why do old cuts look whiter???????

[GraceAva]

Hi everyone, ive recently had my new engagement ring and the center diamond is an 1ct old cut, nobody can tell me exactly but its probably victorian (of ebay) this diamond is a j-k in colour and when i take it off and look from the side its got a yellow tone but when its on it looks like an e-f, why?? is this due to blue flouresence? i read somewhere that old cuts face up whiter, is this true? and if it is why would they stop cutting diamonds like that as surely we all want our diamonds to look whiter than they are??!! if anyone can explain this to me that would be great!

 

[iota15]

It's not old cuts. Diamonds are graded from the side, so their side color determines their color grade. How they face up is irrelevant to grading, but face-up, it may be perceived as a higher color. This can happen with old cuts, or new cuts. Many people think their J's, even K's look white face-up. If it's a well cut stone, it's reflecting the light around you - that's true whether it's old or not. It's also much more difficult to ascertain color when there's blinding white sparkles hitting your eyes first!

 

[yssie]

1. Larger facets = larger virtual facets = large, bright flashes of light, brighter = whiter to your eyes (also = bigger), esp if there is black right next to it to contrast against

2. If you have it in a white metal setting and it's a somewhat leaky stone, you will be able to see the white of the setting through those leaky areas from face-up or from tilt angles that highlight the 'window' to use the CS term - making the stone look whiter in turn. I have an antique cushion that is quite tinted (probably N, O/P) from the side, has a gigantic window at about 10deg from the horizontal, put it into an empty white gold stud setting and it looks *white* face-up & from that same 10deg tilt..

3. Ditto iota - colour grading!

 

[LGK]

Honestly, I do think antique cuts face up whiter than modern stones of similar low colors. I simply have no idea why, except maybe it is the large facets that fool the eye... but it doesn't really seem like that's ALL that is going on. (It *could* be that I don't have enough experience with ideal cut modern stones, and it's just a function of really good light return... because the antique cuts that I own are all well cut, significantly better cut than all of the RBs I see day-to-day.)

I have an M colored OEC, which, from the side, does look like an M with some color visible. Face up? Whole different story. Victor Canera, who reset it recently, thought it looked conservatively like a G face up after it was bezeled... and reset, in a platinum bezel, it looks just plain ol' white, it's true.

JBEG owners both Erica and Grace have mentioned this phenomenon also. I'd be curious if they see this post, what they think the reason is. Like I said, I have actually not seen any more than a few colorless ideal cuts, no lower colors, so I have no idea if an ideal cut low colored round brilliant would do the exact same thing. Quite possibly they would. However both JBEG and Victor Canera both have mentioned they think old cuts do face up whiter than modern ones, as well, so....?

As far as why old cuts went out of fashion, well, face up color isn't all there is. Plenty of people want something that really *is* graded in the colorless range and looks pure icy white from any and all angles, not just something that looks like it from the top down only. Cut changed gradually, with the emphasis changing to white light return and stones that perform well under electric light rather than low lighting conditions that you'd get with candle light or whatever (OECs/OMCs are excellent low light performers). And frankly I think tastes just changed, and people preferred the splintery look of long LGFs to chunky looking antique cuts.

 

[GraceAva]

thanks for your replies! it does make more sense if diamond color is graded from the side. also LGK i think your right that people want a diamond thats good on paper as well as on the finger. but i do think having looked at friends modern diamonds that old cuts do have some sort of optical allusion that makes them look whiter.