To classify the style of cutting displayed by a given stone, it is necessary to consider its girdle outline (top view), its cross-section out-line (side view), and its principal parts.
Girdle Outline
The first consideration is the shape or pattern of the girdle out-line. Basically, girdle outlines are classified under the following descriptive terms, which are illustrated in Figures 2, 3 and 4. The numbers 1 to 35 refer to the corresponding sketches in CHART 1.
- Round
- Oval
- Navette (pronounced nav-ETT), boat shape or marquise (pronounced mar-KEEZ)
- Emerald cut
- Pear, tear drop, or pendeloque (pronounced PAHN-dah-loke)
- Rectangle
- Square emerald cut
- Antique cushion
- Square antique cushion
- Heart
- Square
- Baguette (pronounced bag-ETT)
- Tapered baguette
- Triangle
- Half moon
- Cut-corner triangle
- Barrel
- Kite
- Keystone
- Semi-navette
- Octagon
- Whistle
- Shield
- Trapeze
- Tapered pentagon
- Calf's head
- Epaulette (pronounced EP-ah-let)
- Hexagon
- Diamond or lozenge (pronounced LOZ-enj)
- Pentagon
- Bullet
- Fan
- Rhomboid
- Star
- Window
All of the shapes shown in Figure B are called OVALS. Even though the narrower ones are similar in appearance to the navette, they DO NOT have pointed ends. In order to describe such narrow ovals, perhaps they could be called NAVETTE-SHAPED OVALS.
A few other shapes include the BOW TIE, FOUR-LEAF CLOVER, FLOWER SHAPE and SPHERE 1,2,3,4 of Fig. C. Other naturalistic forms not illustrated include representations of leaves, fish, insects, etc. FREE FORM (Figure 5 and 6 is a name applied to a faceted stone with an unsymmetrical outline. BAROQUES (pronounced bath-ROEKS) are irregular, rough stones polished without further shaping (Figure C7); they are also called TUMBLED STONES.
Cross-Section Outline
The cross-section outlines of the majority of faceted stones are not classified by descriptive terms. They resemble a cut-corner triangle; i.e. with a flat top facet and a pointed base (similar to the left-hand sketch in Figure 1). The exceptions are stones cut with a faceted top and a flat base (such as the rose cut) and those having faceted sides in conjunction with flat tops and bases (such as the plaque).
Stones with curved may have only the top surface curved, with either a flat base or a hollowed-out back; or they may have both surface curved and the curves may vary to give very high, high, medium or flat domes.
The Principal Parts of a Gemstone.
Gemstones cut with flat facets usually consist of the following
principal parts: the GIRDLE (the production that circles the stone at
the boundary between the crown and pavilion facets; i.e., the girdle),
the TABLE (the large flat facet on top of the crown), the BEZEL (the
inclined area of the crown between the table and the girdle), the
PAVILION (the inclined area between the girdle and the culet), the CULET
(pronounced KEW-let); the small flat facet at the point where the
pavilion facets meet, the purpose of which is to reduce the possibility
of damage). Stones cut with curved surfaces have only a girdle, crown
and pavilion.
