ing
spaces which are cut into two facets. The base may be either flat or
the bottom may be cut like the crown, making a double rose or briolette
cut. The shape of a rose-cut stone may be circular, oval, or, indeed,
any other to which the rough stone may be adapted.
In
the trap or step cut, the facets extend longitudinally around the stone
from the table to the girdle, and from the girdle to the culet. There
are usually but two or three tiers of step facets from the table to the
girdle, while the number of steps from the girdle to the culet depends
upon the thickness and colour of the stone. This style of cut is best
adapted to coloured stones.
The
form of the step brilliant, or mixed cut, from culet to girdle is the
same as that of the trap cut, while from the girdle to the table the
stone is brilliant cut, or the opposite.
The
table cut consists of a greatly developed table and culet meeting the
girdle with bevelled edges. Occasionally the eight-edge facets are
replaced by a border of sixteen or more facets.
The
twentieth-century cut contains more facets than the brilliant and is
differently shaped and arranged. Originally this style was designed
with eighty-eight facets and propor-
