Cutting Diamonds and Other Gems 199
of gems having early reached a surprisingly high state of perfection.
The
centres of the art and industry of diamond-cutting are at Amsterdam in
Holland and Antwerp in Belgium, but the very highest form of the art
was initiated in and is practised in these United States; here, without
senseless waste and extravagance, the intrinsic value of precious
stones, as determined by their weights, is sacrificed to artistic
effect, beauty, and brilliancy. This high degree of gem treatment is in
strong contrast with the more economical practice in Europe, and is the
antithesis of the custom in Oriental countries, where weight is
conserved at the expense of brilliancy and beauty.
The
styles of cut may be grouped as follows: 1, those bounded by plane
surfaces only; 2, those bounded by curved surfaces only; 3, those
bounded by both curved and plane surfaces. The styles of the first
group are best applicable to transparent stones, as the diamond,
emerald, and ruby; they are brilliant cut, double brilliant or Lisbon
cut, half brilliant or single cut, trap or split brilliant cut,
Portuguese cut, star cut, rose cut, or briolette, step brilliant or
mixed cut, table cut, and the twentieth-century cut; this is a
combination of facets that was experi-
