I Always Wondered *WHY* Some Diamonds are Cut Poorly?

[Daniel B]

How come ALL diamonds aren't cut to *Excellent* standards? Why are some diamonds cut just so gosh darn bad?
Is it because a rookie diamond cutter was doing his first stone and just happened to screw up? (ha!)

Also, where are diamonds being mined nowadays? I am buying a stone from GoodOldGold and am just curious where they got it, or where it was mined.

 

[mrb09]

Im no pro, but I believe that most diamonds are cut "poorly" to preserve ct weight.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Yup - cut for weight retention. Higher carat - more money.

Also not all diamond rough is shaped for an "ideal" cut.

 

[Daniel B]

ah. Thanks guys.

 

[CedarRapids]

In addition to what was already said, let's not forget that people buy poorly cut diamonds and pay enough to make it worth producing.

 

[kenny]

Every customer understands weight.
Few customers understand good cut.

The same rough could be cut to weigh 1.01 ct but not perform well with light.
To cut the same rough so it performs well with light it may end up weighing only 0.70 ct, and sell for much less money, and be appealing only to the tiny minority of customers who understand good cut.

If you were in the business would you rather make more money selling to 95% of the public or less money trying to find that 5% of the public?

(All numbers in this post were just made up and their accuracy does not change the point.)

 

[Rockdiamond]

HI Daniel,
It's a very good question- and there are many answers.
Skill is an important asset when cutting- of course nowadays a lot of aspects of round diamond cutting are automated- but when it comes to larger stones, skill really does play a part.


In the case of round diamonds, there's a "guide" as it were- that being GIA EX cut grade, and AGSL cut grade. Cut a stone that gets that grade, and you increase the price it can be sold for. And in round diamonds the difference in price between a triple EX and a stone with lesser cut grades is huge
IN many cases a .90ct triple EX will sell for more than a poorly cut 1.00 in a round diamond.

When it comes to Fancy Shapes, it's even more complicated- and again, skill becomes a huge factor.
As Charmy mentioned, the shape of the rough diamond is also very important in determining the shape it will become.
There are incredible tools nowadays for measuring and plotting what the cutter will make from the rough diamond- this is a highly sought after skill in itself.
In fancy shapes there's a lot more choices to make as well- and there's also less general agreement as to what's the "best" cut.
A commonly repeated myth here at PS is how some cutters only go for weight- making it sound as though there's some evil motive- but it is more complicated than that.

 

[denverappraiser]

With the exception of antique stones where the technology of cutting was different, there's only one reason.

Money.

Miners get whatever God put there (or less). Market demand has nothing to do with it. They can't mine more big ones or better clarities or whatever because that's what there customers demand. The get what they get.

It's different for cutters. Their job is to take whatever the mine produces and generate goods that sell for as much as possible, as quickly as possible. THAT is about market. If customers want heavy weights you cut heavy stones and charge a premium for it. If they want excellent cuts you cut excellents and charge a premium for it. If tastes in the market change you change your output to reflect the new reality but the old stones are still out there. Remember, 'a diamond is forever'. Back in the 80's, a 1.70 that 'faces up like a 2 carater' was seen as a feature and sold at a premium. Now it's seen as a defect and will sell at a discount. The stone is what it is. Nothing gemological has changed, but changing the money changes everything for the cutter who has a piece of rough and who is trying to decide what to do with it.

 

[Rockdiamond]

Interesting assertion Neil- however you're not allowing for skill at all.
Skill in selecting how to use the rough, and skill in it's polishing.
With unusually shaped rough in particular there's varying degrees of success. But it's also true for rounds- there's a lot of decisions to make along the way- that takes skill, luck, and tremendous feel for the goods.

Without a doubt money comes into play- as it will in any business.
You can say that the houses producing badly cut stones do so because it's profitable.
But that does not automatically translate into that cutter having the ability to cut or plan as well as another cutter.
There are definitely better and lesser cutters producing goods today- and have been ever since I've been doing this.

 

[denverappraiser]

Cutters who do a good job of buying and planning their rough are clobbering those who aren't for the same reasons that skilled appraisers do better than unskilled ones even though we charge more, silled sellers do better than unskilled ones, etc. This is as it should be. I agree that some stones are poorly cut because of lack of talent (or just bad luck) on the part of the cutter but cutters who don't develop the requisite skills don't last long in the business. They 'retire' and become appraisers.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Every customer understands weight.
Few customers understand good cut.

The same rough could be cut to weigh 1.01 ct but not perform well with light.
To cut the same rough so it performs well with light it may end up weighing only 0.70 ct, and sell for much less money, and be appealing only to the tiny minority of customers who understand good cut.

If you were in the business would you rather make more money selling to 95% of the public or less money trying to find that 5% of the public?

(All numbers in this post were just made up and their accuracy does not change the point.)

yup,that's how Joe public get screw! paying by the weight for those 65% depth with 62% table RBs...