Which diamond shape is most brilliant?

I just got off the telephone with a client who wanted to know which diamond shape is the most brilliant; which seems like it might be a pretty simple question to answer, but first I had to determine whether he was referring to brightness or brilliance, because people frequently mix up the terms when discussing the visual properties of a diamond, and it’s a good thing I did because he was actually wanting to know which diamond shape is the brightest in terms of the volume of light return. Basically he was trying to determine whether he should select a Brian Gavin Signature round, cushion cut, or princess cut diamond.

What is Brilliance in a diamond?

The terms “brilliant” or “brilliance” refer to the white sparkle that is created by the facets of a diamond. Different facet structures will provide different levels of brilliance, because of how they break apart the beams of light which travel through and are reflected by a diamond.

For instance, a round brilliant ideal cut diamond, like those featured in the Brian Gavin Signature and Brian Gavin Blue collections, exhibit a virtual balance of brilliance and dispersion (colored sparkle, which is also known as fire) as a result of the 57 facet design and proportions which are in the middle of the range designated for the zero ideal cut proportions rating.

However if volume of brilliance could be increased by decreasing the crown angle measurement, but it would be at the expense of dispersion / fire… thus the diamond would be more brilliant, but exhibit less fire.

Another way to produce a diamond which is more brilliant, is to increase the number of facets so that the broad flashes of light produced by a 57 facet design, are broken apart into smaller flashes of light which our eyes are unable to disperse into color… thus the diamond is more brilliant, but again the increase in brilliance comes at a price, which is a decreased volume of dispersion / fire.

Round brilliant cut diamonds which are “modified” to feature a higher number of facets, such as 63, 81, 100, etc., are frequently marketed as being the “brightest” or “most brilliant” diamonds, however this is because the flashes of light produced by the diamond are smaller in size and cannot be interpreted by our eyes as color… but the marketing guru’s behind these brands never seem to address that fact.

What is Brightness in a diamond?

Brightness in a diamond is both the volume of light return created by the proportions, and also the perception of intensity created by the internal and external reflections of white light, as judged by looking at the diamond from a top down perspective…

Thus brightness is a combination of the volume of light return and the sparkle factor which is commonly known as brilliance… and thus when my client was asking me which diamond shape is the most brilliant, it was necessary to explain all of this in order to provide him with “the simple answer” that he was probably looking for.

Which Diamond Shape offers the Best Light Return?

Here again, we could take a dive down the perpetual rabbit hole, but suffice to say that if you’re looking for a diamond which is going to offer the highest volume of light return, combined with a virtual balance of brilliance and dispersion, with a high degree of scintillation, I recommend selecting a round brilliant ideal cut diamond from either the Brian Gavin Signature or Brian Gavin Blue collections.

The modern round brilliant cut diamond, which features 57 facets, combined with zero ideal cut proportions is widely recognized throughout the gemological community as offering the most even distribution of light return and brightness because of the symmetrical facet pattern and shape.

I’d have to say that the second brightest diamond shape that we offer at Brian Gavin Diamonds is the Brian Gavin Signature Cushion cut diamond, which Brian specifically designed to rival a round brilliant cut diamond in terms of the volume of light return and sparkle factor. We have had several clients compare our round ideal cut diamonds with our new cushion cut diamond while visiting our office and they seem hard pressed to decide which is brighter and exhibits a higher degree of sparkle.