Welcome back to the Diamonds Hatton Garden blog where we bring you the latest from our Hatton Garden jewellers. In our latest series, we explore different fancy cut diamonds to give you and all you need to know guide when choosing. In today’s entry, we look at one of our famous and one of the oldest cuts: the emerald cut outlining what to look for in terms of clarity, size and colour as well as technical specifications to consider.
A history of Emerald Cut Diamonds
Emerald cut diamond engagement rings are the perfect way to celebrate your love. At Diamonds Hatton Garden, our family run jewellers have helped generations of clients to find their perfect Emerald diamond and engagement ring setting.
The Emerald-cut diamond is one of the oldest of all of the diamond shapes and its origins can be traced back over 5 centuries to the 1500s. As the name suggests, the shape was initially devised from emerald gemstones. The name “emerald cut” was not used until the 1920s with the rise of the art-deco and art-nouveau movements. The symmetry and clean lines of the emerald cut saw the shape become a popular choice for engagement rings and other jewellery pieces. The Emerald Cut Diamond has an elongated, rectangular shape and chiselled step cuts, with straight linear facets—usually parallel down the stone. To add stability and prevent fractures, the corners of an Emerald Cut Diamond are usually cropped. A popular choice for those wanting a larger stone without a high price point, an Emerald Cut diamond usually appears bigger than other shaped diamonds in the same carat weight due to its large table.
Why choose an Emerald Cut diamond?
We always say, much like in the Harry Potter series and Olivander with wands, that the diamond chooses the person. Of course, with so many wonderful shapes and technical specifications to consider it can be hard to choose the diamond. Before going into more details, we summarise the pros and cons of the Emerald cut:
Emerald Cut Pros
- Great value with a lower price per carat than most shapes
- Elegant, classic appearance
- Readily available
Emerald Cut Cons
- Inclusions can be more noticeable – we recommend a higher clarity grade where possible
- Less brilliance than other diamond cuts
Recommended Proportions For Emerald Cut Diamonds
As we have discussed before, the proportions of a diamond are very important and play a large part in the beauty of a diamond. Diamond proportion is an element of Diamond Cut and is critical to a stone’s brilliance and value. With recommended diamond proportions, a diamond takes in and reflects light well—causing brilliance and fire. In particular, with Emerald Cut diamonds, the length to width ratio is, unlike other cuts, of greater importance The ideal shape for an Emerald Cut Diamond is rectangular, with the ratio classically ranging from 1.30 to 1.60. Most clients tend to opt for a ratio closer to 1.50, however you may have your own preference for a slightly wider or longer shaped diamond and during your consultation we can show you the various options we have available.. Below we have put together the recommended proportions for the Emerald Cut:
|
|
Excellent |
Very Good |
Good |
Fair |
Poor |
|
Table % |
61-69 |
57-60 or 70-72 |
54-56 or 73-74 |
51-53 or 75-79 |
<51 or >79 |
|
Depth % |
61-67 |
59-60.9 or 67.1-70 |
57-58.9 or 70.1-74 |
54-56.9 or 74.1-79 |
<54 or >79 |
|
Girdle |
Very Thin – Slightly Thick |
Very Thin – Thick |
Very Thin – Very Thick |
Extremely Thin – Extremely Thick |
|
|
Culet |
None |
Very Small |
Small |
Medium |
>Medium |
|
Length/Width Ratio |
1.40-1.50 |
1.30-1.39 or 1.51-1.60 |
1.20-1.29 or 1.61-1.80 |
1.15-1.19 or 1.81-1.90 |
<1.15 or >1.90 |
Emerald Cut Diamond – Cut Quality – What to consider?
Much like radiant cut diamonds, many diamond grading labs – including GIA – do not have a cut grading to the Emerald Cut. However, there are certain characteristics and parameters we can use making it easy to choose a brilliant and beautiful Emerald Cut.
Dimensions like depth %, table %, and length to width ratios define how the diamond appears and the light that it reflects. To buy a well-cut Emerald diamond, we recommend that the depth is below 74%. Of course it is important to consider the combination of specifications, but the depth is the main aspect for a beautiful Emerald Cut diamond.
