Antique Cushion-Cut

An antique cushion is cut to the proportions jewelers used before electric light: a small table, a tall crown, a deep pavilion and broad chunky facets. Those numbers are wrong by a modern light-return chart and right for the eye — the facets are large enough to flash one at a time, so the stone rolls and blinks slowly instead of scattering fine glitter.

It suits color especially well, since a deeper cut holds more of it. Standard millimeter sizes with the soft pillow outline, so it needs no corner protection in a mounting.