Diamond Glossary
- Painting & Digging - a polishing technique to change the angles of the upper & lower girdle facets.
This technique maximizes the weight yield from the diamond rough. Significant painting can retain 3% of the diamond’s weight, which might be important if you are close to the 1 ct mark. In addition, digging out can remove clarity characteristics (See Inclusion)
- Pattern - arrangement and contrast of the bright and dark areas of the diamond
This results from light reflections.
- Pavilion - The underside of the diamond between the girdle and the culet.
- Pavilion Angle - the angle formed by the plane of the pavilion facets and the girdle.
- Pear Cut - See Shape.
- Pinpoints - very small crystals that look like dots under 10x magnification.
They are certainly not eye visible.
- Pit - a small opening that looks like a tiny white dot.
- Point - one one-hundredth of a carat (1/100th).
- Polish - The overall condition of the diamond's surface.
Diamond can take a better polish than any other gemstone, due to its hardness. However, as result of this hardness, diamond has to be polished with another diamond. Polish is graded on a scale of Excellent to Poor and each tick down in grade (caused by abrasions, nicks, scratches, etc.) reduces the value of the diamond.
- Polish Lines - Fine, parallel grooves and ridges remaining after the polishing process.
Heavy polish lines emanating from a cavity or other surface inclusion are known as drag lines.
- Princess Cut - See Shape.
Currently the second most popular diamond shape after round diamonds, the princess cut is a geometric and modern shape. Due to its square shape and sharp corners that can be prone to damage, we always recommend that a princess cut diamond be set in a 4 prong setting. Less expensive than round diamonds, yet elegant and clean in style, the princess is a good choice for engagement rings.
First created in 1980, the princess cut is sometimes referred to as a square modified brilliant. With strong sparkle and brilliance, it is no wonder that this shape is a strong alternative to the traditional round diamond.
