Milestones in the early history of diamonds and diamond cutting:
1000 BC| Archeological evidence shows the first use of diamond as a cutting tool.
300 BC| Early Indian manuscript discuss the different qualities of diamonds & Pliny’s describes the use of diamond in engraving and jewellery.
1200s| The development of the point cut (an octohedral crystal with polished faces) and the arrival of Indian diamonds in Europe’s royal inventories.
Early 1300s | Antwerp, Venice, and Amsterdam begin to become diamond cutting hubs.
Mid 1300s | The development of the table cut, a point cut with its top portion sliced off to create the first table-like surface.
Late 1300s | The development of the single cut, a table cut with additional facets on the corners.
1400s| The advent of the polishing wheel called a scaife, and the discovery of cleaving as a faster way of shaping diamond.
1500s| Improvements to the scaife, allowing polishing speeds of 1000 rpm.
1600s| The development of the Mazarin, a double-cut brilliant, and the cutting of the famous Wittelsbach (prior to 1664) and French Blue (1671–1673) diamonds.
1700s | Development of the Old Mine cut, which remained popular right through until the early 1900's.
1725| The discovery of Brazilian Diamond deposits which quickly found their way into the wealthy houses of the European Elite.
1750 | The handheld tool "prover" is developed to measure cutting angles. The term round brilliant is coined in this era for a round diamond with 58 facets.
1867 | South Africa is discovered as having massive diamond deposits altering the course of the industry and making diamonds more freely available to a mass market.
1870| There are over 10,000 diamond cutters based in Europe with an emphasis still based around retaining as much carat weight as possible regardless of flaws.
1870's| Henry Morse, based in Boston, began the change of mindset away from carat weight to uncovering the most beauty from a stone. He famously said "Shopping for diamonds by the carat is like buying a race horse by the pound". He invented a gauge tool to measure pavilion and crown angles and also a set of parameters for diamond proportion he felt provided maximum brilliance. He also helped to invent mechanical bruting which enabled increased production of round cut diamonds.
1900's | The invention of the circular saw enables rough stones to be cut in half to create two diamonds.
1919| Marcel Tolkowsky, a brilliant Belgium engineer, describes in his book how the proportions of 53% table, 59% total depth and a knife edge girdle create the most brilliant cut diamonds.
1931| The Gemological Institute of America is founded to protect all buyers and sellers of gemstones by setting and maintaining the standards by which diamond quality should be evaluated.
1950| Slight modifications to the Tolkowsky cut; a closed culet, slightly increased table size & pavilion depth, sees the advent of the modern day round brilliant cut.
1953 | GIA develop its International Diamond Grading System & the Four C's; Carat Weight, Colour, Clarity & Cut.
1986| The fire scope viewer is developed in Japan to allow viewing of the hearts & arrows pattern cut to an updated version of the Tolkowsky Ideal Cut.
1992 | The sarin scanner enables accurate & speedy proportion measurement which radically changes diamond grading facilities.
I am the director of my own business. I live in NZ with my husband and three wonderful children. I am passionate about beautiful jewellery and I am loving the opportunity to share my knowledge and insights about the diamond industry with you!