Old Cut Charm

RAPAPORT... A favorite of discerning collectors of vintage jewelry, old mine cuts share the same number of facets, 58, as the modern round brilliant, but offer a look dealers praise for its “personality” and “charisma.” Since diamonds first started appearing in jewelry, these stones were a product of the technology of the time — or rather the lack thereof. The diamonds, cut without the advantage of motorized machinery, followed the rough diamond’s octahedral shape. Until the late 1800s, the diamond cutters of the day were faceting stones “to the best of their ability, creating mostly squarish or rectangularish cushion-shaped diamonds,as well as some that were only rounded out by eye,” explains diamond dealer Rick Shatz, of the eponymous New York firm, who specializes in old cut and estate diamonds. “The shape of the old stones of that time was not uniform at all. One side might be narrower than its opposite side. There were a lot of variations in the shapes and facet arrangements, and the sizes of the facets were not uniform whatsoever.”

What most people recognize as characteristic of these old stones, says Shatz, “are the heavy crown, usually a very deep bottom, a wide open culet and a very small table.” Even into the late nineteenth century, he adds, the more rounded-out cuts were “still heavy, and clunky, the facets not quite uniform and the culet very big on the bottom. The table tended to be small, but not always. The rough would always dictate the final shape of the stone.”

But the “reward of diamond cutting from this less-technologically-dependent age,” says antique diamond dealer Richard Buonomo, principal of New York-based Richard Buonomo, Ltd., “was that the cutters of these old mine stones saw a very pure connection” between the rough crystal and beauty. “There was no academic grading process, no certificates, no labels, no linear scales.” The aim, he says, “was just to produce the brightest, whitest stone.”

The Old Euro
In the 1900s, with the advent of motorized machinery, there was a transition, Shatz says, into what is known as an old European, or old Euro, cut. A more mathematically precise round variation of the old mine cut, “it was the bridge between the roundish old mine cut and the modern round of today. It is distinguished by an open cutlet that is not nearly as open as an old mine cut, although large by today’s standards. The bottom halves added to the primary eight facets are short. They usually take up only 50 percent or less of the distance between the girdle and the culet, whereas, in a modern stone today, those facets go up to 85 percent. Most old European cuts are also distinguished by a very small table, usually less than 53 percent.”

The old European diamonds were very popular from the 1890s through the  Art Deco period, says Shatz. And while you might find “roundish old miners,” points out Gail Brett Levine, creator and manager of www.AuctionMarketResource.com., the difference between the cuts can be seen on the back facets. On the old European, they radiate out from a large culet “pretty much evenly, like a pie would be, whereas the old miner has rays and then kite facets coming off the culet.”

“Modern stones are cut for brilliance,” explains Michael Goldstein, dealer in antique diamonds and jewelry, “which means light comes in and light comes right back at you. Old stones tend to be a little deeper — light comes in and your eye is more drawn into the stone; they’re not as brilliant.”  

What Dealers Look For
Buonomo evaluates these stones “for their face-up display of a soft, glowing brilliance and discernable facet arrangement. They’re going to be deeper and a little chunkier than modern cuts, that’s a given, but too deep is undesirable. Depths deep in the high 70 percents or 80 percents lose their appeal as they appear too small for their weight.”

As a dealer, Shatz says he’s always looking “at salability, availability and value without compromising the integrity of the time period. We don’t buy old cuts that later on in life were girdle polished during repair, drilled or enhanced in any way. Nothing is more aggravating than seeing a diamond cut in the 1800s with a laser drill in it.”

Old stones typically are not going to be as white, points out Goldstein. “There’s a reason for that. Most of the white stones we get in the market today come from Southern Africa — Angola, Botswana, Sierra Leone — and those mines didn’t exist then. Stones were coming from Brazil and  Venezuela — and by the way, they still do. For the most part, these are darker stones.” As a general rule, however, Goldstein explains, “old stones in mountings face one or two color grades whiter than they actually are. Because of their open culet, color is not trapped in the stone.”

Timeless Appeal
It’s the rarity, points out Levine. “Five, seven years ago, it used to be that these stones were bought to hit the recutting wheel and now, because of the scarcity, people are buying them as a relic from the past.”

