Meetpoint Cutting

People often wonder "what makes a good gemstone" so I've decided to write a series of short blog posts about various gemcutting or gemology topics - in no particular order. Here's the first installment, showing an easy way to visually determine a cutter's commitment to detail by examining a gemstone's crown facets.

Most western cutters learn what's called meetpoint cutting - that is, cutting each facet until it precisely "meets" or joins adjoining facets. When done properly it is a work of beauty; when not, not so much. Some cutters will take shortcuts, particularly when it comes to the crown facets that meet the table (the "star" facets on a round brilliant cut). In contrast, most foreign cutters will cut a good looking crown because that's what the customer will notice after the stone is mounted. We've found that it really doesn't take much additional time or effort to finish the meetpoints correctly.

Here are some examples (both good and bad):

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In this round brilliant the green circles illustrate how the star and kite facets should meet the table. This cutter has taken the time to ensure clean and perfect meetpoints.

​An easy way to tell that the meets are correct is to look for "lines" across facet junctions, as shown in the bolded lines in this illustration.​

​Here's something that is seen far too often. The table is cut "short" and not deep enough to meet the main facets. Note the missed meetpoints indicated by the red circles. Quick and dirty - but not right.

Another error often seen, this table facet is inadvertently tilted and cut to meet properly at only one meetpoint. All other meetpoints are missed, and the cutter didn't make the effort needed to correct them.

It's not only rounds - many other shapes are susceptible to poor meetpoints as well. The meets on this cushion are correct on opposite ends of the table, but all of the corner and side facet meetpoints are either undercut or overcut.

So you see that's really quite easy to judge some aspects of cut quality from a quick examination of the gemstone (and often a photo will suffice). Of course, there will always be some exceptions where cutting constraints that might prevent perfect meetpoints - for example, repolishing a badly cut stone that had poor symmetry or to avoid inclusions just under the table. However, for the majority of stones (and especially those cut from rough) good table meetpoints should be the norm rather than the exception.