There are two types of rose cut diamonds seen in much of the jewelry in this region, specifically South-east Asia. One is the ‘Western’ rose cut diamond and the other is the Straits Chinese rose cut diamond (intan). The Straits Chinese rose cut diamond is quite similar to the Indian polki diamond, which is an Indian cut diamond slice.
Historically the Western rose cut is hand cleaved, much like the Straits Chinese rose cut diamond. Hand cleaved diamonds reveal techniques of hand-cutting, with uneven facets at the crown of the diamond.
Today the modern rose cut diamond is more ‘symmetrical’ like the centre of a sunflower, than say, a primitive rose cut diamond. Evolving modern diamond cutting techniques cannot escape symmetry, even for the lesser faceted rose cut diamond.
American mid-century diamond platinum ring set with a 0.5ct rose cut diamond and 0.08ct side diamonds.
Which brings us to the distinct look of Straits Chinese rose cut diamonds. While the Western rose cut diamond has come long and far, the ‘Asian’ rose cut remains random and raw. It is this primitive look much desired by those of us who know 🙂
If you are searching Google for “antique hand cut diamonds”, it is likely you are looking for authentic (old) Straits Chinese rose cut diamond jewellery.
With the ceaseless love for older rose cut diamonds, I am guessing we pursue it for more than its primitive ideals. Despite its primitive cut, rose cut diamonds retain that adamantine quality only present in diamonds – they look like water, and this is not masked by the fire present in modern cuts. The modern eye has long recognised diamonds to look the way they do, with multiple facets and in familiar cuts, so that you cannot easily tell synthetic diamonds from earth-mined diamonds.
For this reason, some say the Straits Chinese rose cut diamond looks ‘not like a real diamond’. Its fewer cuts let you see all the way through the diamond, with whatever light that shines through, and not in a reflected sense as in a 52-facet diamond.
But it is a genuine diamond with similar characteristics as the Western rose cut.
Old Straits Chinese Rose Cut Diamonds
Straits Chinese rose cut diamond jewelry, from early 1900s. The earlier the rose cut diamonds, the more they appear as 'organic', in the sense the facets are more random and unsymmetrical.
Rose cut diamonds have no pavilion (ie. they are flat with no ‘tail’) and they always look bigger than a brilliant cut, for the same carat weight. In diamond speak, the rose cut diamond has the biggest spread (surface area) for the same carat weight of any cuts of diamonds.
This is a 1960s Straits Chinese Peranakan bangle. Although it could be older, these rose cut diamonds are now considered 'modern'. Such diamonds can be found in both Straits Chinese and Western rose cut diamond jewelry, usually at premium prices if the diamonds are very white and the individual rose cuts are big.
Early 1900s rose cut diamond ear studs. So 'organic' are these rose cuts they look like glass, don't they? Yet these are considered very good quality rose cut diamonds - white and clear - as opposed to grey or less clear diamonds.
"Flat with no tail". The diamonds are shaped like a dome. Obviously the thicker the dome, the heavier the rose cut and the more valuable it is. Of course this applies if the diamonds are uniformly white and clear like this!
Wait… There’s More to the Straits Chinese Rose Cut: The Intan Diamond
If you’ve come across the term ‘intan’, it is the Bahasa Malay/Indonesia term to mean “diamond”. Intan, or diamonds from this region, are almost always the hand cut, no pavilion types. If you do come across diamonds such as Old Mine, Old European, or Transitional Cut diamonds on old Straits Chinese jewelry, these diamonds were imported from either England or France, at a time during the 19th century and up to the early 20th century. For the smaller ‘intan’ rose cut diamonds, perhaps it is more appropriate to say they are ‘intan’ hand cut diamonds, since sometimes these diamonds are so small it is pointless to insist they really are rose cuts! Note that just because they are individually very delicate and small do not mean they are inferior to the bigger rose cuts. We cannot emphasise this enough – the quality of all rose cut diamonds, whether small or thick, depend on how white or how fiery (sparkly) they are.
The quality of all diamonds, whether rose cut or hand cut, whether small or thick, depend on how white or how fiery (sparkly) they are.Really, that’s all you need to know, if you are lost to all this!
The Future of Straits Chinese Rose Cut Diamonds – Heirloom or Fever?
Let’s look at more Straits Chinese rose cut diamond jewelry pieces. The more you see, the more intimately you become aware, that carat weight cannot measure the allure of Peranakan diamond jewelry.
