Introduced by the Asscher Brothers of Holland in 1902, the Asscher cut is also referred to as a square emerald cut.
Just like regular emerald cuts, the Asscher cut has cropped corners and stepped facets running parallel to the girdle, up to the table and down to the culet. Its main difference to an emerald cut is that the table is smaller.
This cut was very popular in the 1920s but had gone out of fashion until recent years. Interestingly, this cut has been featured in ‘Sex and the City’ and has been used for many celebrity engagement rings.
The Asscher brothers were famous Diamond cutters in Holland: they were the founders of the Royal Asscher Diamond Company in 1854. The brothers were both entrusted to cut the famous Cullinan Diamond by King Edward VII in 1907.
It is reported that the Asscher brothers studied the Diamond for three months before any work was carried out. Eventually Joseph Asscher, who was under extreme pressure due to being tasked with shaping the biggest Diamond in the world, took his cleaving knife and hammer to the rough Diamond. To his horror, his first strike completely broke the cleaving knife, but luckily the Diamond remained undamaged! At the second attempt, the Diamond split perfectly in two. gg
