Gemstone Cuts

Behind every beautiful gemstone is a highly talented designer, but the skill of the lapidary (cutter) is often overlooked as the gem takes centre stage. The lapidary will choose the cut to show off a stone's best features, such as its colour, clarity, size or inclusions.

Talk of the trade
The gemstone trade uses specific terminology to appraise a stone and assess its qualities. This long-standing terminology enables a stone to be described accurately without it actually being seen.

SHAPE: The outline of a stone when seen in plain view, such as round, oval or pear shape.

CUT: The proportion, symmetry, polishes and finish of a stone - in other words, its overall appearance and not its shape. Sometimes called the "make", the cut describes the factors involved in creating a gemstone from rough material.

FACETING: A method of shaping a gem by cutting the surface into many small, flat faces (facets) at varying angles, so that light travels through the stone and makes it brilliant.

Parts of a faceted gemstone
These are the terms for the different parts of a round brilliant-cut gemstone. Their proportions will affect the brilliance, beauty and colour of the stone.

GIRDLE: The outer edge or perimeter of a gemstone, where the crown meets the pavilion. CROWN: The top portion of a stone, above the girdle.

PAVILION: The lower part of a stone, from the girdle to the culet.

TABLE: The flat surface on top of a stone; the largest facet or face.

CULET: The lowest part of the stone, which appears as a point or ridge.

Wholesale Jewelry

Precious Gemstones
The definition of what constitutes a "precious" gemstone is a fluid thing changing with societies tastes, travels and

Faceted Round Cuts
There are two main categories of faceted stones: round shapes and straight-sided shapes.

Buying Gemstones
Recent advances in gem treatments and synthetic stones have made buying gemstones much more of a challenge. As a

Sapphire
Sapphies are more abundant than ruby because its colouring agents (impurities) are more common than those of ruby.

Spinel
Beauty, rarity, brilliance and value for money make spinel a great gemstone for jewellers and designers. Despite its

Pearls produced by snails
pearls can form in sea snails and are extremely rare

Zircon
It is hard to understand why zircon is not more popular with jewelry makers. Its hardness and fracture are no worse

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