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Single Cut or Full Cut Melee At What Size Do You Prefer One Over The Other?

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ChunkyCushionLover

Ideal_Rock
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Jun 21, 2009
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2,463
Dear PSers,

I read somewhere that below 1.4mm (1.1 pointers) single cut melee can give you bigger flash when used in halos and for eternity bands.
The price difference is about $1000/Carat for full cut G/VS melee and $1500 per carat for Single Cut G/SI melee.

I am working on a pair of halo earrings for my Fiance and I wonder if single cut should be used throughout or a mix.
The halos will be done in 1 pointers(1.3mm) around the stones, the connecting diamonds though are going to be 3pt (2mm) stones.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-what-kind-of-cut-is-done-for-pave-diamonds.84820/
and references in this thread https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/so-my-jeff-white-sapphire-is-all-boxed-up-just-gotta-figure-out-who-to-send-it-to-some-feedba.113456/page-5

To quote Leon Mege:

Typically each stone used in micropave is a “full cut” diamond, which means that it has the same 58 facets that you would count on any ideal cut round brilliant. However, full cut diamonds are not the best to use in micropave. The very best diamonds to use in micropave are “single cut” diamonds because they have far fewer facets (17 total facets). High quality, perfectly cut, single cuts are also known in the diamond industry as “eight cuts.” The fewer number facets on a single cut diamond are proportionally bigger and tend to reflect more noticeable flashes of light. High quality single cuts are mainly used in expensive watches to decorate the dials and mark the hours. But single cuts are very scarce, not to mention expensive, with the luxury watch industry consuming almost all of the production. I use eight cuts only for the most exclusive pieces or when a customer specifically requests them. Sometimes it takes weeks for certain sizes of single cuts to be delivered from Europe. From my point of view as an artist, it definitely is worth the money and effort to go with single cuts instead of full cuts. However, if you talk to most retailers (the majority of whom is simply ignorant on the issue or must go far out of their way to get single cuts), they would rather impress their customers with the tale of how each tiny stone has all 58 facets just like the larger ones. Although it’s a good sales approach, you simply cannot get the same rich look from full cut melee that you can get from single cuts. (http://www.artofplatinum.com/start/policies/micropave.php)
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So here are the questions:

1) Single Cuts are advantageous in 1.4mm and below but what about in 2mm stones? There has to be a point at which you get more brilliance and fire out of a full cut at what size does this transition happen?

2) I have seen myself quality melee described as G/VS is superior to SI melee but in single cuts I may not be able to be as selective.
How would one juge the quality of single cut melee? Is it a problem if its only available in SI clarity.

3) I find it strange that the only description of melee is in their color and clarity grades. Is this only because in such small stones inclusions really do impact brilliance? Or simply because melee is sorted based on color and clarity and it just happens that the higher clarity melee tends to have overall better characteristics at this size?
 

exoticisabella

Shiny_Rock
Joined
Sep 21, 2009
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338
wow, that''s so interesting. In my area (pacific NW) single cuts are dirt cheap (go to any gold shop and they have VIALS and VIALS of them) and full cuts are so expensive! I would think that single cuts would be fine for earrings (and I would love to see how a mix would turn out!) though I''d put full cuts in rings. Afterall, you''re the only one getting that close to notice the difference
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strmrdr

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 1, 2003
Messages
23,295
In general if a cutter takes the time to cut a melee well they will be higher color and mid-range clarity or higher.
It does not pay to spend the time on i/i1 melee to cut them well.
Melee are sorted into lots by color and clarity often mixed grades ie: g-h vs or sometimes g-h-i vs2-si or sometimes I/si or higher, G/si or higher then E/si or higher.

There is no profit into going any further than that.

Well cut single cuts are expensive because the high-end watch companies will pay a premium for them.
That leads to a huge price difference between them and the lesser cut ones.

2mm is fine for a single cut.

I have seen a 4mm single cut and loved it but that is pushing it.
 

glitterata

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Apr 17, 2002
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3,916
Why don''t cutters cut more good single cuts, if there''s a demand for them?

Why aren''t good full cuts more expensive? Surely they take more work to cut. If you can get more money for a good single cut than a good and more-expensive-to-produce full cut, why cut the full cut rather than the single cut?
 

strmrdr

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Nov 1, 2003
Messages
23,295
Date: 9/28/2009 12:02:37 AM
Author: glitterata
Why don''t cutters cut more good single cuts, if there''s a demand for them?


Why aren''t good full cuts more expensive? Surely they take more work to cut. If you can get more money for a good single cut than a good and more-expensive-to-produce full cut, why cut the full cut rather than the single cut?
demand
The good single cuts are often overruns from the watch company production.
they are extremely picky.
The run of the wheel single cut is less valuable than a full cut and the watch market is fairly small.
 
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