ARE DIAMONDS WITH EXTRA FACETS BETTER?

What’s up with the jewelers that sell diamonds that are “supposed” to be better than regular diamonds?

They claim their diamonds have more sparkle, more fire, and more life in them.

These are diamonds with extra facets; exclusive cuts with extra flashes of light.

But are they superior to a standard brilliant cut diamond? Or is it just a marketing ploy?

Let’s take a look…

Brilliant cuts:

Before we jump into those special super cut diamonds, we need to understand the normal round cut diamond first. A normal round diamond is called a brilliant cut diamond. It’s called the brilliant cut because of the way it shines.

Out of all the cuts of diamonds out there, the brilliant cut diamond has the most brilliance and sparkle. Reason being, it’s perfectly symmetrical and has an even distribution of light emitting from it. No other cut of diamond can compare.

The brilliant cut diamond has always been the most popular cut of diamond in the World. It’s hard to go wrong with the brilliant cut. It’s elegant, beautiful and full of life.

The brilliant cut diamond was designed by a man named Tolkowsky. He came up with precise calculations for the 58 facets that maximized both the brilliance and the fire. A round diamond with these correct proportions and angles makes a stunning combination of dazzling light and spectacle.

Reflection:

Now let’s clean up a couple of terms… When you talk about diamonds and the word ‘reflection‘, you’re talking about the light reflecting off the surface of the diamond. Reflected light does not enter the diamond. It just hits it in such a way as to bounce off the surface like skipping a stone on the water.

‘Fire‘ is known as the amount of light that enters a diamond. This actually strikes the pavilion (bottom part of the diamond) and comes back out the top split into rays of colored light like a rainbow.

‘Brilliance‘ is the amount of white light that rebounds out of the top of the diamond and makes the diamond dance.

Now that you understand brilliant cut, let’s talk about brilliance with extra facets…

If a diamond is cut well, it sparkles more. That’s no mystery (which is why True Heart cut diamonds are the best you can buy). If the stone has an “excellent” cut, along with “excellent” polish and “excellent” symmetry, it will dazzle with massive beauty and light like no other stone (regardless of the color or clarity).

But let’s get into “Super Cuts”

Super cut diamonds are diamonds with extra facets on them, and the claim is that they have more fire and more sparkle than a standard brilliant cut diamond.

Do they?

Mmmm… Yes?

They do have more sparkles, but… (and this is a big but)… is this better?

The real answer: NO!

Let me explain…

While extra faceted diamonds may have 66, 74, 88, 100 facets or more, the quantity alone does not equal quality. You have to delve deeper…

(As a side note, keep in mind that those claims are only talking about “how many facets” super cuts have, not the clarity or color)…

So they have more cuts (facets). That’s all! These extra facets are their whole marketing strategy.

More cuts equal more brilliance, right?

No!!!

You see, you don’t get any more light entering the diamond and rebounding out no matter how many facets you have.

A normal crown (top raised part of the diamond) has 33 facets. So if you add 16 extra facets (or however many more) on the crown, you’ll get the same brilliance and sparkle, it’s just split up into 49 parts now.

And those parts will be now be smaller in size. So instead of seeing 33 big flashes of light, you’ll see 49 smaller flashes of light. Same light, no more, no less, just split differently. Understand me? Good!

Ask yourself this…

So are you really gaining anything?

No! Not in the least.

Will it make a diamond have better color or clarity? No! Never!

Does a crazy name and a certificate make it better? No!

So is it worth spending more money for that diamond? No (again)!

These exclusive cuts of diamonds don’t hold up well on the resale market either. They are harder to trade in because no jeweler wants to get stuck with them. So it looks like they don’t make the… CUT!

My advice:

Don’t get caught up in the so-called-sparkle!

Stick with a brilliant cut diamond (With excellent cut, polish and symmetry like these True Hearts diamonds here) and if you must spend more money, spend it on color or clarity.

A better cut will always make a diamond sparkle more (not extra facets).

See some excellent cut diamonds HERE!

Now those diamonds really sparkle! :)

Cheers! :)