Tolkowsky cut?

[Quinn]

I have heard of this cut however I am confused. What is the Tolkowsky cut and is it really important to get a good cut in a diamond or is it a sales hype technique?

[Bearman]

I have heard of this cut however I am confused. What is the Tolkowsky cut and is it really important to get a good cut in a diamond or is it a sales hype technique?

Cut is VERY important to the beauty of a diamond. Even lower grade diamonds can sometimes look better than higher graded diamonds due to the cut, the actual proportions of the diamond.

It's not a sales hype although most sales people in many jewelry stores know very little about cut.

We look at cut and color very closely before we sell a diamond.
cut grades range form "0" on up to 10 with "0" being the best.

Tolkowsky came out with parameter for well cut stones I believe in the 50's.

[denverappraiser]

Marcel Tolkowski published a book on diamond design in 1919 that really started the whole field of diamond optics. For truly compulsive shoppers, here (http://www.folds.net/diamond_design/) is the entire text of Tolkowski's book. For more normal humans, there are lots of grading systems that have been developed based on it. The most popular by far is the 0-10 scale that Bearman is referring to.

It's definitely not all hype. A diamond is basically a 3 dimensional prism and, as you would expect, the cutting has an enormous amount to do with the beauty of the final product.

Neil

[Bill Bray]

The Tolkowsky Cut like Neil said was developed along time ago and still holds the market share for fine made diamonds.

Understand that there is no diamond that is cut with each facet exactly as Tolkowsky said it should be. Manipulating the medium of diamond is thee most difficult thing any artist has to do, since only diamond cuts diamond.

Realizing this, some diamonds are more "accurately" cut than others, hence that's why we have "ideal" and "super ideals".

BrayScore judges the techical measurements of diamonds and uses the angular measurements set out by Tolkowsky as target parameters. These angle measurements are the only thing that is subjective about BrayScore cut analysis. The rest is basic mathematics which is easily measurable by today's devices to an accuracy that I feel suffices for the day to day trading of diamonds on all levels of the industry.

A BrayScore of 1000 would be a perfectly made Tolkowsky cut with a variable table size of 53-58% measured four ways. As various targets are missed, deductions are taken. The best cut diamond to date on the BrayScore websight is a 935 I believe....an easy tool for the consumer to use as well as those in the idustry.


Bill