Lux Bond & Green has trained gemologists critically evaluate every diamond and piece of jewelry to ensure we are offering the most beautiful diamonds at great value. For over 100 years, we have traveled all over the world, including Africa, India, Europe, and the United States, to find these diamonds from the most experienced cutters. Our love of diamonds, creating memories, and building lasting relationships with our customers ensures that every diamond offered at Lux Bond & Green is of the finest quality.

CUT: SPARKLING FACTOR

Cut is the most technical and arguably the most important of all diamond characteristics. Unlike color, clarity, or carat weight, cut is the only one of the Four Cs entirely determined by human craftsmanship. It plays a defining role in a round diamond’s sparkle, beauty, and value.

Cutting a diamond is both a science and an art. Approximately 50% of the rough stone is lost in the process. Every facet must be in precise geometric relation to the others, and the culet must be centered. The diamond is then polished to stringent standards to reveal its full potential. It refers to the precise artistry of shaping a diamond using physics, advanced technology, and the skill of a trained cutter. Symmetry and proportions are key.

An excellent cut diamond optimizes the way light travels through it, maximizing sparkle—what we call fire and brilliance. Cut grades such as Excellent, Very Good, or Good help indicate how effectively a diamond reflects and returns light.

• Ideal Cut: Reflects light through the top of the diamond for maximum sparkle.
• Deep Cut: Loses light through the sides, making the diamond appear darker.
• Shallow Cut: Light escapes out the bottom, diminishing brilliance.

The GIA cut grade applies only to round brilliant diamonds, as it is the only shape with standardized proportions and measurements for evaluating light performance. Fancy shaped diamonds like ovals, cushions, emerald cuts, and pears do not receive an official cut grade, so assessing their beauty depends more on expert evaluation of proportions, symmetry, and craftsmanship.

Most diamonds are cut to achieve two goals: first, to yield the maximum weight of the rough diamond, and second, to achieve the most beautiful diamond. Your Lux Diamond is cut with perfection and beauty as its ultimate goal, sacrificing more raw material to produce the final diamond. This, coupled with the attention to symmetry, proportion, and polish, accounts for why your Lux Diamond costs more than a similarly sized diamond. There is a price for perfection!

Laser inscribed on the girdle of your Lux Diamond will be the diamond weight, the Lux logo, and the term H&A (Hearts & Arrows) in addition to the GIA grading report number.

A true ideal diamond makes up a very small percentage of the thousands of diamonds cut every year. For every million diamonds mined, only one will meet high enough standards to become a Lux Bond & Green true ideal diamond. An "ideal diamond" is a term used to describe a diamond that has been cut to meet exact standards of proportions, symmetry, and polish. The proper combination of these factors maximizes the amount of light that enters the diamond and minimizes the light lost from its sides and bottom. This efficiency produces an exceptionally beautiful and brilliant diamond.

Some diamonds emit a soft glow when exposed to ultraviolet light, this is called fluorescence. In most cases, faint to medium fluorescence has no visible effect. However, in certain lighting, stronger fluorescence can subtly influence how a diamond appears, either softening yellow tones or enhancing whiteness.

Symmetry is the grading term used to describe the exactness of the shape and placement of facets on a diamond. There are many variations that affect the symmetry of a stone, including off-center culets and tables, poor facet alignment, misshapen facets, and non symmetrical girdles. With poor symmetry refraction (the bending of light) can be misdirected as it enters and exits the diamond, causing a decrease in the scintillation (sparkle) of the stone. Symmetry also plays an important role in displaying Hearts & Arrows. Without excellent symmetry, a diamond would be unable to display Hearts & Arrows due to the shape or location of the facets. Also, even with excellent or ideal symmetry, it does not necessarily mean the stone does in fact display Hearts & Arrows. Symmetry is graded as: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, or Poor, for stones graded by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), and for stones graded by the American Gem Society (AGS), Ideal is also one of the grades, added above Excellent