There has been a recent rebirth in the desirableness of old cuts of stones. Traditional cuts such as cushion, asscher, rose and additional antique varieties of a round cut are available in present day jewellery inspired by the art deco era and carrying on the ever popular classic theme.
These kind of cuts are being used in a choice of styles including clusters, where the central stone is surrounded by less diamonds or different diamonds like sapphires in vintage style pavé setting or in solitaires with a outstanding modest antique appeal.
The asscher cut is a square jewel cut with the corners cut off. The facets are parallel to the girdle and are trapezoidal molded. This offers the stone a glassy presentation and a more subtle glow even though it has the same total of facets as a brilliant cut, 58. The asscher cut went into limited manufacture in the 1920s which meant that it was a particularly sought-after stone and in 2001 the stone was re-launched after much analysis and improvement in adjustment of the facet style to give the stone more glow without shedding its stunning glassy classic excellence.
The rose cut is a spherical cut with the facets creating a point on the domed top of the stone established with either 12 or 24 facets. The bottom of the stone is flat. The rose cut was cut in this way simply because it was regarded that choosing the facets on top of the stone would create the most glimmer. This cut of stone was desirable from the 1500′s to the 1900′s but was updated by the contemporary brilliant cut when diamond cutting became more advanced and more exact cutting approaches were used.
The cushion cut, a fashionable variety of the old mine cut, is a cut which was particularly common all through the 19th century and the most popular cut up until the early 20th century. Encouraged by the mine cut, the cushion cut is square in form with rounded corners, like a cushion! The contemporary cushion cut has 64 facets and is inclined to be particularly deep. Just like the asscher, the cushion cut has been subject to a certain amount of research and evolution to modernise the cut – boosting its sparkle – which has led to a resurgence in popularity for this antique cut. The up-to-date cushion cut is not as shiny as a brilliant cut but it generally shows better fire making it a very tempting choice for engagement rings.