This page gathers the gemstones in our collection fashioned as a scissor cut, also known as a cross cut. It is a step cut at heart — a rectangular, square or octagonal outline with long parallel facets on the pavilion — but the crown is divided differently: the table is framed by facets that meet in a diagonal cross, giving four triangular planes in place of the single long steps of an emerald cut. The result sits between the quiet, mirror-like clarity of a step cut and the livelier flash of a brilliant.
The varieties here are all tourmaline: green, pink, blue, chrome and bi colour. That is no accident. Tourmaline grows in elongated prismatic crystals, which cut most efficiently into rectangular and octagonal shapes, and its colour is best judged through the open table and clean geometry a scissor cut provides — particularly in bi colour stones, where the boundary between two hues is displayed rather than broken up.
When choosing, weigh depth of colour against the openness of the cut: step-related cuts reveal a stone honestly, so consider clarity and how evenly the colour reads across the table.
