Old Mine Cut Lab Diamonds: The Antique Cut Guide

What is an old mine cut diamond?

The old mine cut is the great-great-grandmother of the modern cushion. Hand-cut from roughly the 1700s through the early 1900s — long before electric lighting — these diamonds were designed to come alive by candle and lamplight. That's why an old mine cut (OMC) glows the way it does: a small table, a high crown, a deep pavilion, and big, chunky, hand-cut facets that throw broad, warm flashes of light instead of the tight, icy sparkle of a modern brilliant.

A true old mine cut has a soft, squarish "cushion" outline (a length-to-width ratio right around 1.00–1.05), rounded corners, and often a visible open culet — a tiny flat facet at the very bottom you can see straight through the table. It looks a little irregular on purpose. That gentle asymmetry is the fingerprint of a stone cut by hand, and it's exactly what collectors love.

Why choose an old mine cut?

Because nothing else looks like it. Where a modern diamond dazzles, an old mine cut smolders. It has romance, history, and a warmth that reads beautifully in yellow gold. If you're drawn to antique, vintage, or Georgian-inspired rings, this is the cut that gets you there.

The catch, historically, was cost and rarity — genuine antique OMCs are scarce and pricey. That's where lab-grown changes everything: you can now get an authentic old-mine-cut facet pattern — small table, high crown, chunky facets, broad flashes — in a brand-new, certified lab diamond, at a fraction of the price of a natural antique. All the soul, none of the sticker shock.

How to choose a great old mine cut

Insist on authentic faceting. Not every "cushion" is an old mine cut. Look for the small table, high crown, deep pavilion, and broad chunky facets — not a modern cushion brilliant with crushed-ice sparkle.
Embrace the culet. A small open culet is a hallmark of the style, not a flaw.
Let a little asymmetry in. Soft, rounded corners and gentle hand-cut character are the point.
See it move. Color and light in an antique-style cut are impossible to judge from a still photo — which is exactly why we film a 4K tweezer video of every stone in natural morning light before you commit.

The JbC way

I hunt for old-mine-cut lab diamonds the same way I hunt for everything: one stone at a time, looking for that watery, candlelit glow a lab report can't describe. If you want a genuine antique feel — warm champagne tones, broad flashes, a low-profile setting — I'll find the stone and design the ring around it. No modern-cushion substitutes.

FAQ

Is an old mine cut the same as a cushion cut? No. A modern cushion is a brilliant cut with tight sparkle; an old mine cut is an antique style with a small table, high crown, and broad, chunky flashes.
Do lab-grown old mine cuts look "real"? Yes — the faceting is what creates the antique look, and it's identical whether the diamond grew in the earth or a lab.
Are old mine cuts good for everyday wear? Beautifully — and lab-grown means you can wear a showpiece without worrying about an irreplaceable antique.

Want to see one glow? Message Gabrielle on WhatsApp and I'll send tweezer videos of old-mine-cut stones in your size and budget.