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Emerald Cut Diamonds: Everything You Need To Know

Emerald Cut Diamonds: Everything You Need To Know

There are certain types of diamonds that we’ve all heard of and that we’ve probably seen, at least in movies – if not in real life. Emerald cut diamonds are one of those diamonds that are well-known by the general populace and are easily recognizable almost anywhere in the world.

Besides that, this diamond has fantastic features like its cut, the settings that it goes well with – and more. This diamond cut is – and has been – quite popular for some years now, so you know there are many things that make it desirable for such extended periods.

Now, let’s look at what we’re going to talk about today when it comes to the emerald cut diamonds:

  • What are emerald-cut diamonds
  • Best settings for emerald-cut diamonds
  • The cut quality
  • Clarity of emerald-cut diamonds
  • Color of emerald-cut diamonds

You now know what to expect. So, let’s jump straight into the article – and see what a gem you’re in for if you get an emerald-cut diamond!

What Are Emerald Cut Diamonds?

The emerald cut is called that because they initially used this cut on emeralds. Emerald gems are way more fragile than diamonds since they are softer and often have more inclusions.

To keep emeralds from breaking and chipping during the cutting process, artisans in the 1500s began cutting them with linear, step-cut facets – which became standard for the stone.

Related Read: Diamonds Vs. Emeralds: What Is the Best Choice for You?

Diamond cutters later realized that diamonds look stunning with the emerald cut, too, giving birth to the emerald cut diamond. That is one of the oldest cuts of diamonds in the world; diamonds came to Europe not that long before the era in which the emerald cut was born.

Knowing this, people love it even more because the beauty of this diamond cut is quite old and has some stories behind it. The emerald cut diamond is in the shape of a rectangle with cut corners and step-cut, which gives an emerald-cut diamond its “hall of mirrors” effect.

Emerald diamonds can look longer or more square, depending on their ratio, depending on the person cutting the stone or the order (sometimes the customer orders a more special cut).

Learn More: Diamond Shapes: All Different Types of Diamond Shapes

Best Settings For Emerald Cut Diamonds

Not all diamonds look the same in all settings. Reality is completely different; some would say the opposite of that statement.

So, the point is that there are some settings that work best with specific cuts of diamonds. Of course, this might seem quite obvious to some of you – but there are a lot of instances where people overlook this fact.

That leaves them with quite a confusing combination of a diamond setting and diamond cut that could have looked much better if there was any time or thought put into the whole design.

That’s why here, we’ll tell you about the three best settings for emerald-cut diamonds. These three settings are as follows:

  • Three Stone
  • Pavé
  • Solitaire

Let’s look at all three one by one and see why these are the best settings for emerald-cut diamonds.

Three Stone Setting

Emerald cut diamonds work fantastically in a three-stone setting. Two smaller stones hugging the emerald cut diamond in the middle draws attention to the center stone and accentuates its beauty.

For example, brilliant-cut diamonds on each side provide a phenomenal contrast to the emerald cut’s long facets. 

Here’s another suggestion: You can flank the emerald cut diamond with baguette diamonds.

Pavé Setting

A pavé setting can make your ring stand out like never before without drawing attention from the emerald-cut diamond that serves as a centerpiece. The accent diamonds add some flashiness to the ring, at the same time amplifying the fire of the center stone.

Pavé setting is famous for being a very good “complimentary” setting that goes well with a lovely centerpiece diamond that can hold the pavé setting together and make it work. The centerpiece can not be a diamond that isn’t able to stand out and allow for the other smaller diamonds to do their job, though.

Related Read: How To Prevent Pave Diamonds From Falling Out?

Solitaire Setting

The solitaire setting is among the most well-known and famous diamond settings. This setting is based on allowing the diamond to get all the looks – with the minimalistic approach to the setting and the ring itself.

Here’s the thing: This setting lets plenty of light hit the diamond, which amplifies the “hall of mirrors” effect of an emerald-cut diamond. It highlights the unique style of an emerald-cut diamond fantastically. 

It’s pretty hard to go wrong with a simple solitaire setting and a beautiful emerald-cut diamond together.

The Cut Quality

All diamonds are cut differently – and you’re aware that different diamond cuts can have specific characteristics that make them unique and interesting in their own regard.

That’s why emerald cut is so trendy – this cut really is unique in its own way and stands out from the significant majority of other cuts of diamonds.

The quality of the emerald cut is a topic of its own – but we’re going to take a look and see what those key characteristics make the emerald cut diamond’s cut quality so unique are.

Cut quality is a little harder to assess when it comes to emerald cut gems because lab entities – yes, including GIA – don’t have a specific cut grade for fancy-shaped diamonds. 

There are still some parameters that make it easy to select an emerald-cut diamond, though. 

Dimensions like depth percentage, table percentage, and length-to-width ratios all have a great impact on how the diamond looks – and how much light it reflects.

