GEM CUTS

One further note: Ideal cut is a technical name for a properly and perfectly cut diamond, but it is also a trade name for a "brand" diamonds carried by many stores. That does not mean that only that brand is ideal cut: any diamond can be ideal cut. If the words are capitalized-Ideal Cut-it is a brand or trademark and not the cut being advertised.

The typical brilliant cut has 58 facets. Round is the most popular shape, although the same cut may be adapted to other shapes-all h have 58 facets.The oval shape is an round brilliant cut. A marquise cut is an oval with pointed ends. The pear shape is an oval that is round at one end and pointed at the other, while the heart shape is basically a pear shape with a notch the round end.

Two other adaptations involve the number of facets. The step cut has 20 more facets, 12 in the crown and 8 in the pavilion. The result is a greater sparkle because of the added facets. The English brilliant cut, on the other hand, has only 30 facets and thus, has less sparkle.

second basic cut is the emerald or step cut, and it derives we old Indian cut.This cut is much more common for colored stones than for diamonds. The flat table facet account for as much as 50 percent of the top surface of the eight-:tangle. The culet is flat, rather than pointed, and the rest of The 58 facets are parallel to the table and culet, not at angles as in brilliant cut.

The emerald or step cut has its own adaptations, too. It may be square, hexagonal, triangular, five-sided, etc. The distinguishing characteristics are the parallel facets and the flat culet that matches basic shape.

A simpler adaptation is the baguette. A baguette a small gem, usually a diamond and usually used to set off other gems or to frame them. It is rectangular, or rectangular and d at one end, with only four corners and four or eight facets -I to the table and eight pavilion facets.