Asscher Cut Engagement Rings – A Short Guide

In 1854 the Royal Asscher Diamond company was founded by the Asscher family. Based in Amsterdam and still owned by the same family, it has cut many of the World's most famous diamonds. The company is responsible for originating the famous Asscher cut, a diamond cut which was the first one to be patented. The Cullinan diamond was discovered in 1907 and weighed 621 g (3106 carats). It was given to King Edward VII of England and was cut by Joseph Asscher. It is said that the diamond broke his cutting blade on the first attempt and he had to make new cutting tools in order to cut the diamond successfully.

The patent expired during the Second World War as the Jewish Asscher family were interned in Nazi concentration camps along with most of the company's employees. This led to other companies using the Asscher cut and caused some confusion over whether diamonds had been cut by the Asscher company or by others copying their technique. Some of the companies using this cut called it a square-emerald cut, and did not follow the original calculations for the cut specifying a diamonds facet alignment, table size and crown height.

The cut has proven to be very popular in engagement rings, and looks similar to an emerald cut but with a square stone having each corner cut to form an octagon. As with emerald cuts, this cut is stepped but has larger steps than the emerald cut. Since there are fewer facets with this method of cutting, the colour of the diamond, it's clarity and any inclusions become more apparent. Therefore, you may want your engagement ring to have a higher quality diamond than would be required with other cuts. In recent years, variations of these cuts have been introduced using additional facets to give more sparkle.

Antique Asscher cut engagement rings are particularly popular, as are many antique engagement rings currently. Their recent appearance on TV in a popular TV series and on the red carpet being worn by celebrities has contributed to their popularity. Art Deco rings often used diamonds cut in this way, and rings from this period are highly sought after.

If the ring contains more than one diamond cut in this style, it is important to make sure that all of the diamonds match. They need to match not only in terms of colour, but also table size (the flat top part of the diamond), angle of the steps and corner size. This will ensure that the ring has the symmetry that these diamonds possess individually.