 “Whenever you have technological increases in any market, people like things that are handmade,” observes Goldstein,“and things that are unique. I’ve seen the business grow dramatically, geometrically.  And one reason is consumer awareness.”

Shatz agrees. “Old cut stones have become more and more popular each year over the past 20 years. People have become intrigued by them. There are also those who like the concept of owning something with some kind of provenance — not necessarily that it was owned by royalty but just knowing that it was owned by somebody from a very long time ago.”

“What’s common to all older diamond cuts are broad facet reflections, in bold, highly characteristic patterns. The path of light does not reflect back and forth into the fuzzy, crushed ice appearance exhibited by most modern cuts,” says Buonomo. “Collectors of old diamond jewelry have grown to love this softer, simpler path of light.”

Pricing
Old miners, says Shatz, tend to “price out less expensive than a modern stone. In the old days — 20, 30 or even 40 years ago — an old cut was priced by what it would take to cut it into a modern stone. The jeweler, or dealer, made a calculation, ‘If I take this and I cut it down and I make a modern stone, I’ll have this.’ He would either re-cut the diamond or sell it ‘as is’ for a little cheaper because he didn’t have to go through the effort of cutting it.” For example, Shatz adds, “If a dealer has a 2-carat diamond and it’s going to take 20 to 25 percent to cut it from an old cut into a modern cut, not only is he going to lose up to 25 percent of the weight, he will also end up with a stone in a smaller and cheaper size category. Therefore, he can sell it as an old cut as is and still make more profit than re-cutting. The demand for modern cuts is much stronger than for old cuts, so the market price for an old cut is less than for its counterpart in a modern stone. However, the market is higher than the value determined if the stone were re-cut, since today there is a demand within the market for the old cuts the way they are.”

As far as pricing, says Goldstein, “When I teach classes, the first thing I stress when talking about pricing of anything is how difficult is it going to be to find something comparable. If you have a round brilliant, G,VS1— go on RapNet and see how many you’re going to find. But with the same thing in an old stone, the price becomes more about the availability. And with an old stone, it’s always going to be limited.” Goldstein, who publishes his own guide to prices, says that many of the older stones are K, L, M, N, O, P colors and the market “is educated that they shouldn’t have darker than ‘I.’ So in terms of pricing, there is a premium — the rarer something is, the higher the price is going to be. So we do charge premiums, on a case-by-case basis, for the whiter stones.”

Most of what you see today in old mine diamonds, says Shatz, tends to be from no earlier than the nineteenth century — “most are from mid-nineteenth century or later. There’s a sprinkling of very old stones that somehow surface in old jewelry or very fine or very special antique pieces that have been squirreled away. As a rule, what estate dealers like myself tend to see in old cuts larger than 1 carat is G color and down, because these were the stones that remained intact since they didn’t pay to be re-cut.”

Real or Repro?
While there are modern “old mine” diamonds being cut today, these reproductions can be detected by the practiced eye.

“You can usually tell if it’s a contemporary-made old European or old miner diamond,” explains Levine, “because it’s so much better made. The facets line up, the girdle edge is not thin and chipped, it usually has a polished faceted edge to it.”

Shatz agrees that “Most dealers who are familiar with older stones can see the difference right away between a true antique cut diamond and stones that are cut today and meant to look old. With a lot of the newer stones, the girdles are polished, which is not indicative of the period. To an expert, when cutters today try to cut old cuts, the stones don’t come out looking like the ‘real McCoy.’ Many times the crowns come out too high, and the bottoms too flat. Too much emphasis is put on weight loss and yield rather than on the charisma of the cut.”

A trained eye can tell, concurs Goldstein. “One, modern cuts don’t tend to be as deep because you don’t want to be as wasteful — you’re looking for brilliance and you’re looking to maintain weight. Most old stones have what is a very thin, knife-edge girdle, which you don’t see as much, although I am starting to see it.” Moreover, Goldstein adds, the true old miners have a softness that only age can give.”

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - August 2009. To subscribe click here.