Why Choose a Barion Cut?
Gem faceters must consider factors like brilliance, color, and faceting yield before choosing a cut style. Learn what a Barion cut can bring to a gemstone.
Answer: What you're missing is the fact that a Barion pavilion will give you much greater brilliance than any other style. When you choose this cut, you're choosing to emphasize brilliance and sparkle over weight retention. But you should consider other factors too.
The Barion Cut and Color Enhancement
Another compromise a faceter has to make involves color enhancement. The deeper the cut, the stronger the color will be.
A Barion is one of the deepest cuts there is, so it will give you maximum depth of color. This is an excellent technique for some gems, as the richer color will add to the value of the stone. However, this style can be too much for other gems. Most varieties of garnet would suffer from a Barion pavilion and end up too dark to appreciate their color.
Donald Clark, CSM IMG
International Gem Society
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