Emerald Cut Diamond: Everything You Need To Know

Emerald Cut Diamonds – Basics

The emerald cut diamond is a step-cut, with an entirely different aesthetic than brilliant cuts like the round brilliant, princess and cushion cut diamond..

PriceScope Pointer: Most laboratories issue NO CUT GRADE for shapes other than round: If the cut is described as “Ideal” or “Excellent” (etc.) it’s a seller’s description, not a laboratory judgment.

Before going on: Check out the PriceScope Diamond Buying Guide

Emerald Cut Diamond Described

Among the various diamond shapes, the emerald cut diamond’s name comes from the cutting style for gemstones of the same name. The emerald cut diamond features a large table, and long straight lines giving a clean, elegant appearance. The traditional emerald cut diamond is rectangular in shape. The corners of an emerald cut diamond are usually cropped or chamfered, in order to protect them from chipping.

The Fancy, Inconvenient Truth

The typical emerald diamond is cut for heavier weight, at the expense of beauty. This is because many grading laboratories, including GIA, do not assess the optical performance of the emerald cut diamond or other fancy shapes. With no standards enforced, manufacturers tend to plan for the highest yield possible, resulting in some emerald cut diamonds having considerable depth or being too shallow.

Exceptions

The AGS and GCAL assess and grade the optical performance of certain fancy shapes. If you’re seeking cut quality affirmation, fancy shapes with performance deficits will not earn the highest marks from those top-tier laboratories.

tips

Emerald Cut Diamond Selection Tips

Length to Width Ratio:

For the classic emerald cut diamond aesthetic we recommend 1.50 – 1.75

Other Notes:

The step cutting style and large table on the emerald diamond leave few places for inclusions to hide. Color saturation is also more noticeable in the emerald diamond shape so those seeking clean, colorless appearing diamonds will want to gravitate towards H-VS2 and higher.

The emerald cut diamond faceting style also lends itself to highly visible inclusions. The prominent table facet and adjacent step cut facets are like having clear windows right into the center of the stone. Any dark inclusions in the middle of an emerald cut diamond will be clearly visible.

In other words, both color (when present) and inclusions (when present) will be more noticeable in an emerald cut diamond, due to its faceting style, than the same color and clarity would be in a round, princess or cushion cut diamond.

Fortunately, emerald cut diamonds are great at maximizing carat weight. Any rectangular emerald cut diamond that is not overly deep, and within the recommended girdle thickness range may look larger from the “face up” position than princess cuts, radiant cuts, and round brilliants of the same carat weight.

Emerald Cut Diamond Prices

PriceScope has been maintaining emerald cut diamond prices chart since 2017 and you can visit emerald cut diamond prices for the latest retail princess cut diamond price statistics.

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