Antique jewelry glossary

Welcome to our extensive antique jewelry glossary with around 1,500 jewelry related entries.If you feel you are missing an explanation, feel free to let us know and we will add it.

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z     all

Table cut

The style of cutting a diamond (or other transparent gemstone) by removing the natural points of an octahedral crystal, leaving a flat square or rectangular table at the top and a similar but very much smaller parallel flat surface (culet) at the bottom, with four abutting isosceles-trapezoid-shaped facets sloping upward and four downward from the girdle (if the sloping facets are given chamfered corners, the number of sloping facets is increased from 8 to 16).

This cut was introduced in the early 15th century and continued until the introduction of the rose cut in the mid-17th century. A later modification has, extending downward from the girdle, 4 triangular facets that meet at a point at the bottom instead of a culet. Such table-cut stones are described as 'thin cut' or 'thick cut', depending upon the depth of the stone.

From: An Illustrated Dictionary of Jewelry, autor: Harold Newman, publishers: Thames and Hudson