A Divine New Facet For A Seasoned Cutter

I check in frequently with the Rapaport News to learn about what's new in the diamond world.  And so it is with great relief that I report that perhaps there might not be so much grey glass out there anymore?  Can we cross our fingers?

In recent news, it seems that Shlomo Cohen, the designer of the Princess Cut, has created and patented "The Vinci Diamond."  My feeling about the Princess Cut is that it has been diluted, overused, improperly used and abused.

When I hear "Princess Cut" I actually cringe a little.  Everyone seems to want one of these.  And unless they buy a very finely-cut Princess cut diamond, of high color and clarity, they're going to get a piece of grey glass.  The grey glass we see in the mall is so far-removed from Cohen's original vision that it's really tragic.  What kind of princess would wear it?

If you have a Princess Cut diamond and it's lovely, I am thrilled for you, because that's what the designer envisioned:  beauty and brilliance, not boring and blah.  Please tell me about it in the comment section!

Other square cuts, like the Radiant and the Starburst and the newer Square Asscher provide far more brilliance and life to the diamond.  Tiffany's patented Lucida cut is a modified square and is nearly unmatched for liveliness and fire.  And I have to mention Lazare Kaplan's Square Emerald Cut.  Breathtaking, truly.

This new cut, "The Vinci Diamond" is a pentacle cut.  I'll save you from googling "pentacle."  If you do, you'll get to read a lot about demons, Satan, black Magic, pentagrams and Motley Crue.  No, no, no.  The pentacle cut is a five-sided or five-pointed cut, like a five-pointed star, visible from the top of the stone.  Like the Pentagon!  I'm guessing these pentacles won't be used to conjure up the dark side.

Yeah, maybe he's jumping on the DaVinci Code speed train, but I give him credit for a good source of inspiration.  As inspiration goes, better Leonardo DaVinci than some vapid princess.  Here's the story.

Diamond designer Shlomo Cohen, who in 1982 was credited with developing the Princess Cut, has created and patented 'The Vinci Diamond,' a 62-facet, pentacle cut, which incorporates the precise ratios of the Divine Proportion.

The idea behind Divine Proportion or the Golden Ratio is based upon the relationship of three lines of which the longest is 1.618 times the length of second longest, which in turn is 1.618 times the length of the shortest line.

The combinations of the three are the basis for everything that is perfectly proportional. The ratio is considered divine because it is repeated over and over in nature.

“I have been studying the geometric possibilities offered by the Golden Ratio since 2001, which is before I ever heard of Dan Brown or The Da Vinci Code,” Cohen said.

“Interestingly, like Dan Brown, I was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s study of the human body, the Vitruvian Man, and discovered that the artist had adopted the Golden Ratio to emphasize the understanding that symmetry denotes beauty," he said.

Cohen created The Vinci Diamond with the assumption that the stone would be "aesthetically more pleasing if it conforms to the ratios of the Golden Ratio."

The design concept is also widely used in art and architecture. But for Cohen the design of the 62-facet The Vinci Diamond presented a special challenge, for he was intent that at least two pentacle stars be visible inside the polished diamond. If possible, Cohen wanted three pentacle stars to be visible when the diamond is viewed from above through its table.

The end result was stunning, he said, and three pentacle shapes conforming to the exact dimensions of the Divine Proportion are visible. With its precise form, The Vinci Diamond reflects both a fire and brilliance that surpasses that of the standard 57-facet round diamond.

“The completion of my work at the same time as The Da Vinci Code has enjoyed such amazing international success is a happy coincidence,” Cohen says.

“And the fact a major Hollywood movie by the same name will soon be released is an added bonus." Cohen is currently developing a marketing plan for the new cut, which has already been patented in Japan, Israel, Belgium, and the United States.

(Update 4.15.06:  there is a photo of The Vinci Diamond at Luxist, they reported on this yesterday - Thanks, Wendy!)

Comments

[Wendy]

Thanks for this heads up!

The image of this cut posted at _Luxist_ is fabulous! The golden mean strikes again, this time in the hands of an extremely skilled cutter!

Your point about stone quality and cut is well taken -- to my mind it applies to all facetted diamonds irrespective of shape or cut. I confess I have never understood why people choose larger, lesser quality stones over smaller higher quality gems. It just isn't bang for your buck if it doesn't amaze you at the grocery store!

Here's what I think of as a cautionary tale of two sisters, engaged and married within a year of each other, both on a similar budget, and their choices of engagement rings.

