Used mainly for gemstones that are translucent to opaque, the cabochon cut is a dome shape with no facets other than its flat bottom.
Normally the dome is highly polished to increase its lustre, and when viewed from above the outline of the cut is typically an oval. That said, round cut cabochons have become increasingly popular over the past four or five years.
Cutting “en cabochon” is also applied to gemstones which demonstrate optical phenomena such as asterism and chatoyancy.
The cabochon cut has been popular for over 2000 years. One word of caution though: don’t be tempted to polish the flat surface underneath a cabochon cut gem; it is intentionally left unpolished as it returns more light into the gem. If polished, you may find your gem is not as vivid in colour as before.
