<p>If a diamond is not cut well, it will not show the maximum fire, brilliance and sparkle.  If a jeweler is trying to stress the importance of a diamond's color and clarity but not its cut, they might be trying to hide the fact that it is not cut well.</p>
<p>A diamond that is cut TOO DEEP will look smaller than its actual carat weight when compared to a well cut diamond.  Likewise, a diamond that is cut TOO SHALLOW will look bigger than its actual carat weight but will not sparkle to its full potential.</p>
<p>Without attention to quality cutting, light is lost and not returned to the eye:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="uploads/images/Cut_Diagram.jpg" alt="" width="280" height="125" /></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="uploads/images/Diamond Cut.JPG" alt="" width="472" height="130" /></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; color: #ff9900; font-size: x-large;">Proportion</span></p>
<p>The proportions displayed by the diamond are very significant.  Two key factors in the grading of cut quality are <strong>DEPTH PERCENTAGE</strong> and <strong>TABLE PERCENTAGE</strong>.  Measurements of three different parameters allows for easy calulation of these percentages by using the formulas expressed below.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="uploads/images/tabledepth.gif" alt="" width="285" height="167" /></p>
<ul>
<li>· Table percentage is calculated by dividing the Longest Table Measurement (in mm) by the  Diameter (in mm).</li>
<li>· Depth percentage is calculated by dividing the Depth (in mm) by the Diameter (in mm).</li>
</ul>
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