Radiant Cut Diamond Buying Guide

Shape

The radiant cut is a union of emerald, princess and round brilliant. While possessing a square or rectangular form, it stays almost as brilliant as the round diamond. The distinctive feature of this cut is its cropped corners and 70 facets, which only a few other shapes have.

The width to length ratio differs depending on if the diamond is square or rectangular. The preferred ratio for square radiant is in the range of 1 to 1.35, while good-looking rectangular cuts might have a ratio of 2.

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Cut

Radiant is a ‘brilliant cut’, which means it exhibits a lot of brilliance and sparkle. Although cut of fancy shaped diamonds is rarely graded by gemological institutes, it is very crucial to inspect the symmetry and quality of corners of the gemstone.

	EXCELLENT	VERY GOOD	GOOD	FAIR	POOR
TABLE %	61 - 69	57 - 60 or 70 - 72	54 - 56 or 73 - 74	51 - 53 or 75 - 79	< 51 or > 79
DEPTH %	61 - 67	59 - 60.9 or 67.1 - 70	57 - 58.9 or 70.1 - 74	54 - 56.9 or 74.1 - 79	< 54 or > 79
GIRDLE	Very Thin to Slightly Thick	Very Thin to Slightly Thick	Very Thin to Thick	Very Thin to Very Thick	Extremely Thin to Extremely Thick
CULET	None	Very Small	Small	Medium	> Medium

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Clarity

Due to the brilliant look, the impurities in a radiant cut are hidden much better than in more translucent shapes, such as emerald cut. Moreover, the inclusions can be hardly noticed in smaller gemstones. Therefore lower clarity can be considered when opting for a smaller diamond, as long as it still looks ‘eye-clean’.

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Color

Radinats hide the light inside and display their own tints while refracting the light. This is why the color might appear more intense, making it a more crucial factor than for some other cuts. It is better to choose a higher color (not lower than G) for the gemstone to still appear white. The size of the stone also matters, since the larger the carat weight, the more noticeable the tints are and the higher the color grade should be for a diamond to not look yellow.

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