How old are old-cut diamonds?

In the spirit of sustainability, we primarily use old-cut diamonds for our jewelry! Old cuts are all cuts that existed before the brilliant cut, which was developed in 1910 and is so popular today. They have a very special character, as each stone is cut by a diamond cutter as a unique specimen. He tried to work out what he recognized and saw in the rough stone in terms of beauty, proportion and life of its own. The results are therefore just as varied and characterful as their producers. Each stone only exists once! The old-cut diamonds unfold their unique charm in our jewelry – your SIGNUM team wishes you lots of fun with them!

Characteristics of the old-cut diamond

The third illustration shows an old-cut diamond on the left and a modern brilliant-cut diamond on the right for comparison. The old-cut diamond has an unpolished and matt, thick round bar (facet that runs around the stone between the upper and lower part of the stone). This is often not the same thickness and the stone is not perfectly round. You can also see that the upper part has more volume and is higher than a diamond. In those days, the stones were cut by hand from a diamond rough cube to maximize the weight yield. The grinder has also tried to ‘capture’ a maximum of light through the remaining facets. It should be noted that candles and oil lamps were still the main sources of light in those days! If the stone has been optimally polished, it is fantastically flooded with light, which seems to ‘play’ in the stone. They appear brighter to us than brilliant-cut diamonds, which are cut with the aim of achieving maximum brilliance and evenness.

A brief insight into the historical development of the old-cut diamond

The development of the old cut began in the 14th century, as diamonds had previously only existed in their natural octahedron shape. The first actual old cut shape was the pointed stone, which was limited to optimizing the optical effect of the natural octahedron sides by polishing. A continuation of the pointed stone was the table stone in the 15th century, in which the upper and lower points of the octahedron were removed, creating flat surfaces.

In the course of time, the square round bar of this old cut was replaced by an octagonal one and additional cut surfaces (facets) were added. This cut is also known as a single cut. This new achievement was thanks to the use of grinding wheels.

A further step towards today’s brilliant cut was taken with the old cut in the 17th century. The result was the double cut – also known as the Mazarin cut in reference to the minister under Louis XIII – in which the round bar already had 12 facets and the upper part had 16.

The 18th century is probably of the greatest importance for the development of the brilliant cut, in which Vincent Peruzzi developed a shape that is now known as the old diamond cut. The round bar consists of a rounded square; there are 32 facets on the upper side and 24 facets on the underside, as well as a flattened tip. This old-cut diamond, the triple good, was further refined in the period around 1900, when the round bar was brought ever closer to the circular shape. The final refinement of the old-cut diamond to today’s brilliant cut took place at the beginning of the 20th century during the Art Deco period.