Old Mine Cut Diamond

Contrary to the beliefs of most people, an Old Mine Cut Diamond is not just an old-cut cushion shaped Diamond. Old Mine Cut Diamonds are exactly what the words describe, Diamonds that originated from mines where the rough Diamonds were cut by hand. These Diamonds primarily came from the first mine discoveries on the Indian continent and later from Brazilian and African mines.

Rough Diamonds came in all sorts of different shapes and most have distinct irregularities. It was these irregularities that usually determined the final shape of the polished Diamond. Speaking of shapes, Old Mine Cut Diamonds come in a plurality of different shapes, probably a great deal more in their era than the amount of shapes we’d find today.

GemConcepts specializes in Old Mine Cut Diamonds in the Period Cuts category. GemConcepts’ Old Mine Cushion shapes and proportions offer the standard 58 facet cushion as well as the following variations:

Square, squarish, elongated and extremely elongated shapes.

Novelty shapes such as trapezoidal, heart/triangular, shields, etc.

Irregular shapes, exactly how Old Mine Cuts were fashioned in historical times, where the rough shape dictates the final designed appearance

As Old Mine Cut Diamonds were historically cut to display the play of light derived from low angle candle lighting, and because symmetry was not a priority, Old Mine Cut Diamonds display a blocky type of light return, ununiformed and full of character, some call it a Chunky Cushion. The Kozibe effect is a natural feature on Old Mine Cut Diamonds, Historically cutters believed it adds light into the Diamond. Present day laboratories grade Diamonds based on light entering the Diamond from 90 degrees and above the girdle.