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Diamond Performance
The language of beauty should also include the word "performance," introduced by the EightStar Diamond Company to describe light output. Performance is the amount and quality of the light returned to the viewer's eye.
A "high-performance" diamond - the EightStar - is capable of light return from 100 percent of its surface. The facets of the jewel have been so carefully synchronized that any area of the crown can blaze with brilliance and fire - even in shade or shadow. Like instruments in an orchestra, the facets work together to perform a concert of light.
A poorly performing diamond, however, which is often cut for weight, will leak light - usually from the bottom. This causes dead zones on the surface due to light loss.
To create the highest light output possible, a cutter must treat every facet as a relay point that can fully return light. Until recently, synchronizing all 58 facets of a round brilliant was based solely on sound, but never proven, theories about the best proportions to create maximum brilliance and fire.
Then in 1984, the introduction of a patented light-mapping technology, called the Firescope, offered cutters the potential to analyze every facet they placed. Using this instrument they could ensure that each facet aims light in the right direction - and so create perfectly performing diamonds.
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