Frosted versus Polished Girdles

The "girdle" is our trade's terminology for the outside edge of a diamond. If you've ever wondered whether a fine diamond should have a frosted or polished girdle, I would ask... how romantic is it to focus on a girdle? Doesn't personality count for anything these days?

Just kidding, but I have a slight aversion to even using the term girdle, especially when applied to something as gorgeous as the world's most perfectly cut diamonds. It seems so... impolite.

Anyway, my short answer is that faceted girdles and matte-finished girdles are both perfectly appropriate when finishing diamonds.

Diamond cutting, especially at it's highest level, is still an art form. The parameters are extremely narrow at the upper echelons of the diamond quality pyramid, but the precise application of techniques is left up to the cutter to decide. This ensures that each stone will ultimately display its optimum beauty.

Some cutters prefer faceted girdles better, some don't. Some consumers prefer faceted girdles better, some don't. But the truth is that some diamond crystals are more striking with faceted girdles and some aren't.

My own preference is a smooth girdle. My reason is very simple, it concerns face-up appearance. Smooth girdles actually make a diamond round - faceted girdles make a diamond look round. No matter how many facets you put on the circumference it is still pixel-ated.

Either way, the girdle itself should not be visible when the diamond is viewed in the face-up position.

There are other considerations as well.

It can be argued that a frosted girdle imparts "life" to an otherwise cold looking high color diamond. If a diamond has any trace of brown in it, then that matte-finished edge may appear "dirty". And, an off-color diamond with a thick frosted girdle will definitely look darker.

Sometimes a girdle simply must be faceted to prevent slight 'bearding" that may remain despite careful rounding. A downside to a faceted girdle is that it creates a continuous "window" around the diamond that looks like a line. Then again, some customers flat-out prefer the "completely finished" look of a faceted girdle.

From a cutters point of view, I am here to tell you that faceting a girdle is a royal pain in the neck. Think about it, anywhere between 64 and 96 extra itty-bitty little tiny facets have to be cut, polished, aligned and symmetrical... all at no extra cost!!!

What would you do?

And, don't even get me started on culets.