142 



BULLETIN" 118, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



removing one-eighteenth of the thickness of the stone (a and b, in 

 text fig. 16). The triangular facets touching the table (s in c, fig. 16) 

 are called star facets; those touching the girdle fall into two groups, 

 skill facets (E in c) and skew facets (D in c). The corner facets touch- 

 ing the table and girdle on the crown (B in c), and the culet and girdle 

 on the pavilion (Q in d) are called quoins. The facets between the 

 quoins, and touching the table and girdle when on the crown, and the 

 culet and girdle when on the pavilion, are called, respectively, bezel 



Fig. 16.— The brilliant, a and b, manner in which the brilliant is derived from the funda- 

 mental form; c, d, and e, top, side, and back views of brilliant with 58 facets; /, g, and 

 h, top, side, and back views of modified brilliant with 66 FACETS. 



facets (A in c) and pavilion facets (P in d). The total number of 

 facets are distributed as follows: 1 table, 16 skill facets, 16 skew 

 facets, 8 star facets, 8 quoins, 4 bezel facets, 4 pavilion facets, and 1 

 culet, as shown in c, d, and e of the text figures, representing the top, 

 side, and bottom views of a brilliant with 58 facets. Occasionally 

 the cut is modified by cutting extra facets around the culet, making 

 66 in all. 



The brilliant cut is especially applied to the diamond, and when 

 perfect should be of the following proportions: From the table to the 



