Gemstone Shapes

Shape · Cut · Carat Weight · Color · Clarity

The shape of a gemstone refers to its physical outline when looking at it from the top. Gems can be cut into any shape possible -but shapes like a moon, star, animals or abstract forms are unusual and rare. The six most common shapes are round, marquise, pear, heart, oval and cushion. The marquise is oblong and pointed evenly on the top and the bottom. The pear, looks like an upside down pear, rounded on one end and pointed on the other. A heart is cut like a heart, and an oval is cut into an oval. A cushion cut is a rectangle or square with rounded corners. When cutting a gem it is important for the cutter to emphasize the stone's color and brilliance while minimizing it's flaws. Sometimes a stone must suffer considerable weight loss to achieve this the perfect cut. Jewelry manufacturers want standard sizes and shapes for mass production, so many cuts have become commonplace. As for the type of cut, a gem can be cut in different styles to emphasize the stone's beauty. Sometimes the cut is referred to as the facets of the gem. Facets are varying degrees of polished surfaces in different sizes. For example, a gem can have clipped off corners and have four parallel rows on the sides. The amount of clipped corners and the lengths of them will make a difference on how the gem catches and glistens in the light. The flat part on the top of some cut stones is called the table. The amount of facets cut in the gem can make a stone look fancy, elegant, subdued, sparkly, romantic and more.

Common Gemstone Shapes