European Cut

The style of diamond cutting popular from approximately 1890 to the 1930s. Unlike the old mine cut preceeding it, the European cut has a round girdle (perimeter) made possible by the introduction of the power bruting machine (Bruting is the term for shaping the girdle of a diamond, the first step in the cutting process). The European cut can be distinguished by the size of the table (the top, flat facet) in relation to the diameter of the stone. In a European cut, the table is smaller in relation to the diameter of the stone. Also, the culet (the bottom facet, is often large, often appearing to create a hole at the bottom of the diamond, when viewed from the top, since the large culet lets light escape instead of reflecting back to the viewer.