HI Everyone!
This discussion will center on the "Single Cut" diamond.
It's important to understand single cuts because the basis of the modern Brilliant Cut ( or "Full cut") is the "Single Cut" diamond.

When I started in the business, 1976, many of the diamonds .03 and smaller were single cuts.
At the Harry Winston "school", we were taught the basics of color, clarity, and cut on single cut diamonds. It's very easy to judge symmetry on a sigle cut. The eight top corners need to line up with the eight pavillions.

Today, with modern cutting factories all over the world capable of fully faceting even the smallest diamond, single cuts are seldom seen. IN the trade, single cuts are referred to as 8/8.
There's 8 top corners, over 8 pavillion facets- with the single largest facet- called the "Table"

The point at the bottom is called a "Culet"



Below I've sketched the way the facets will be filled in to make it a Brilliant Cut


I hope you guys appreciate the thousands of milliseconds, and huge amount of pennies we spent prooducing this article...heheheh

THANK YOU DAVID!!!!! 

Thank you for the great explanation!! The super-duper high-tech graphics really helped too!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

GREAT information David! Thanks so much for taking the time to 'splain it to us. 

thanks for another educating article david...

Ohhhh thanks David.  I just learnt something

Soooo interesting.  Thanks David!