Mine Cut Diamonds
Mine cut diamonds are typically found in antique jewelry - jewelry that was made before diamond cutting techniques were perfected.
They date to before 1919 and are rather roughly cut but have an old world charm that new cut diamonds just don't have. This type of cutting is just not done today as modern methods are superior for exposing the beauty of the stone.
If you have antique jewelry with mine cut diamonds, you should be very careful with it since if you lose one of the stones, it is unlikely you would be able to get a matching replacement. Typically antique jewelry would use a modern brilliant cut diamond which may not look right if there are other diamonds with the older cut in the piece and you may find you have to replace all the stones!
Of course, there are a few jewelers that may have the older cut stone but you will probably have to look pretty hard to find a matching one.
Mine cut diamonds are crudely cut with a squarish pattern, often cut to simply go with the shape of the crystal, this method did not take into consideration how the stone reflects light, or how to best cut the stone for maximum reflection and beauty. It wasn't until 1919 that a mathematical formula for cutting a diamond to take the most advantage of it's reflective and refractive properties was invented.
Most diamonds mined after 1919, therefore have a more brilliant cut than the old mine cut diamonds. This cut is often referred to as Old European Cut. However, the tools to cut diamonds still would not produce the perfect cut as perceived in 1919 until the 1950's when technology finally improved enough to be able to perform the cuts that would bring out the most beauty of the diamond. This is known as Modern Brilliant Cut and is how most diamonds are cut today.
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