Omaha daily bee., 1902-03-23
Cutting Diamonds

That even diamonds may be subject to
changes and styles is evident from an en-
tirely 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, says the jewelers. Circular,
and differs materially from and is an i'm
provement on both the round and cushion
shaped brilliant, in which form diamonds
have been cut for many centuries.
The present round brilliant was a decided
improvement on the cushion shape which
preceded it, 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 i'm
provement over the brilliant as the brilliant
was over the cushion shape, but there is a
compensating increase both in the cost OF
the cutting and in the grade of the diamond
from which it is to be cut.
The brilliant, which has been used for the
past twenty-five years, as is well known,
has fftysix facets; the table" or round.
fiat top, thirty-two facets on the top, and
the 'culet," or point, has twenty -four
facets at the back. The twentieth century
cutting has eighty facets and planes, forty
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 flash OF
the facets at the side and the dull refiec-
tion of the circle at the center.
The newly invented twentieth century
cutting scintillates from every point and
increases the brilliancy Of the stone by 100
per cent. The inventor, who has been an
expert in diamonds for many years, has
for a long time sought to overcome the
lack of scintillatlon in the table" of the
diamond, and after years Of experiment has
evolved the present cutting. He went on
the principle that nature makes crystals
in octagon and octahedron forms and in
cutting he has followed as much as pos.
sible the natural lines of capitalization.
His patent is essentially on a shape
formed of two cones, base to base, each
cone made up of planes and trianges.
Looked at from any direction, the triangles
and planes scintillate and flash light at
all angles, making it impossible to see
within the stone. The refractive and re-
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creased by the new form, the planes in
most cases receiving light in the angle
of total reflection and flashing 1t out with
full force and without loss. Other peculiar
properties OF the twentieth century cutting
that do not exist in any other form yet
discovered are () that through the in
creased reflection and refraction Of the
light the stone appears to be at least one
third larger than it actually is; (2) for the
same reason the color is intensified 30 that
white stone looks whittier, a yellow yell
lower and a blue bluer, while a third
property is increased in rainbow" tints
due to the increase in the number OF
prisms at the edge Of the stone.
Owing to the intensihcation Of color only
the most perfect diamonds, such as river
stones, Blue WesseltoE. wesselton and
crystal can be used with this cutting.