
Watch the video to learn more about these two types of diamonds, from how they are formed to how to detect the differences.
For more information, visit the link in our bio!
Looking to pick an exceptional Round Brilliant Cut diamond? Save these tips on diamond anatomy!
- Table: This is the largest facet at the “top” of a diamond, typically mounted to face the viewer. It allows light to shine into the diamond and reflect back out. A large table facet can make a diamond appear larger, but too large of a table facet can reduce the crown facets’ ability to disperse light. The ideal table size is between 52-62% of a diamond’s diameter.
- Crown: The crown facets at the top of the diamond consist of 8 bezels, 8 stars and 16 upper halves. They gather and disperse light to create brightness, fire and a scintillating pattern of light and dark. The crown angle – the angle between the bezel facet plane and the table plane – should be between 31.5 to 36.5 degrees.
- Girdle: The girdle surrounds the middle portion of a diamond like a “belt,” Separating the crown from the pavilion. It should not be too thick, which can hide weight, or too thin, which may make the diamond vulnerable to chipping.
- Pavilion: The pavilion or bottom facets consist of 16 lower halves and 8 mains. They reflect light back through the crown into the viewer’s eye. The pavilion angle, the average angle made by the diamond’s pavilion facets and girdle plane, is a key dimension influencing the stone’s brightness, and ideally falls between 40.6 – 41.8 degrees.
- Culet: The culet is an optional facet at the very bottom of the diamond. It can reduce the chance of the bottom tip chipping. However, an overly large culet can look like a distracting dark circle through the table facet.
Importantly, GIA considers how a diamond’s proportions relate to each other, rather than considering individual proportions in isolation.
Learn more about picking the best round brilliant diamond at the link in our bio.
The bull symbolizes strength, determination and grounded beauty—traits often associated with the zodiac sign Taurus.
This playful cut is a modified brilliant, where traditional brilliant-style facets are adapted to create a sculpted silhouette. Cuts like this are known as novelty cuts—creative designs that move beyond standard shapes like round, oval or princess.
For unique diamonds like these, GIA includes a novelty cut description on grading reports, recognizing distinctive cutting styles that don’t fit traditional categories. As diamond cutting continues to evolve, cutters, designers and jewelry lovers alike can truly take design by the horns.
What do you think of this novelty cut?
Video and photos courtesy of House of Gems @houseofgems1986
Emeralds are beautiful but require special care due to their natural inclusions and common clarity treatments. Here are a few tips to keep your emerald jewelry shining:
- Avoid ultrasonic cleaners and steam cleaning, which can damage emeralds and remove oils or fillers used to enhance clarity. Instead, clean with warm, soapy water and a soft brush.
- Protect from heat. Sudden temperature changes can damage the stone or its treatments.
- Protect from harsh chemicals such as bleach, chlorine, ammonia and alcohol, which can damage fillers.
- Store carefully. Keep emerald jewelry separate from other gemstones like diamonds to prevent scratches.
Learn how to best care for your emerald jewelry on our website at the link in our bio.
Pink diamonds are among the rarest and most desirable gems in the world. This unique pear modified brilliant-cut Fancy Pink diamond weighs 4.12 carats. Its size and color combined make it exceptional. GIA researchers believe that pink and purple coloring occurs when diamond crystals are exposed to high pressures deep in the Earth, causing the crystal to deform, modifying the arrangement of the atoms.
Very few pink diamonds are recovered each year, and most are small and pale. In a study of 90,000+ predominantly pink, purple or red faceted diamonds graded by GIA, it was found that 83% weighed less than one carat, and ~ 40% were pure pink.
This stone is one of the most valuable jewels headed to the @sothebysjewels Geneva High Jewelry this week.
Learn more about pink diamonds at the link in our bio.
Photos courtesy of Sotheby’s
The beryl family is packed with gem-world celebrities including emerald, aquamarine and morganite. Then there’s the rare and mysterious maxixe beryl and red beryl, plus more common beauties like heliodor, goshenite and green beryl.
