European Cut Diamonds

[lb]

Hello everyone,

Can someone please tell me why european cut diamonds are so affordable? To me, they appear just as beautiful if not more so then today''s modern cuts.

Is something wrong with these cuts which I am unaware of (being a novice). Truthfully, I would think they would be more valuable and way more expensive then what I have seen while shopping around.

Thank you for any guidance you can give on this subject.

 

[Mara]

Old Miner is probably the best person to answer your Q however I'll throw a few cents in.

Old Euro diamonds are not cut to the same specifications that modern round brilliants are today. There is usually less symmetry involved (there was no H&A back then or even a way to measure the symmetry), the culet may be larger than most modern rounds..and sometimes the culet will even be visible when viewing down through the Euro diamond's table. You may also find Euro's with smaller depth and tables than most of todays diamonds (e.g. 53% table).

That said..I personally love the old stones. They truly have character to them..and I love the thought that someone else owned this before me...even so far back as 80-90 years ago. It's amazing to me that the diamond has made it that long and usually you also find very beautiful hand-detailed settings if you end up with a true antique piece. The fact that these stones are more affordable is a bonus I think.

We were considering an old Euro cut stone for a while before becoming hooked on modern rounds. But in the end, the stone we viewed was gorgeous, I couldn't detect a large culet, and the cut seemed very sparkly. We were going to get an amazing price by modern round standards...but probably a decent price by old Euro pricing standards. We went with modern round this time...but this will not be the last stone I get, I'd love to have an old mine or cushion cut stone for a pendant someday in the future!

I have a great chart at work that shows (somewhat) the differences between a modern round and an old Euro and an old Mine. I will try to remember to post it tomorrow so that maybe it will help. But Old Miner (dave atlas) is very knowledgeable so maybe he will post as well with his thoughts, much more expert than my ramblings!

Good luck!