The Legendary Royal Asscher

Every woman has a preference when it comes to the shape of a diamond. Some prefer the elongated look of the marquise, some the clean lines of an emerald cut, while others prefer the classic round brilliant. Few cuts, however, have the mystique of the legendary Royal Asscher.

The I.J. Asscher Company was founded in 1854 in Amsterdam by Joseph Isaac Asscher. Two generations later, brothers Joseph and Abraham were the ones who brought the firm to prominence. In 1902, Joseph Asscher created the Asscher cut diamond, the first signature cut to be patented. This stone is a stepped square cut diamond with cut corners and is often wrongfully referred to as a “square emerald cut”. This cut reached the height of its popularity during the Art Deco period, but has enjoyed a recent resurgence. Its popularity has been boosted further by celebrities such as Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon and even Sex and the City’s Carrie Bradshaw sporting Asscher cut engagement rings.

The Asscher family was known to be the best in the business, and were charged with cutting some of the most historically significant diamonds of the 20th century. Abraham cut the 997-carat Excelsior diamond in 1903, but it was the Cullinan rough discovered in 1907 that really put the Asscher Company on the map. Weighing in at an extraordinary 3106-carats, it was the largest diamond ever found, and Joseph Asscher was commissioned by King Edward VII of England to cut the stone. The impressive stone was so large that it had to be cleaved into three parts in order to be cut. Cleaving a diamond is a very precise process and any miscalculation can result in a diamond shattering. (CIRCA CEO Chris Del Gatto can attest to this, as he started his career as a diamond cutter.) Legend has it, that after Joseph raised his mallet and made the first cleave, he fainted on the spot. Luckily, he was successful and the rough produced the legendary diamonds that are still part of the British Crown Jewels. Fittingly, the company was given a royal title itself in 1980 by the Queen of Holland, and is now the Royal Asscher Diamond Company. Print this post