Diamond Shape Round

The Essentials You Need To Know When Purchasing and Caring For Your Diamond.

Round Brilliant Diamond

The Round Brilliant Diamond is the most popular and is based on the 1919 design of Marcel Tolkowsky. Currently the Round Brilliant accounts for 75 percent of all diamonds sold worldwide. Because of their perfectly symmetrical shape, a well-cut Round Brilliant Diamond with 57 facets will have the best light performance, showing more brilliance, fire and scintillation than any other shape. The round diamond is very versatile and looks great in a variety of settings, from modern to traditional or classic to antique.

Selecting a Well Cut Round Brilliant

As of January 2006, both the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL) determine the cut grade of Round Brilliant Diamonds through careful evaluation of the diamond's light performance, design, proportion, and craftsmanship. Each lab than uses a proprietary model to determine and assign a cut grade to the diamond's overall brilliance and fire.To insure you are purchasing a diamond of maximum beauty, select diamonds with Ideal, Excellent (EX), or Very Good (VG) cut, polish and symmetry as defined by GIA or AGS.

Since the introduction of modern cut grading systems, the light performance, the sparkle, takes on more significance than the dimensions. In cases where the diamond has not been assigned a cut grade, it is useful to work with the older proportion guidelines to help make your selection.

What to Look For

Cut Factor	Excellent	Very Good	Good
Length to Width	N/A	N/A	""
Table %	53% - 57%	52% - 59%	""
Total Depth %	60% - 62%	58% - 62%	""
Girdle Thickness	Thin - Thick	Thin - Thick	""
Cut Grade (GIA - AGSL)	EX	EX - VG	""
Polish	EX	EX - VG	""
Symmetry	EX	EX - VG	""