Diamond cutting began in India, where people polished the natural faces of crystals, and reached Europe through Venice by the 14th century. Over the next 500 years cutters moved from the point cut to the table cut, the rose cut, the old mine cut and the old European cut. In 1919 Marcel Tolkowsky published a mathematical model for the round brilliant, and the modern cut grew from it.
Diamonds before faceting
Ancient India was the only known source of diamonds for most of history. Stones came from riverbed gravels along the Krishna and other rivers, later traded through the city of Golconda (see the Golconda diamond mines). Early texts value diamonds for their natural octahedral shape and their hardness, and many were set uncut.
Indian lapidaries did polish diamonds, but they usually followed the crystal's natural shape and kept as much weight as possible. Large historic stones such as the Koh-i-Noor arrived in Europe with irregular Indian cuts covered in many small facets. Europeans later recut several of them to suit their own taste. The Koh-i-Noor was recut in London in 1852 and lost a large share of its weight.
The point cut
The earliest European cut, the point cut, appeared by the 14th century. A cutter took an octahedral crystal and polished its eight natural faces smooth and even, leaving a double pyramid. Because no material was sawn away, the stone kept nearly all its weight.
Point cuts look dark and glassy by modern standards. They have little brilliance, because the faces sit at angles set by nature, not by the needs of light. Medieval rings and brooches often show them.
Venice played a large role in this period. The city controlled much of the trade in Indian goods arriving through the eastern Mediterranean, and records show diamond polishers working there by the 14th century. Paris and Bruges also had diamond workers in the 14th and 15th centuries.
The table cut
The table cut followed in the 15th century. Cutters ground off the top point of an octahedron to make a flat square table, and often a smaller flat culet at the bottom. The result reflected more light and showed off the stone's color and clarity better than a point cut.
Table-cut diamonds look nearly black in old portraits. That is accurate. With a large flat top and steep sides, light enters and much of it escapes or reflects darkly. Table cuts appear constantly in Renaissance jewelry, often set in enameled gold.
A tradition credits Lodewyk van Berquem of Bruges with inventing the scaife (the polishing wheel charged with diamond powder) around 1475. Historians treat the story as legend; polishing with diamond powder on a wheel was already known. The Bruges cutting page covers that city's role, which passed to Antwerp as Bruges's harbor silted up.
The rose cut
The rose cut appeared in the 16th century and stayed popular into the early 20th. A rose cut has a flat base and a domed top covered in triangular facets that meet at a point, a little like an opening rosebud. It has no pavilion.
Rose cuts suited flat pieces of rough and shallow cleavage fragments that could not become a deep stone. They catch candlelight with a soft glimmer and look larger than their weight suggests. Variants include the Dutch rose with 24 facets and the Antwerp rose. Many Georgian and early Victorian jewels are set with rose cuts, often backed with foil in closed settings.
Early brilliants: double and triple cuts
Seventeenth-century cutters began adding facets to the crown and pavilion of cushion-shaped stones. The double cut (sometimes called the Mazarin cut) had 17 facets on the crown. A later triple cut, often linked to Venice, added more facets and is the direct ancestor of the brilliant. These cuts were the first designed to return light through the top of the stone instead of simply showing a polished surface.
Old mine and old European cuts
By the 18th century, the old mine cut was the standard brilliant. It has a cushion outline, a small table, a high crown, a deep pavilion and a large open culet that looks like a small circle when viewed through the table. Brazilian diamonds, discovered in the 1720s (see diamond mines of Brazil), supplied much of the rough cut this way.
The old European cut arrived in the late 19th century. It is round, with a small table, tall crown and open culet, and it shows broad flashes of colored fire. Two changes made it possible. South African mines, opened after 1867, sent large amounts of rough to Europe. Mechanical bruting machines, developed in the 1870s by Henry Morse and his workshop in Boston and others, made it practical to round stones accurately.
Both cuts were designed for candlelight and gaslight, which flatter their broad flashes. The old European and old mine cuts page covers how to identify them and the debate over recutting.
Antwerp and Amsterdam
Antwerp became the main European diamond center in the 16th century. After Spanish forces took the city in 1585, many cutters and merchants, including Jewish families, moved north to Amsterdam, which led the trade through the 17th and 18th centuries. Antwerp regained its position in the late 19th and 20th centuries. See Antwerp as a cutting center and Amsterdam diamond cutting for the details.
Amsterdam firms handled some of the most famous jobs in diamond history. The Asscher firm cleaved and cut the Cullinan, the largest gem diamond ever found, in 1908.
Tolkowsky and the modern brilliant
Marcel Tolkowsky, from an Antwerp cutting family, published "Diamond Design" in 1919. He used optics to calculate proportions that would balance brilliance (white light returned to the eye) with dispersion (colored fire). His model called for a pavilion angle of about 40.75 degrees, a crown angle of about 34.5 degrees and a table around 53 percent of the diameter.
Tolkowsky's figures assumed a knife-edge girdle and gave no culet, which real stones need for durability. Cutters adjusted his numbers, and later research by labs and universities refined them using computer models of light. Through the 20th century, the round brilliant settled at 57 or 58 facets with a larger table than Tolkowsky's. See the round brilliant cut for its parts and proportions.
The 20th century and after
Power-driven diamond saws came into wide use in the early 20th century, letting cutters divide rough across the grain. Lasers followed in the late 20th century, along with optical scanners and planning software. These tools made new shapes practical, from the princess cut to many branded designs (see patented and branded diamond cuts).
Labs started issuing formal cut grades for round brilliants in the 1990s and 2000s. The center of the cutting industry also shifted. Antwerp, Tel Aviv and New York kept their roles in large stones and trading, while India, led by Surat, became the main cutting center for small and medium diamonds from the 1970s onward. The diamond trade history page follows the business side of these moves.
Frequently asked questions
What was the first diamond cut?
The point cut, used in Europe by the 14th century, is the earliest named cut. It simply polished the eight natural faces of an octahedral crystal.
Who invented the round brilliant cut?
No single person did. The brilliant developed over centuries from double and triple cuts through the old mine and old European cuts. Marcel Tolkowsky's 1919 work gave the modern version its calculated proportions.
Why do old diamonds look different from modern ones?
Older cuts have smaller tables, higher crowns and open culets. They show broad flashes of fire suited to candlelight, while modern brilliants show many small, bright flashes.
Did Lodewyk van Berquem invent diamond polishing?
That is a long-standing legend from Bruges. Diamond polishing with diamond powder predates him, though he may have been a real cutter of the period.