GLOSSARY OF DIAMOND TERMS

Making the diamond claddagh ring is our passion. Here are some interesting terms relating the diamond which you may not have come across before.

HEART SHAPE: - A style of cutting which represents a variation of the pear shape widely used in our diamond claddagh ring.
KIMBERLITE: - Another name for 'blue ground' ; derived from Kimberley.
LAMPROITE: - Volcanic rock, occasionally containing diamonds, found in the deposits in Western Australia. It is the only known diomondiferous rock with a subsidiary mineral content and chemistry different from that of kimberlite.
LILAC-PINT: - A very rare kind of 'fancy-colour'. Such diamonds have come mainly from Brazil and, more recently from Australia.
MACCLE: - A rough diamond consisting of twinned crystals, generally triangular in shape and often flattish. The side is marked by a curious fishbone pattern with the grain going in one direction on the top and in another on the bottom.
MANGELIN: - An old Hindu weight for gems, equal to approximately 1.4 metric carats.
MARQUISE: - A style of cutting in which the outline of the girdle is shaped like a boat.
MELEE: - (a) Small unbroken octahedral diamonds weighing less than 1.0 carat. (b) A selection of small polished brilliant-cut gems weighing up to 0.20 carat.
MOGUL CUT: - An ancient style of cutting, principally from cleavages, employed in India. The result was a somewhat bulky gem with a broad, often asymmetrical base, an upper part, consisting of usually four shallow facets or a table, plus two or more areas of strip facets parallel to the base and oriented vertically.
NAVETTE: - Another word for a marquise; derived from the Latin (navis - boat).
OCTAHEDRON: - The classic shape of a rough diamond. It has eight equilateral, triangular faces, each of which intersects all three of the crystallographic axes at an equal distance from the centre.
OLD-MINE CUT: - An early form of the brilliant-cut; as opposed to being circular, the girdle has an almost square or cushion-shaped contour.
OVAL CUT: - Also called the 'oval-brilliant' cut; a style of cutting in which the girdle is a rounded oblong in outline.
OZIDIZATION: - A species of impurity found in some rough diamonds. The presence of iron ozide within the cracks in a stone imparts an orange or reddish-brown colour which, after removal, may leave a gem of a fine colour. Occasionally it may remain in a polished gem (e.g. the 'Pigot' diamond).
PAVE-SET: - A style of setting in which small diamonds are set as close together as possible thereby showing the least amount of metal.
PAVILION: - The lower half of a faceted gemstone lying below the girdle.
PEAR SHAPE: - A style of cutting in which the girdle has the outline of a pear; it represents a variation of the brilliant cut and may possess the same number of facets.
PENDELOQUE: - Similar to the pear-shape in outline but with the narrower end longer and more pointed.
PICKING TABLE: - A flat or slightly sloping platform on which diamondiferous ore is seperated from other material. Small operations still employ the device; elsewhere it has been superseded by the grease table.
PIPE: - The primary source of diamond: a conically-shaped extrusion of volcanic rock (blue ground) which may or may not contain diamonds.
PIT: - A kind of indentation found on the surface of a rough diamond.
PORTRAIT STONE: - A thin polished diamond, cut from a flat, that enables one to see through to any object over which it has been placed.

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