FORMS OF CUITING '73 



again, they may be all located on one side, the other side being occupied by a single large 

 facet. In the latter case we have the form of cutting known as the rosette or rose. A cut 

 stone provided with facets on all sides is represented in Fig. 29, a and c being views from 

 above and below respectively and b from the side. When such a stone (Fig. 29) is set as a 

 jewel the side turned towards the observer is known as the upper portion or crown, while the 

 opposite side or lower portion is referred to as the culasse or pavilion. The facets of the 

 crown and of the culasse meet in the edge RR (Fig. 29 b), which is known as the girdle or 

 edge, and is the portion of the stone which is fixed in the setting. The whole forms, as it 

 were, a double pyramid with truncated summits, each pyramid having a common base in the 

 girdle. 



Of the four types of faceted stones the rose or rosette type has been already mentioned ; 

 the remaining three are known as the brilliant-cut, step-cut, and table-cut. The number, 

 arrangement, and grouping of the facets differ in these three types, but each has a crown, a 

 culasse, and a girdle. 



These different forms of cutting, which are illustrated in Plates II.-IV., must now be 

 considered more in detail. In these plates, the same figure-number is given to different 

 aspects of the same stone, the addition of the letter a, b, or c to the figure-number indicating 

 that the stone is represented as seen from the side, from above, or from below respectively ; 

 the same letters are also used when only one or two of the three aspects are represented. 

 Plate II. gives a series of forms of the brilliant, and Fig. 1 of Plate III. belongs to the same 

 series. The other figures of Plate III. represents variations of the step-cut, while Plate IV. 

 shows various kinds of rosettes, table-stones, and stones cut en cabochon. 



The expense involved in a complicated form of cutting with regular facets, grouped in 

 the way experience has shown to be most effective, is very considerable ; such perfection in 

 cutting is never bestowed upon cheap materia], but only upon more valuable stones which 

 will repay the outlay. In the cutting of less valuable stones, they receive the correct form, 

 but the facets are reduced in number and less attention is paid to their regular and precise 

 distribution ; by these means the expense of cutting is considerably lessened though the 

 appearance of the stone suffers. 



1. The Brilliant. — This form of cutting is said to have been originated by Cardinal 

 Mazarin, and was first employed at the time this minister was endeavouring to revive the 

 diamond-cutting industry in Paris. Mazarin caused twelve of the largest diamonds of the 

 French crown to be cut in this form, and these stones have since been known as the twelve 

 " Mazarins." The existence of only one of these stones, however, is now known, and the 

 genuineness even of this is doubted. The superiority of the brilliant over all other forms 

 of cutting for diamond and other colourless, transparent stones, and also for some 

 coloured stones, is now so firmly established that it is at present by far the most generally 

 used. Only in quite exceptional cases is a good diamond cut in a form other than that of 

 the brilliant ; indeed, so generally is this form given to diamonds, that they are often referred 

 to colloquially as " brilliants." Coloured, transparent stones are very frequently brilliant- 

 cut, but not so invariably as is the case with diamonds. 



The upper portion or crown, OO.of a brilliant (Fig. 29) bears a broad facet, b, known as the 

 table, while the lower portion or culasse, UfJ, bears a much smaller facet, B, known as the 

 culet (or collet), both being parallel to the girdle, RR. Of other facets, those meeting the 

 table in an edge and lying wholly in the crown of the stone, are known as star fai-ets and 

 are lettered d in the' figure. The cross facets, lettered f, g, E, and D in the figure, meet the 

 girdle in an edge ; some lie in the crown of the stone and some in the culasse. Between the star 

 and cross facets, which are triangular in shape, lie other larger facets having four or five 