Emerald Cut Diamond – Clarity – What to consider
As mentioned before, we recommend choosing a higher than average clarity for the Emerald Cut diamond. This is because the table, the top part of the diamond which is like a window into the centre of the stone, is larger than many other cuts – thus making inclusions more visible compared to similar clarity levels of other cuts. What’s more, because the pavilion and crown are relatively shallow, Step Cut stones are generally not as bright and never as fiery as brilliant cut stones – accentuating the Emerald Cut diamond’s clarity making inclusions more visible.
We suggest choosing a clarity of VS2 and above for Emerald Cut diamonds, like with ASscher Cuts too, and anything below risks that the stone is not eye-clean.
Emerald Cut Diamond – Colour – What to consider
Much like the radiant cut that we covered last week, the large table and step cuts mean that colour is more visible than in other diamond cuts. We recommend that you choose an Emerald Cut of colour J and above as lower colours can cause the diamond to take on more of a yellowish tinge. Ideally, between I- H offer excellent value whilst maintaining the clean, white colour that one expects.
Emerald Cut size chart
We have put together a chart below to show the sizing of radiant cut diamonds comparing carat weight to mm size.
| Carat | Diameter (mm) | Surface Area (sq. mm) |
|---|---|---|
| 0.3 ct. | 3.86 | 14.87 |
| 0.4 ct. | 4.24 | 17.95 |
| 0.5 ct. | 4.56 | 20.77 |
| 0.6 ct. | 4.84 | 23.39 |
| 0.7 ct. | 5.09 | 25.88 |
| 0.8 ct. | 5.31 | 28.24 |
| 0.9 ct. | 5.52 | 30.50 |
| 1 ct. | 5.72 | 32.67 |
| 1.1 ct. | 5.90 | 34.77 |
| 1.2 ct. | 6.07 | 36.81 |
| 1.3 ct. | 6.23 | 38.78 |
| 1.4 ct. | 6.38 | 40.71 |
| 1.5 ct. | 6.53 | 42.59 |
| 1.6 ct. | 6.67 | 44.42 |
| 1.7 ct. | 6.80 | 46.22 |
| 1.8 ct. | 6.93 | 47.98 |
| 1.9 ct. | 7.05 | 49.71 |
| 2 ct. | 7.17 | 51.40 |
| 2.1 ct. | 7.28 | 53.07 |
| 2.2 ct. | 7.40 | 54.71 |
| 2.3 ct. | 7.50 | 56.32 |
| 2.4 ct. | 7.61 | 57.91 |
| 2.5 ct. | 7.71 | 59.48 |
| 2.6 ct. | 7.81 | 61.02 |
| 2.7 ct. | 7.91 | 62.54 |
| 2.8 ct. | 8.00 | 64.05 |
| 2.9 ct. | 8.10 | 65.54 |
| 3 ct. | 8.19 | 67.00 |
| 3.1 ct. | 8.27 | 68.46 |
| 3.2 ct. | 8.36 | 69.89 |
| 3.3 ct. | 8.44 | 71.31 |
| 3.4 ct. | 8.53 | 72.72 |
| 3.5 ct. | 8.61 | 74.11 |
| 3.6 ct. | 8.69 | 75.49 |
| 3.7 ct. | 8.77 | 76.85 |
| 3.8 ct. | 8.84 | 78.20 |
| 3.9 ct. | 8.92 | 79.54 |
| 4 ct. | 8.99 | 80.87 |
| 4.1 ct. | 9.07 | 82.19 |
| 4.2 ct. | 9.14 | 83.49 |
| 4.3 ct. | 9.21 | 84.79 |
| 4.4 ct. | 9.28 | 86.07 |
| 4.5 ct. | 9.35 | 87.34 |
| 4.6 ct. | 9.41 | 88.61 |
| 4.7 ct. | 9.48 | 89.86 |
| 4.8 ct. | 9.55 | 91.11 |
| 4.9 ct. | 9.61 | 92.34 |
| 5 ct. | 9.67 | 93.57 |
Unsure what size Emerald cut diamond to choose? At Diamonds Hatton Garden our team of family-run jewellers have assisted generations of clients to find their perfect Emerald cut diamond engagement ring. Contact our team via harel@diamondshg.co.uk or call +44 7951 060238 for more information and to arrange your appointment. Alterantively, explore our selection of fancy coloured yellow diamonds for sale and if you are looking to buy fancy pink diamonds contact our team.