Diamond Cuts - Radiant Cut Diamond Shape

If you love the fire of the traditional Round Brilliant Cut (the standard diamond engagement ring cut) and the shape of the less fiery Emerald Cut and Asscher Cut, you just may love the Radiant Cut Diamond.

Most square or rectangular cuts just don't live up to the round brilliant for sparkle, but the Radiant Cut was designed for getting maximum brilliance. Like the emerald cut, the radiant cut diamond is often a rectangle (sometimes square) with cropped corners, but that's where the similarities end. Where the emerald cut has long trim lines, the radiant cut is faceted for fire.

Choosing a Radiant Cut Diamond

When purchasing a radiant cut diamond online, be sure to check width and length — there are no "rules" for length/width ratios for the radiant cut and you must review these numbers to determine if the stone is rectangular or closer to square.

The radiant cut diamond is more forgiving of diamond flaws and weaknesses than the less sparkling Emerald Cut Diamond or the Asscher Cut Diamond, so we provided two sets of "minimums" -- one giving more weight to quality and one giving more weight to budget.

Our minimum recommendations for buying radiant cut diamonds are as follows (please remember these recommendations are opinion only, and your tastes may vary):

• Cut: Good
• Color: G
• Clarity: SI1
• Depth Percentage: 58-69%
• Table: 58-69%

Now if you're on a tight budget, you can still find a nice stone going with these minimums:

• Cut: Good
• Color: I
• Clarity: SI2
• Depth Percentage: 56-78%
• Table: 53-76%

Could you purchase cheaper radiant cut diamonds by going below these minimums? Absolutely. But we don't recommend it — at some point, one must consider the beauty of the stone, not simply the cost.

Radiant Cut Diamond Engagement Ring

While not the traditional selection, radiant cut diamonds are popular right now and make lovely engagement rings (either as a solitaire or with accent stones).

Radiant cut diamonds do require a minimum of afour-pronged settings (as pictured). Make sure to keep that in mind when making your selection.

Hand-Selected Radiant Cut Diamonds

To give you some ideas of what's available for a radiant cut diamond ring, we've preselected a range of certified radiant cut diamonds for you to examine . Except for the "Bargain Basement" selections, these diamonds are within our minimum requirements as listed above and are suitable for solitaire settings or settings with accent stones.