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four locations in the Netherlands · Gemologist checked
Collection
The old mine cut is the oldest brilliant-style cut you are likely to meet, worked by hand from the eighteenth century until the very end of the nineteenth. It follows the shape of the rough octahedron, so the outline is a soft, slightly irregular cushion rather than a circle. Add a small table, a high crown, a deep pavilion and a large open culet, and you get a stone that glows rather than sparkles — the light comes back in a few broad, warm flashes, exactly as it did by candle and gas light.
Between pieces
Every piece here exists once, so this page empties and fills again as we buy. That is exactly when it is worth telling us what you are after: our buyers are with European estates, auction houses and private sellers every week, and we write to you first when something right comes in.
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About old mine cut rings
The old mine cut was cut by hand, for candlelight, and is judged by life and character rather than by modern proportion grades.
Check the hallmark and the wear together: an honest antique ring shows soft, even wear on the high points, original solder lines and a shank that has not been thinned. Ask to see the culet of any old-cut stone, the back of the setting and the gallery, all of which we will show you live on video before you buy.
Most antique and vintage engagement rings we sell sit between roughly $1,500 and $12,000, with signed pieces and larger old-cut centers running higher.
Indicative only. Every curated vintage, antique and estate piece is one of a kind and priced on its own merits, with free insured US shipping.
Personal service
Three ways to go further, all of them with a person on the other side.
One of our jewelers takes any piece to daylight and shows you the hallmark, the setting and any wear, live and in your own time zone.
Book a viewingOur buyers are with European estates and auction houses every week. Describe the piece and we write to you the moment something right comes in.
We will source itOur Atelier pieces are newly handcrafted in our own workshop, taking their cues from the vintage and antique jewelry we have spent decades restoring. New work with a vintage soul, never sold as antique.
Explore AtelierNo two are the same. Hand cutting on a treadle-driven wheel produced individual facet patterns, uneven girdles and outlines that lean one way or the other, and those irregularities are how you recognize a genuine period stone rather than a modern cushion cut made to look old.
Old mine cuts appear in Georgian and Victorian rings, in cluster and cushion-halo settings, and in earrings and brooches, often in closed-back or silver-topped gold mounts. Our gemologist assesses each stone in its setting and records cut character, estimated colour and clarity, and any treatment or damage. Where the mount makes reliable grading impossible, the listing says so instead of guessing.
A cushion or squarish outline with rounded corners, a small table, a high crown, and a culet large enough to read as a distinct facet or window when you look straight down. Facets are often asymmetric, and the outline rarely matches perfectly side to side.
Both are hand cut with high crowns and open culets. The difference is outline: old mine cuts are cushion-shaped and follow the rough, while old European cuts are round, cut on later equipment from roughly 1890 onward. Old mine cuts are the older and generally the scarcer of the two.
Georgian and early Victorian closed-back mounts, silver-topped gold, cut-down collets, cluster and cushion-halo rings, and later Victorian solitaires. Closed backs and foiling are normal for the period; we never open a closed-back setting purely to grade a stone.
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Where you will find them
Not sure yet?
One of our jewelers will take any piece in this collection to daylight and show you the hallmark, the setting and any wear, live and in your own time zone.
Book a private video viewingKeep exploring
Neighbouring collections and the guide that explains what you are looking at, with real pieces behind every link.
All collections by era, gemstone and houseNeighbouring collections from the same vitrine, with a guide to read first.
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New treasures every week, by email, before they go live here.
Guides and neighbouring collections worth a look.
The background reading for this collection.
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What this cut does with light.
Read moreThe round ancestor of the modern brilliant, cut between roughly 1890 and 1930. Small table, tall crown, visibl
Read moreRose cut, old mine cut, old European cut and transitional. Older diamonds were cut for candlelight and lamplig
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