Cut stones

Contemporary art jewelry with faceted gemstones

Cut gemstones may be very different in shape, size, cutting technic, number of facets. But most of them still have some common features, such as a crown, a girdle, and a pavilion. Normally gems are set so that you are is looking through the table, the flat top facet on the crown (top portion) of the gem, to see how light has been collected and returned back. The girdle is the outer edge of the gem, where metal grips the stone to hold it in place in jewelry or art. The pavilion is the bottom portion of the gem. If the pavilion facets come to a point at the bottom, that point is called a culet. Sometimes there is a small facet at the culet that is parallel to the table. This is called a culet facet.

The total depth of the gem is the total thickness of the gem from the table to the culet. A gemstone's crown height (listed as a percentage of the diameter) can vary from deep to shallow, depending on the cutting style. Pavilion depth (expressed as a percentage of the diameter) can also vary. If a pavilion depth is too shallow, you will see through the gem, called windowing, and if it is too deep, the gem will appear dark overall.

The art of gem cutting is ancient and it is basically the transformation of raw stones into dazzling crystals. The point is to let the gem assume a certain shape, unlocking its luster, color and brilliance. Lapidaries have two general styles they can choose when cutting gemstones:

Faceted gems

Gems with geometrically-shaped, flat polished faces. Today, faceted gemstones are the most popular style, but this was not always the case. Big fans of cabochons, cameos (a gem carved in positive relief) and intaglios (a gem carved in negative relief), did you know that ancient Romans considered wearing faceted gems vulgar?

Non-faceted gems

Gems that don’t have geometrically-shaped, flat polished faces, such as cabochons. Derived from the old Norman French word ‘caboche’, meaning head, cabochon is an ancient shaping and polishing technique that remains popular today due to the yesteryear charm and character of what are, typically, richly colored gems.

Because of their different optical properties, colored gems do not have an ideal ‘brilliant cut’ like Diamonds. Which style, cut and shape lapidaries select depends on the type, shape and quality of the rough gemstone. The cut of a gem directly affects its overall value, as the cut determines how well a gem returns its body color back to the eye.