Evening star., 1902-03-08
MODERN DIAMOND CUTTING.
Wherein, It is Said, the New Way is
Much Better Than the Old.

From the jewelers. Circular.
That even diamonds may be subject to
changes and styles Is evident from an
entirely new form of cutting which has Just
been patented in the United States and Eu-
rope by one of the largest cutters and I'M
porters Of diamonds in this country. This
new form is known as the twentieth CEN
tury cutting, and differs materially from,
and is an Improvement on, both the round
and cushion-shaped brilliant In which form
diamonds have been cut for many CEN
turies.
The present round brilliant was a de-
cided Improvement on the cushion shape
which preceded 1t. but for the Improvement
the cutter had TO pay considerably in the
extra or waste loss from the rough stone.
The new twentieth century is as great an
Improvement over the brilliant as the bril-
liant was over the cushion shape. but there
Is a cOmpensatinS increase both in the
cost of the cutting and In the grade OF
the diamond from which 1t is to be cut.
The brilliant, which has ben used for the
past twenty-five years, as is well known,
has fifty-siS facets; the table" or round
fiat top, thirty-two facets on the top, and
the "cuet' or point has tWenty-four
facets at the back. The twentieth century
cutting has eighty facets and planes, forty
of each, and has no table or "culet.
One Of the defects which the inventor
found in the brilliant, as now cut, Is that
the table" at the top, while rejecting light
to some extent does not scintillate. but
leaves a view of the facets and the culet
from above. The larger the diamond the
larger the table and there Is a cor
responding difference between the fash Of
the facets at the side and the dull re-
flection of the circle at the center.
The newly invented twentieth century
cutting scintiliates from every point, and
increases the brilliancy Of the stone by
100 per cent. The inventor. who has been
for a long time sought to overcome the
lack of scintillation in the table of the
diamond, and after years of experiment
has evolved the present cutting. He went
on the principle that nature makes crys-
tails In octagon and octahedron FORMS and
in cutting he has followed as much as pos
sible the natural lines of crystalization.
His patent is essentially on a shape form
ed of two cones. base to base, each cone
made up of planes and triangles. Looked
at from any direction, the tEiangles and
planes scintilate and flash light at all
angles, making it impossible to see with
in the stone. The refractive and reflective
powers Of the stones are both increased
by the new form. the planes In most cases
receiving light in the angle Of total re-
iection and flashing it out with full force
| ties Of the twentieth-century cutting that
do not exist in any other form yet dis
covered are % that through the increased
reflection and refraction Of the light the
| larger than 1t actually Is; g) for the same
reason the color is intensified that a
| white stone looks whittier, a yellow, vel
lower and blue. bluer; while a third
| property is increased In rainbow" tints,
due to the increase in the number OF
! prisms at the edges of the stone.
Owing to the intensiication Of color only
| the most perfect diamonds, such as river
| stones, Blue Wesselton. Wesseton and
| crystal. can be used with this cutting: and
this combined with the fact that it is
| impossible for a regular cutter to cut
| this form without learning an entirely new
method, makes the price SO high that II
| puts them out of competition with COM
mercial lines. For this reason they are not
| handled by the general run of retail jew
| elers, but only by those having a trade tha,
will pay we'll for exclusive products. 1t u.s.
therefore. safe to predict that while the
| twentieth-century cutting will be appre-
.ciated by the trade in general. and bv
lovers Of fine stones In particular never
| theless 1t will not interfere with the gen
| eral trade in brilliants of the present form
| and will not be seen except on the most
perfect and special stones that come into
| the market.