An old mine cut is the successor of the rose cut which came to live in the Georgian era in the 18th century. The demand on cut diamonds grew by the aristocracy. Luckily these demands could be met by the discovery of diamond mines in Africa and Brazil. Not only the demand for quantity but also the demand of quality became bigger. They wanted their precious diamonds to sparkle more. Therefore diamond cutters invented a new diamond cut, the old mine cut. This old mine cut is also known as the cushion cut.
The name of this cushion cut originates in its shape. A cushion cut is not round like a modern brilliant cut, it’s a soft square with slightly curved edges. In contradiction to the modern brilliant or old European cut, there were made with a variety of facet patterns. There was not only one way to crate these diamond cuts. Although all cushion cuts have a small table, high crown and large cut off cullet. These characteristics make these cut diamonds not only bright full but also look architecturally.
In this pictures you can see that the center stone is an old Mine cut. The big culet is clearly visible as well as the slightly curved edges of the soft square.
These wonderfully cut diamonds kept on being popular in the early and middle Victorian era, almost all jewellery made during this period is crafted with cushion cut diamonds. Later on the invention of new machines and techniques gave diamond cutters the possibility to cut diamonds in rounder shapes. These machines started a revolution in the diamond industry as well as the discovery of more mines in South Africa which made diamonds more accessible.
Just like the old European cut and rose cut, these kinds of cut diamonds are getting more rare every day. A diamond dealer who only focuses on profit will always cut these stones into brilliant cut diamonds because apart they are worth more. We believe nothing is more worth than a beautiful Georgian or Victorian hand crafted jewel with a unique cut diamond.
