Emerald Cut Diamond Rings

Emerald Cut Diamond Rings:

One of the most popular and traditional settings for engagement rings is the emerald cut diamond ring, which got its name from the most common shape of emeralds in the Art Deco era of the 1920s. The design of emerald cut diamond rings is clean, elegant and sophisticated and works well in either simple or elaborate band settings.

Emerald cut diamond rings are rectangular and characterized by the stone's comparatively large table (the flat facet across the top), which highlights the diamond's clarity better than any other shape. Legendary movie star Elizabeth Taylor was given a 29.4 carat emerald cut diamond ring when she got engaged to film producer Mike Todd in 1956. In a humorous reference to the large table of the incredibly large stone, Taylor called it "my ice skating rink."

The facets in emerald cut diamond rings are step cut - they're narrow and rectangular and can actually look like a row of steps coming down both the crown (the top section of the stone) and pavilion (the bottom section) of the diamond. Also, the corners on the girdle (a narrow band of facets beneath the crown) are slightly cropped in emerald cut diamond rings. Emerald cut diamond rings are usually found with a four-prong setting, in order to best highlight these features.

Even with the step cut and cropped corners, the emerald cut is relatively simple to achieve, which makes emerald cut diamond rings more affordable than some other designs. When shopping for an emerald cut diamond ring, pay careful attention to the clarity and color of the stone, since flaws will be easier to spot. It's also important to check the proportions in an emerald cut diamond ring, to make sure that cut of the stone is balanced on all sides and from all angles. Remember too that because of the nature of its cut (especially the large flat table on top), even a very high quality emerald cut diamond ring will probably sparkle less than a ring with a round brilliant stone or other, more intricately-cut style.

An emerald cut diamond ring with a stone cut in a long, narrow shape will look very different than one with a diamond cut closer to a square. Emerald cut diamond rings are sometimes confused with princess cut diamond rings, but the princess cut is square and doesn't have the steps of an emerald cut. Asscher cut diamonds, which are square with a number of cuts and trimmed corners, can also be mistaken for emerald cut diamonds.

The shape of emerald cut diamond rings works beautifully in solitaire settings, with one high-quality stone as its eye-catching focus - and also works very well with baguettes or accent stones. The straight, elongated shape of the stone in an emerald cut diamond ring can be complemented with either straight or tapered baguettes or even unusually shaped baguettes such as half moons, trapezoids or trilliants (triangular). These side stones are most commonly other diamonds, but might be colored gemstones as well.