Why is the round brilliant cut diamond so popular?
It seems that every fancy shape diamond enjoys its day in the sun, where it seems to be the most popular diamond shape, which is featured in every magazine article, and chosen for practically every celebrity engagement ring for two to three years, and then that shape diamond seems to fall from grace, never to be heard from again.
All right, maybe it’s not that serious of a decline in popularity, but tell me, when was the last time you saw a marquise shape diamond, pear shape diamond, or an oval brilliant, selected as the center stone for a celebrity engagement ring? “Uh, like never…” or at least not during the past few years, and that is because the popular shape of the moment is the cushion modified brilliant cut diamond.
Prior to the spotlight being focused upon the cushion cut diamond, it was shining on the princess cut diamond, and it was the Asscher cut diamond before that… and before that, it was the marquise brilliant, the oval brilliant, and the pear shape.
“What about the emerald cut diamond?” you ask, well the Asscher cut diamond is actually a modified square emerald cut diamond, and there were a few requests for emerald cut diamonds when its cousin the Asscher cut diamond was featured center stage.
Throughout the rise and fall of the popularity of each fancy shape diamond over the course of time, the traditional 57 facet, modern round brilliant cut diamond has remained the most popular diamond shape. Arguably the modern round brilliant cut diamond could be described as having 58 facets, if you were to count the culet which is the bottom point of the diamond as a facet, and technically it is.
The reason the round brilliant cut diamond is so popular is…
Most likely because the symmetrical shape lends itself to a facet structure which delivers the highest volume of light return and sparkle factor, at least when it is cut to the right proportions and the diamond cutter maintains an exceptional degree of precision when shaping and indexing the facets… or it might just be because the round brilliant cut diamond happens to be the most popular diamond shape of all time, and thus the diamond cutters just keep cranking them out and retail jewelry stores keep buying them, and shoving them in your face.
If you don’t think there is any validity to that suggestion, just try to find an exceptional Asscher cut diamond, the majority of diamond cutters who were producing them, changed their wheels over to produce cushion cut diamonds when they became more popular and hardly an Asscher is to be found.
Or perhaps the modern round brilliant cut diamond is so popular because it is simply a timeless classic, which became the symbol of the diamond engagement ring when it was popularized via the national advertising campaigns sponsored by De Beers back in the post-war era of the 1940’s when the majority of print advertisements run by De Beers featured round brilliant cut diamonds;, like the image of a star struck couple staring up into a sky filled with diamond studded stars, as presented by the image featured above which is provided courtesy of De Beers. It was during this era that Frances Gerety coined the phrase “a diamond is forever…”
The classic solitaire style engagement ring:
Another reason the round brilliant cut diamond has become the timeless symbol of love and commitment might be due to the introduction of the classic style solitaire back in 1886. The design of the ring has been modified and improved over the years, but the basic premise of the ring remains a six prong crown set with a round brilliant cut diamond, atop a narrow band of gold or platinum. Our interpretation of the solitaire engagement ring which classic inspired, is pictured to the left. The Brian Gavin classic solitaire style engagement ring is only available for round brilliant cut diamonds.
The most popular shape diamonds of the current era appear to be the round brilliant cut diamond, the cushion modified cut diamond, and the princess cut diamond, all of which are produced by Brian Gavin with AGS Ideal-0 proportions and the highest degree of optical symmetry, thereby ensuring that whatever diamond shape tickles your fancy will deliver the highest volume of light return and sparkle factor possible.
