A diamond’s cut is arguably its most important component, as it has the greatest impact on its beauty and sparkle. While very complex, this aspect is incredibly crucial to the diamond’s value and appearance. When cut to exacting proportions, a diamond will sparkle and return light unlike anything else. How a diamond is cut has a direct impact on the three main components of its appearance:

Brilliance

Brightness created from a combination of reflected white lights

Fire

Flashes of spectacular color seen through all aspects of the diamond

Scintillation

Areas of light and dark that reflect when the diamond is moved

Grading the Cut of a Diamond

A diamond’s cut grade is its only factor influenced by a human hand. A master cutter will apprentice for at least 10 years before touching a 1-carat diamond. These highly skilled craftsmen bring the ultimate beauty of the diamond to life by adhering to specific parameters in order to maximize sparkle. Several individual factors are evaluated to determine the cut grade of a diamond including its proportions, depth, symmetry, polish, and finish.

The GIA uses the following scale to grade round brilliant diamonds:

Excellent

An excellent cut diamond has a maximum amount of scintillation, brilliance, and fire. Light enters the diamond and refracts out with very little light lost. This exceptional grade represents roughly the top three percent of diamonds.

Very Good

A diamond with a very good cut grade will reflect most of the light and will appear somewhat similar to an ideal cut diamond. This diamond will have superior sparkle, brilliance, and fire.

Good

Reflecting most of the light entering the diamond, a good diamond cut has above average beauty. Diamonds with this grade won’t have as much brilliance and fire as higher cuts.

Fair

Diamonds graded fair don’t have the optimum brilliance and fire, as they allow a significant amount of the entering light to exit on the bottom or side of the diamond instead of through the top. These are still quality, but not nearly as well-performing as a finer cut.

Poor

Diamonds with a poor cut may appear dull because the majority of the light is lost through the bottom or sides of the diamond. With a noticeable decrease in sparkle, even an untrained eye can see a sharp difference between this and higher cuts.