Why Choose a Radiant Cut Diamond?

February 23 2022

The Radiant Cut Diamond is considered the grandfather of the modern-day fancy cut with a history of over 50 years. The popularity of the diamond comes from the fact that it was the first diamond to have the pavilion faceted.

The radiant cut, also known by the terms a cut-cornered and also by GIA as a square modified brilliant, typically has 70 facets. The radiant cut diamond is a square-shaped cut however as sharp edges are a point of weakness in the gem, cutters have truncated the edges.

The appearance of the diamond is of a very unique sparkle, which comes from the fact that it is a mixed cut, thereby having characteristics of both the step-cut diamond and the brilliant-cut diamond. The defining characteristic, however, is the truncating of the corners. It is this which enables it to be easily distinguished from the princess cut.

Since the popularisation of the princess, the radiant cut has seen its own popularity fall somewhat. This is down to the princess cuts' higher fire and brilliance than that of the radiant cut. They are both mixed cuts and both also are referred to as the square modified brilliant, however, the princess has fewer facets and is without truncated edges.

When buying a radiant cut diamond it is recommended that you try to purchase one within the ratio of 1.5 as this will result in the greatest sparkle. It has, however, become more and more popular over recent years to have a squarer shape which would obviously take the ratio down nearer to one.

The main use of the radiant diamond is as the centre of a ring typically with round brilliants or baguettes flanking. The strong appearance of the diamond makes it more versatile than either the emerald or princess cut its main rivals.

History

In 1977, Henry Grossbard designed the Radiant cut by blending the best features of the Emerald cut with the Round Brilliant cut. At first glance, you may think that the Radiant cut is a square but with close inspection, you can notice a definite rectangular outline with trimmed corners. Grossbard’s original Radiant cut is considered the only authentic cut.