Why cut a culet?

[mynattk]

Can anyone tell me the purpose of cutting a culet? Every stone that I have seen that has one appears to have a dark hole in the center. What is the reason for cutting a culet if it produces this effect? I am assuming that is why more modern stones usually don't have one or it is very small.

 

[yssie]

to save rough weight.

my jeweller told me they used to cut stones w/ small areas of untreated girdle too, to prove that the entirety of the rough was used

 

[mynattk]

excuse the dumb question, but how does cutting an extra facet save rough weight?

 

[yssie]

.

 

[mynattk]

Oh wow, that's a great visual. Makes much more sense now. Thanks, Yssie

 

[yssie]

np

 

[mynattk]

Does this mean that modern stones cut with a culet are sacrificing good cut for carat weight? In other words, it's kind of a cheat?

 

[oldminer]

At one time a Natural was a sign that the cutter used all the material as best as possible. A Culet was faceted to prevent shipping of the pointed end of the stone since many diamonds were set much lower a hundred years ago. Sometimes a diamond was set in such a way that the culet would hit the skin or fracture when the ring was placed on a ring sizing mandrel during a repair or re-sizing job. A faceted culet prevents chipping just like chamfering the 90 degree corners on a princess cut might help make the stone a bit less likely to chip during setting.

With new styles, having a culet makes no difference.

 

[mynattk]

That makes a lot of sense. So if I got a stone that had been cut in, say, the past 25 years then there is no reason really for it to have a culet since it seems to detract from the cut? (except if the cutter wanted to save weight)

Thanks for all the great info!

 

[yssie]

doesn't detract - unless it is large enough to see through and you dislike it, but also doesn't add value besides an antiquey charm that some find visually appealing in modern stones faceted to resemble older shapes.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

One of my round brilliant diamonds was cut within the last 25 years. Not sure when exactly it was as the certificate is in my safe deposit box, but I bought the diamond in 1994. It has a very small culet. Cannot see it and it doesn't detract from the cut. In fact, it looks as great as my ACAs

 

[geckodani]

I just learned something new. Thanks yssie and oldminer.

 

[oldminer]

There is no deduction in cut quality or value from a pointed culet to a medium culet size. All of these are basically invisible to the normal viewer. A culet size greater than medium certainly does allow more retained weight by increasing the angle of the pavilion at the girdle. On some old cuts with very large culets, the added weight retained can be surprisingly large. Most of the time, a culet is similar to your body's appendix. It makes little difference nearly all the time, but once you notice a problem it will really catch your attention.

 

[Natylad]

np

 

[Imdanny]

You know, some people like them. I do.

It's an essential design element and historically accurate in a certain type of cut.

It separates the the facets that connect to it and it's plain beautiful in itself.

As far as light return, see the Cullinan I and let me know if you think its culet has an adverse effect on its light return. LOL.

I like AVC's but the ones I like best are rectangular and have large rectangular culets.

Somehow we've reached some kind of modern consensus that culet = bad. I completely disagree.

 

[mynattk]

Ha, I think the sheer size of the Cullinan would distract just about anybody from noticing the culet

My e-ring diamond has a culet and most of the time I don't notice it. The reason for my question is because I recently purchased a ring that came from an estate sale and each of the 5 small stones have a tiny culet. When I was showing it off to my husband, he exclaimed, "wow, those look like little eyeballs looking back at me!" I was somewhat abashed, so I snatched it back, but now I keep noticing the "little eyeballs". Just made me wonder what the purpose was.

 

[Imdanny]

Yes, that's Cullinan II and call me crazy but that's exactly what I think such a stone should look like.

 

[Cehrabehra]

Yes, that's Cullinan II and call me crazy but that's exactly what I think such a stone should look like.

pfffft but what about that bow tie?

(tongue in cheek of course)

ETA I prefer culets. I think thay make a stone look finished somehow. The culet on my stone is "very large" and you can barely see it. I prefer the look of culets on rounds almost even more than on cushions. I don't mind eyes staring back at me as long as they twinkle

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Way back Morse and others thought it enhanced the light performance (which is one of the reasons why I do not buy a lot of the Amercian Ideal cut bunk).

AGS Lab initially followed GIA thinking that a very small culet was required to make a well cut diamond (as Dave says - to reduce the chance of chipping the stone, mainly while tradepeople were dropping hammers and tools on the stone on their bench).

But then they found a niche in SE Asia where a culet is bad because it lets the evil spirits in. So they allowed no culet as AGS 0.