GIA Certified Diamonds Blog

I was recently asked by a friend what’s so special in oval cut diamonds. It’s not really the shape that make it special, but the cut. Being curious, I went reading about it when I first heard about the famous diamond cutter Lazare Kaplan that was the first one designing oval cut diamonds in the sixties and they have become more and more popular ever since. Basically it is a modification of the very common round brilliant diamond cut. It is looks like it is difficult to make an oval cut diamond into an ideal diamond with lots of flash and brilliance because certain angles are needed to accomplish this. Still you have a very lustrous gem in the end.

Like a round brilliant cut the oval cut diamond also has 56 facets to catch the light.

The highest quality oval cut diamonds do have an ideal ration and that is a length to width ration 1.5:1. If it is greater than that you might notice an effect in the center of the diamond called the bow-tie.

The thing that people should know is that the ideal oval cut diamond should also look elliptical when viewed and not round or triangular. It should also not taper off like a marquise diamond.

I have read that people think that the next trend is wedding or engagement with a large oval solitaire that is mounted up in a Tiffany setting so it can be shown off.

As you know, trends come and go

I wonder if this one will really become real and how long it will last…