One sister asked me about buying a diamond. We went through the basics, and then to the jewellery stores to look at designs, loose stones, and compare and contrast. Then she and her beau went out and looked more, and made a decision. Her choice: .51 ctw, VS2, G, excellent cut stone. The setting, custom platinum & 18K (yellow), semi bezel knife edge with matching band. This couple did not spend all that much more than the other, but did have to wait while the ring was made. (Accepting delay of gratification seems to be a bigger problem in these days of IM & cell phones. Or am I wrong?)

Her sister, lured by the idea of a 1 carat stone but hampered by budget, chose a 14K yellow ski tip setting, out of the tray at a cookie cutter store. (Confession number two -- ski tips are my least favorite mounts!) After several months, the second sister asked the first why her diamond didn't sparkle the same way. I sure wouldn't have wanted to be the one trying to answer that question diplomatically! (Although the easily visible carbon inclusion should have been a clue ...)

Cheers!

Wendy

[Susanna]

Good story Wendy.

I have two friends who are sisters with a very similar tale. One has a .68 Gabi (as in Tolkowski) diamond that will put your eye out from across the room.

The other has a 1.01 (which you KNOW was cut for weight - to make the leap over that 1.00 mark) with junky side stones "from the tray" at the mall.

My mom and I have little jokes about some of the goods we've handled and had ourselves. One of the highest compliments we can make of a diamond is that it look amazing in the GROCERY STORE!

Perhaps the same can be said for a woman's complexion? If your diamonds and your skin can look good under fluorescent light at the grocery store, baby, you've got it made!

By the way, Wendy, I am working on something about the 3 R's. The timing is so good right now, no? Thanks for reminding me of it.

[Wendy]

Hi Susanna,

I'm not at all surprised you had a similar cautionary tale!

Of course, if your complexion isn't perfect when you go to the grocery store, distracting people with sparkly things certainly works! No? (And I'm sure you & your mom do have lots of little inside jokes!)

I'll bet that GT stone of your friend's is just outstanding! Please digress and tell me about the cut & mount!

I'm glad you're going to do something on the 3R's. I agree that the timing is good, and I can't imagine how many people have things sitting in drawers or jewellery boxes that with a little help from trained professionals could see the light of day again!

[henri-v]

I am quite a neophyte when it comes to diamond cuts, but I became familiar with the Asscher when a friend told me that was what his fiancee wanted. (I still need to check out her ring, though I think it was set in white gold.)

My on-the-fly opinions after comparing images of princess, emerald, Vinci, and Tiffany Lucida online are that I really prefer emerald cuts, but then I have really seen very little of the exceptional stuff in person. I think an extra fiery stone of any cut would blow away a mediocre one of a preferred cut. Or one would hope.

Wendy has prompted me to Google ski tip settings ... and I look dead under fluorescent lighting, yuck.

[Wendy]

henri-v,

Gee, I'm glad I inspired you to check out ski tips.

Cut is a deceptive word (and in terms of diamonds, we often use it incorrectly, myself included)! When a stone is described as princess cut, emerald cut that is really a descriptor for shape and location of facets.

On an appraisal, or when grading a diamond, cut refers to the quality of the proportions and facetting and the polish or finish. A round brilliant diamond (and each other shape) has an ideal set of proportions to maximize the light that bounces back out the table (or top flat facet) of the stone and in fact makes the stone fiery and brilliant. Incorrect proportions mean that the light leaks out through the bottom or sides of a stone, so less sparkle. A fine quality stone of poor cut just won't sparkle like a mid-range quality stone with an ideal cut.

Once you have a diamond of a reasonable basic quality, cut is the most important of those 4C's to the look of the diamond. The better the cut -- the more likely to "put your eye out" I think was Susanna's brilliant turn of phrase. (I am anxious to hear more about the stone she mentioned, because Marcel Tolkowski is credited with the invention of the round brilliant -- and I believe Gabi, a master cutter, is his grand or great nephew.)

Your friend's choice of setting in white metal maximizes the colour of the diamond. That's why in a ski tip setting (ugh!) you'll see a white metal head (in a good setting separately cast in white metal -- in a poor quality mount yellow metal rhodium plated).

I hope I didn't confuse the issue!

Cheers,

Wendy

[moshe kaplan]

does anyone know how to get in touch with shlomo cohen the man who cut the da'Vinci diamond...? thank you.

[Shlomo Cohen]

Hi Wendy

It nice to read your comments about the princess, The vinci diamond and more, I am not sure you saw the
The Davinci Diamond, but if you want to see the diamond you can meet me at Vegas, you can call me on my US cellphone -
1 917 6577739

Hope to see you

Shlomo Cohen