Teardrop Cut Emerald: Pros, Cons & Fire

The teardrop rounds off the pear's shoulder and softens its point. Our model is 1.445 times as long as wide, with 74 facets and a 38.46° pavilion, 60.0% deep.

That pavilion sits just under emerald's 39.4° guide minimum, a figure worked out for round designs. In our census the stone keeps only 53 of its face-up light when tipped 20°, the lowest Tilt of the twenty cuts on our emerald pages.

Its fire, 63, beats the T73's 39 in emerald; we list fire as a con because the diamond teardrop, at 89, is further away.

Is emerald a good match for a teardrop cut? Pros and cons

Pros

Lighter than a diamond teardrop 0.99 vs 1.28 ct

Cons

Loses the most light as it tips 53 vs 80
Less fire than the diamond teardrop 63 vs 89
Less light than a round emerald 54 vs 78
More leakage than the T73 36 vs 22

Compared with the T73 Round Brilliant in emerald and with the Teardrop Cut in diamond. A difference counts from 3 points (Brilliance, Fire, Tilt, Leakage), 5 (Scintillation, Symmetry), 2 (Spread) or 5% (weight); Tilt counts as a pro only for a stone within 5 points of the brilliance it is compared with. How we measure.

All eight scores against the T73

At a glance: the Teardrop Cut in emerald (white) against the T73 Round Brilliant in emerald (dashed): solid white where it reaches further, hatched where it falls short. Each pro and con is explained, with pictures, below.

Against the T73 Round Brilliant in emerald: ahead on 3, behind on 5.

Global64, the comparison 73, difference −9
Brilliance54, the comparison 78, difference −24
Fire63, the comparison 39, difference +24
Scintillation81, the comparison 80, difference +1
Spread101, the comparison 100, difference +1
Symmetry98, the comparison 100, difference −2
Shape-norm62, the comparison 84, difference −22
Tilt53, the comparison 77, difference −24

Face-up light census, a different measure from the Cut Grading Tool; Spread and Shape-norm above 100 sit on the ring.

Open it in the Cut Performance Wheel

What emerald gains in a teardrop cut

Lighter than a diamond teardrop

0.99 ct at 6.5 mm, against 1.28 ct for the same cut in diamond (−23%)

For pendants and earrings weight matters, and emerald helps: a teardrop 6.5 mm wide is 0.99 ct, where diamond would be 1.28 ct.

A Teardrop Cut 6.5 mm across, weighed from the model's measured volume and each stone's specific gravity.

Try it yourself: Weights in all seven gemstones on the Teardrop Cut page

The catch with a teardrop emerald

Loses the most light as it tips

Tilt 53 against 80 for the Teardrop Cut in diamond: 27 points lower

Tip a teardrop emerald by 20° and it keeps 53 of the light it showed face-up, against 80 for the same teardrop in diamond. A drop that swings will show it.

Teardrop cut in emerald tilted 0 degrees: Light Return map, 38% of the face leaking — Tilt is how much of its own face-up light a stone keeps when tilted. Each frame is the Light Return map with the stone tilted away from you by the angle shown; grey is light leaving through the pavilion. The share under each frame is that picture's own.

Teardrop cut in emerald tilted 10 degrees: Light Return map, 37% of the face leaking — Tilt is how much of its own face-up light a stone keeps when tilted. Each frame is the Light Return map with the stone tilted away from you by the angle shown; grey is light leaving through the pavilion. The share under each frame is that picture's own.

What helps: The pavilion is under the guide minimum, but we have not measured a steeper teardrop and cannot promise one would hold more. Among measured shapes in emerald, the Trillion Cut Emerald keeps 86.

Try it yourself: Compare the Tilt spoke in the Cut Performance Wheel

Less fire than the diamond teardrop

Fire 63 against 89 for the Teardrop Cut in diamond: 26 points lower

63 against 89. Emerald's dispersion is under a third of diamond's; even so, the teardrop out-fires every round on our emerald pages.

Teardrop cut in emerald face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 63) — Look at the coloured flashes: those are fire. Same light, same size, same face-up angle; rendered by our 3D Gemstone Simulator from each cut's own model.

Teardrop cut in diamond face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 89) — Look at the coloured flashes: those are fire. Same light, same size, same face-up angle; rendered by our 3D Gemstone Simulator from each cut's own model.

What helps: In emerald, only the Oval Cut Emerald among the cuts on these pages scores more fire: 71.

Try it yourself: See the fire in the 3D Gemstone Simulator

Less light than a round emerald

Brilliance 54 against 78 for the T73 Round Brilliant in emerald: 24 points lower

54 against 78 for the T73. Emerald is not to blame here: the diamond teardrop returns even less, 46.

Teardrop cut in emerald face-up Light Return map: red, green and blue show where the light returns from, grey shows where it leaks (Brilliance 54) — Red, green and blue = light returning to the eye; grey = light leaving through the pavilion. This is the head-on view; the Brilliance score averages a wider cone of light, so the score can differ from what one picture shows.

T73 round brilliant in emerald face-up Light Return map: red, green and blue show where the light returns from, grey shows where it leaks (Brilliance 78) — Red, green and blue = light returning to the eye; grey = light leaving through the pavilion. This is the head-on view; the Brilliance score averages a wider cone of light, so the score can differ from what one picture shows.

What helps: The Cushion Cut Emerald returns 74 in emerald, a round such as DG-M5 Emerald 90.

Try it yourself: Open this Light Return map in the simulator

More leakage than the T73

Leakage 36 against 22 for the T73 Round Brilliant in emerald: 14 points higher

36% of the light in our census leaves through the pavilion; the T73 in emerald loses 22%.

Try it yourself: Tilt it yourself in the simulator's light map

Who a teardrop emerald suits

The teardrop suits a pendant or earring where its outline and colour count more than steady light. Set it to hang still if you can: tilted, it loses more light than any other cut on our emerald pages.

For more fire, the Oval Cut Emerald. For light, the Cushion Cut Emerald or a round, DG-M5 Emerald.

Teardrop Cut Emerald: questions

Is a teardrop cut good for emerald?

For fire it beats a round: 63 against 39. For light and tilt it trails: Brilliance 54, Tilt 53.

Teardrop or pear for an emerald?

Close on light (54 against 56); the teardrop has a little more fire (63 against 59), the pear a little more Tilt (57 against 53).

What does a teardrop emerald weigh?

A teardrop 6.5 mm wide is 0.99 ct in our model.

Get the Teardrop Cut files

6 formatsMillimetresWatertight

Teardrop Cut 3D files

The Teardrop Cut as exact geometry: 74 planar facets, real-world scale, ready for CAD, rendering, printing and casting.

STEPExact faceted solid for CAD
3DMRhino, closed mesh on its own layer
STLWatertight mesh for printing and casting
OBJMesh for modelling and rendering
FBXBlender, 3ds Max, Maya, Cinema 4D, Unity, Unreal
GLBWeb, AR and quick previews

€9.99 · Personal useBuy the 3D files

GemCad64 index

Teardrop Cut cutting files

The Teardrop Cut as a faceting design: 56 + 18 girdles = 74 facets, 64 index, 1-fold mirror-image symmetry, ready for the machine.

.ascGemCad design file, 64 index gear
.csvTier table: angles, indices and cutting order
DiagramPrintable faceting diagram

€9.99 · Personal useBuy the cutting files

Questions before you buy? Email us.

More gemstones and cuts

Emerald: optical properties and the top ten cuts · The Teardrop Cut: specifications, model and files

Teardrop Cut Emerald: a softened pear, lighter in weight than diamond for its size