ASSCHER CUT DIAMOND JEWELRY

A square emerald cut. The facets are step cut, long straight rows running parallel to the girdle, and the four corners are cut away, so the outline is really an octagon. That combination is what gives you the hall of mirrors: you look down through a wide open table into layer after layer of reflection instead of into sparkle. You'll also see it written Ascher or Asher, including in a few of our own product titles, and it's the same stone either way. Our diamond shapes guide sets it beside the emerald cut it came from.

Yes, more than a brilliant cut does, and that's the one place to spend the money. A step cut has a big open table and none of the busy faceting that breaks up what sits underneath, so an inclusion that would vanish in a round can sit there in plain view. When people ask us how to split a budget on an Asscher, the order is clarity first, then color, then size. If you're choosing between two stones, contact us and we'll look at them with you.

Not the way a round does, and for most people who buy one that's the point. A round is cut to throw back fast, fine glitter. An Asscher gives you broad flashes of white and dark that trade places as you tilt your hand, the steps bouncing off each other. It's an architectural look rather than a fiery one. If sparkle is what you're really after, a round or a cushion is the shape to go and look at instead.

Yes, and the cut corners are the reason. A princess has four sharp 90 degree points, and a point is the thinnest, most exposed part of any stone, which is where chips start. An Asscher has those corners taken off before the stone ever reaches us, so there's real material where the knocks land. We set a prong on each of the four corners, which puts the metal exactly where the stone is strongest, and that's a setting we'd happily put on a hand that works with it every day.

Per carat, usually less than a round at the same grades, because a step cut keeps more of the rough crystal instead of polishing half of it away. The saving isn't as big as it first looks, though, because an Asscher wants a higher clarity grade to look right and that grade takes some of it back. On this page prices range as low as $1,041.99. One more thing worth knowing before you compare stones by weight: an Asscher carries a lot of its weight in the depth, so it faces up a little smaller than a round of the same carat.