The old mine cut is the cushion-shaped diamond of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, named for the mines of India and Brazil that supplied the stones of that era and cut by hand, judged by eye, before modern measuring tools existed. It has a small table, a high crown, and a large open culet, the facet at the stone's base, which appears as a small circle when you look down through the top. Those proportions were made for candlelight, so an old mine cushion returns broad, slow flashes of colour where a modern brilliant gives fine, rapid sparkle.
Antique old mine diamonds are scarce, and the ones that survive vary widely in colour and proportion, which is where lab-grown diamonds open the shape up: a lab diamond can be grown to your colour preferences and cut to the old mine proportions you want, with ethically sourced natural stones available on request. We set them low, in a bezel or with minimal claws, including in the Arra cathedral solitaire. We hand-craft every ring in Sydney in solid yellow or white gold, or platinum, and can engrave it or set a hidden diamond or birthstone inside the band.
