Mine Cut Diamonds
Mine cut diamonds are among the earliest cut stones found in jewelry today. Cut in the 18th and 19th centuries, these early form of the “brilliant” diamond were cut with a squarish shaped girdle having rounded corners, high crown, small table pavilion and very large cutlet. Using rather crude tools compared to the modern diamond-cutter these stones were often cut for weight rather than light reflection. This form of cutting began to decline in the 1880′s as both the tools and knowledge of diamond cutters began to improve.