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A 0.61 carat cushion-cut blue sapphire, set within a halo and pavé totalling 0.35 carat of diamonds, in 18K white gold.
Cushion is the sapphire cut, and the reason is in the rough. Corundum grows as a tapering hexagonal barrel — wide through the middle, narrowing toward both ends. A cushion follows that outline almost exactly: a squared shape with rounded corners sits inside the natural cross-section with very little waste. Cut the same crystal round and a great deal of it goes to powder. That is why the sapphires you see in antique jewellery are overwhelmingly cushions, and why a cushion sapphire of a given weight costs less than a round one.
The cut also holds colour. Its facets are broader and less steeply angled than a modern brilliant’s, so light travels further inside the stone before returning — and the further light travels through corundum, the more blue it picks up.
The 0.35 carat of diamonds here is the most we set around any sapphire: a full halo continuing down the shoulders as pavé, all in colourless stones and white metal to hold the blue cool.
The same design, larger centre: 0.78 ct cushion sapphire.