Beryl is allochromatic, meaning it's colorless in its purest form. It gets its color from trace elements or radiation.
- Green beryl gets its pale green hue from iron.
- Emerald glows green thanks to chromium and vanadium.
- Aquamarine gets its serene blue hue from iron.
- Maxixe turns deep blue from radiation, but its color can fade!
- Red Beryl owes its rich red hue to manganese.
- Morganite blushes pink from manganese.
- Goshenite is pure, colorless beryl, sometimes with trace elements but not enough to add color.
- Heliodor’s golden yellow comes from iron.
Which beryl variety is your favorite?
This beautiful cushion-shaped diamond weighs 6.03 carats and boasts a Fancy Vivid Blue color grade with Internally Flawless (IF) clarity, expertly graded by GIA. What makes this diamond so special?
Only ~ 3% of the diamonds submitted to GIA each year are Fancy color. Unmodified blue is among the rarest, and few diamonds have the saturation needed to receive the highly coveted Fancy Vivid grade. GIA scientists also classified the diamond as type IIb, an exceptionally rare category that accounts for less than 0.02% of all natural diamond submissions. These diamonds owe their blue or gray color to the presence of boron, which also gives them a rare property in the gem world: they can conduct electricity.
Historically, rare blue diamonds were uncovered in the ancient mines of India, but today the most significant source is the Cullinan Mine in South Africa, where this diamond was discovered.
This stone is one of the most valuable jewels headed to the @sothebysjewels Geneva High Jewelry next week.
Learn more about blue diamonds at the link in our bio.
Photos courtesy of Sotheby’s
This 47.77-carat Ethiopian gray opal astonished researchers at GIA in Bangkok with its unusual play-of-color pattern. Careful testing confirmed the gem is a natural opal.
Its flashes of color appear within distinct cells separated by greenish opal, forming an intricate design that some say resembles a turtle shell across the surface of the cabochon.
Learn more about this interesting gem in a recent issue of G&G at the link in our bio.
The GIA Museum in Carlsbad, California, features a breathtaking exhibit called “Eyes of Brazil,” a series of agate panels cut from a single massive geode unearthed in 2014 by farmers in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Nearly six feet long, the geode was carefully sawn into 16 sections, with each section taking 12 days to cut and the entire specimen taking more than a year to polish.
Each panel reveals the geode’s internal growth history, from banded agate at the edges to colorless, transparent rock crystal at the center — offering a rare, visible record of how minerals crystallize and evolve underground over millions of years.
“Eyes of Brazil” is one among many remarkable treasures at the GIA Museum, which celebrates the science, artistry and wonder of gems.
Have you seen Eyes of Brazil in person? Read more and book a free tour at our museum at the link in our bio.
Emerald, the birthstone for May, has captivated civilizations for thousands of years. Its name originates from the Greek ‘smaragdos’, meaning “green gem,” later evolving into forms like ‘esmeraude’, while Pliny the Elder famously noted that “nothing greens greener.”
Many of history’s most celebrated emerald treasures trace their origins to Colombia, long considered the premier source of the gem. Brazil and Zambia are other major emerald-producing regions. Across centuries and continents, these remarkable stones have appeared in royal collections, religious objects and museum masterpieces.
Emerald’s enduring appeal lies not only in their attractive color, but in the stories they carry of geology, history and human fascination. Today, emerald continues to symbolize renewal and vitality, connecting the natural world with centuries of cultural significance.
Learn more about May’s birthstone at the link in our bio.
Natural diamonds began as carbon millions to billions of years ago and transformed under intense heat and pressure into the hardest natural mineral on Earth. Some emerge colorless. Others develop rare fancy hues like blue, pink or red due to trace elements or subtle changes in their crystal structure.
What is your favorite fancy color diamond?
