Table Percentage
56 – 63%
Stay below 65%. Larger tables flatten the stone's appearance and reduce the soft, pillowy quality the shape is known for.
Shape · Face-Up View
Light Performance · Live
Two centuries of reinvention. The old mine cut grew up — and split into two completely different diamonds hiding under the same name.
The cushion is a square or rectangular shape with rounded corners and a brilliant facet arrangement descended from the old mine cut — the dominant diamond form of the 18th and 19th centuries. What most buyers don't know is that the term "cushion cut" now covers two optically distinct stones: cushion brilliant, which produces large, chunky light flashes, and cushion modified brilliant, which produces a fine crushed-ice sparkle pattern. They look completely different in person. The GIA report will tell you which one you have; most retailers won't volunteer this information.
The old mine cut — characterized by a high crown, small table, large culet, and rounded square girdle — was the dominant diamond form from roughly 1700 to 1900. As round brilliant cutting equipment became standard in the early 20th century, cutters began applying brilliant facet arrangements to the cushion outline. The modified brilliant variation, with its additional faceting row, emerged later as cutters optimized for yield and a different sparkle aesthetic. Both now trade under a single name with no visual warning at point of sale.
Scores reflect cushion brilliant. Modified brilliant trades ~4 points of brilliance for a finer, more uniform sparkle pattern.