One of the most common misconceptions with diamond jewelry is that cuts and shapes are the same thing. They, in fact, are not. One of the most common areas this misconception presents itself is with regard to the difference between a round diamond and a brilliant cut diamond.

If you have been looking at jewelry, you may have noticed the words round and brilliant have been used interchangeably. While this is a pretty common practice, a round diamond refers to a basic shape that many cuts of diamonds can be. A round brilliant cut diamond (also known as the Tolkowsky Brilliant) first debuted in 1919 as the creation of engineer Marcel Tolkowsky, when he was just 20 years old.

Tolkowsky’s findings quickly became the standard for diamond cutting and polishing. His mathematical calculations created a diamond cut for maximum fire and brilliance. Today, 92 years later, it is still the standard for diamond cutting. In fact, the term “ideal cut” is used to represent a diamond that is cut to exact proportions Tolkowsky determined.

A round diamond, on the other hand, is simply the shape of the diamond. Prior to Tolkowsky’s findings, round diamonds where also known as miner cuts, old European cuts and single cuts, just to name a few.

Today, there are many trademarked names representing an ideal cut diamond, check out these 1ct Hearts & Arrows Diamond Earrings in 18k White Gold. These diamond earrings from SuperJeweler feature Hearts and Arrows diamonds. Tolkowsky cut diamonds are also known as hearts and arrows diamonds because, if you look at one through a microscope, you will see hearts through the top of the diamond and arrows through the bottom.