Vintage Diamond Cuts: A Quick Guide (2024)

FAQs

Are old cut diamonds valuable? ›

As modern jewellery generally use modern machine-cut stones, old mine cut and old European cut diamonds are more rare, and therefore may be more valuable to those who enjoy antiquity with their jewellery.

The most expensive diamond cut is the round brilliant

And it's not just because it's the most in-demand: The round brilliant has the most facets of any shape, which require more precision work, and cutters have to discard more of the rough diamond, so you essentially pay for a larger stone than you end up with.

In most cases, the precise qualification is that the diamond be around since the 1930's. The value of a diamond is said to increase with age, so the older the diamond, the more expensive the diamond is said to be.

What is an Old European-Cut Diamond? As you might guess, these diamonds are cut in a style developed in Europe and popular from 1890 to 1930. If you find an antique ring with a round diamond from this period, it very likely features an old European cut, often abbreviated as "OEC."

The old mine cut (or cushion cut) enjoyed its heyday from the early 18^th century to the latter end of the 19^th century, and is now most commonly found in jewellery of the Georgian and Victorian eras.

As compared to the modern cushion cut, old mine cut diamonds have a smaller table, taller crown, deeper pavilion, chunkier facets and open culet rather than a pointy tip.

For example, because round diamonds are the most popular and desired diamond shape, a round diamond will fetch a higher price on the secondhand market than, say, a marquise diamond with the exact same attributes.

Always Timeless: Round Brilliant

The round brilliant is the most popular diamond and a great choice for the woman who appreciates classic style. A round brilliant cut diamond maximizes the amount of reflected light, giving it incredible sparkle, especially when compared with other cuts.

The term antique is generally applied to items at least one hundred years old; stones cut in the 1930s and 40s still exhibit antique cutting styles even if they're not quite one hundred years old, so can be considered vintage. It's a fair bet that almost all antique diamonds are also post-consumer.

Are vintage diamonds blood diamonds? ›

Almost all diamonds that were mined in the 1980s or earlier are conflict free diamonds. Vintage diamonds and antique diamonds are a safe, ethical choice that also allow you to own a piece of history.

Their unique cuts and weight also boost their value since they're different from modern diamonds. Old diamonds are valued for their history, but this doesn't always mean they're pricier than modern diamonds, which are prized for their perfection in cut and clarity.

This is because they were often recut into modern shapes — a process that resulted in part of the original diamond going to waste. Today, antique cut diamonds are in demand specifically because they're old and unlike modern cuts, meaning they tend to sell for similar prices to equivalent diamonds in modern cuts.

Many antique diamonds fall under the J, K, L and M colour grades, which means they have a slightly yellow tint to them. This is because most of the rough diamonds coming out of mines in these times were warmer in colour.

Old Mine Cut diamonds have 58 facets, just like the modern-day Round Brilliant Cut, but the proportions largely differ from the ones sported in modern-era cuts. Compared to Round Brilliant diamonds, their table is smaller, their crown higher and their culet larger. In addition, their shape is more square than round.

In general, diamonds do not increase significantly in value over time. Outside of a small number of rare or colored diamonds, the vast majority of diamonds have decreased slightly in value over the last few years, making them a poor investment from a price appreciation perspective.

Index data tracking the historical diamond prices changes up to actual prices. Diamond prices increases about 14% each year since 1960! Past performance does not guarantee the performance of the future.

Old mine cut diamonds, for the most part, are pretty affordable. They are priced based on the same 4Cs as modern diamonds, but because their quality tends to be on the lower end of the scale (a lot of the higher color/clarity stones have been recut to reflect today's standards), they're usually more affordable.