On that note, for a good emerald-cut diamond, the depth should be below 74%. These diamonds vary from almost square to narrow rectangle-looking ones. Still, the “classic” emerald cut diamond has a length-to-width ratio of around 1.50.

If some of you prefer the look of the square emerald cut diamond, consider the Asscher cut as well since it is one of the oldest and well-known diamond cuts, defined by GIA as a square-cut emerald.

Clarity

The clarity of a gem is always a touchy subject since diamonds of all clarity levels can be cut in a specific cut – including the emerald cut.

That essentially means that your emerald cut diamond can be any and every clarity, so there is a wide market for diamonds that have a lower or a higher grade of clarity, not depending on the cut.

But, our primary focus is the emerald cut diamond, or its clarity, to be exact, so let’s get onto it! The table or the top surface of an emerald cut diamond looks like a window into the depths of an emerald cut diamond.

Any inconsistencies found in the middle will be visible because the pavilion and the crown are comparatively shallow. Blemishes in an emerald-cut diamond will be more noticeable than in almost any other diamond cut.

The GIA scale for gem clarity ranges from best (void of inclusions) to worst (easily noticeable inclusions). Their designations include:

  • IF – Internally Flawless
  • VVS1 – Very Very Small Inclusions 1
  • VVS2 – Very Very Small Inclusions 2
  • VS1 – Very Small Inclusions 1
  • VS2 – Very Small Inclusions 2
  • SI1 – Small Inclusions 1
  • SI2 – Small Inclusions 2
  • I1 – Inclusions 1
  • I2 – Inclusions 2

Generally speaking, it’s recommended that your emerald-cut diamond has VS2 clarity for the best value. SI2 and SI1 clarity grades are usually not recommended with gemstone cuts such as emerald-cut diamonds.

Most importantly, review all possible diamonds carefully to ensure they look clean to the naked eye. That is the most important thing here. Some imperfections might not be visible to the naked eye, meaning that that particular emerald-cut diamond is still wearable – despite some of its flaws.

If you’re looking for an SI1 or SI2 emerald cut diamond, you must verify that inclusions are not in the center of the stone.

Color

The color of an emerald cut diamond is not a topic that is as wide or as extensive as its clarity, for example. That’s why we won’t talk much about the color of emerald-cut diamonds. Still, there are some things that are worth mentioning here.

First of all, there are really one or two options to choose from when it comes to the color of your emerald-cut diamonds.

See-through or transparent diamonds (regular diamonds, if you will) are the ones that are most commonly used for emerald cuts.

That is because this cut really opens up the diamond and lets a lot of light in – which makes the transparent clear diamonds go well with this cut.

Probably 99% of emerald-cut diamonds you see won’t have a specific color, and well, that’s how it should be – unless you desire something different, of course. If you’re one of those people that like to have diamonds that stand out, you’re in luck!

You can also find Emerald-cut diamonds in yellow or purple-ish colors. Sadly, these emerald cut diamonds aren’t as common as the ones we’ve discussed just now.

But, if you’re persistent enough, you can find emerald cut “canary diamonds” that are one of the most popular diamonds with a rather distinct color.

Purple-like colored diamonds are rare and usually aren’t emerald-cut diamonds. But, if you find a diamond in the color you like, you can have it custom cut to your desire – and that includes the emerald cut.

But, to be honest, you can do that with all colors of diamonds, as long as they feature a decent level of clarity. So, you can get creative, indeed!

Conclusion

There is a lot to say and take in when it comes to something as popular as the emerald-cut diamonds, huh? So, let’s sum up everything we’ve said so far in order to help you decide whether this diamond cut is right for you or not.

First of all, you should remember that emerald cut diamonds are one of those few diamonds that have a long history behind them. That is due to the first emerald cut diamonds dating back to the 1500s – which is quite a few centuries ago. That said, these diamonds are quite popular to this day – so the phrase “diamonds are forever” makes sense!

The cut quality, clarity, and color are pretty important when it comes to emerald cut diamonds – especially the clarity.

The specific way in which these diamonds are cut allows a lot of light to enter the diamond from the top of the “table surface” of these diamonds, making all imperfections relatively easy to see – and very visible to even the naked eye.

That means two things: 

  1. One, you should be very careful while buying emerald-cut diamonds.
  2. And two, you should be prepared to spend a lot of money on it since the level of clarity needed for this diamond to look amazing comes with a hefty price.

One last thing – and probably something that most of you are wondering about: What is the price of this diamond? Well, the price range of emerald cut diamonds ranges between $850 and $1300 for a half-carat stone.

Now that you have the necessary information about these diamonds, the only thing left to do is to go and try one on and see how it looks.

Happy shopping!

Related Read: Radiant Cut Vs. Emerald Cut