Girdle Naturals
NATURALS
If one examines a parcel of round diamond brilliants, he is sure to see, sooner or later, a peculiarity which is confined only to the diamond. This is the existence of small flat spots along the girdle, called naturals, which glisten brightly in marked contrast to the dull surface of the rest of the girdle. There may be one or, at the most, four such spots evenly spaced around the periphery. They are remnants of the natural faces of the diamond crystal, in this case, the octahedron. They result when the cutter grinds a section of the crystal into a circular outline, part of which is to become the girdle of the finished gem.
To avoid loss of material, he grinds away the excess diamond until he is on the verge of obliterating all traces of the original crystal faces. At this point he stops grinding and leaves behind one or more minute flat spots which are the naturals previously referred to. If these spots are quite small and inconspicuous, they can be hidden easily behind a prong or bead during setting, but if they are noticeable to the naked eye, the stone bearing them is not cut as well as it should be. Naturals are defects, although in the diamond trade they are considered relatively unimportant unless they are conspicuously large.