The Fan Shield Gemstone Cut

Round Brilliant vs Fan Shield for Garnet

I cut two stones from the same garnet material for comparison. One was cut as a Fan Shield. The other was cut as a standard round brilliant. Both were around 12 mm across, cut with low crown and pavilion angles.

The round gem performed predictably. It was mostly dark, with occasional flashes of light. Directly under the table, the Fan Shield gem was fairly subtle. However, it was hard to concentrate on that. All around the edges, light flashed constantly. The subtlest movement created a myriad changing reflections, making one of the liveliest stones I've ever seen.

For the faceter, this design allows higher yield in dark gems without sacrificing beauty. Furthermore, this cut was designed to be worn. Set on a ring, a Fan Shield gem will dazzle everyone in sight.

Fan Shield Cut: Diagrams

Cutting Instructions

• 96 Index Angles for RI 1.77
• 64 facets + 6 on girdle = 70
• L/W = 1.073 T/W = 0.549 T/L = 0.512
• P/W = 0.416 C/W = 0.113 H/W = 0.549
• P/H = 0.758 C/H = 0.205

Girdle

Either crown or pavilion may be cut first after the girdle is cut.

Pavilion

Caution: Take extra care to make facets P1 through P5 point up at the girdle. Otherwise, facet P6 won't reach the appropriate P1, P2 meetpoint. This will result in a significant loss of scintillation due to proportional misalignment with the crown facets.

Crown

* Note: Tests have shown that a table that rests slightly higher than this meetpoint gives optimal brightness, but only by about 2%.