Teardrop Cut Ruby: Pros, Cons & Fire

Think of a pear with a fuller shoulder and a gentler point. Ours has 74 facets over a 38.46° pavilion, is 60.0% deep and runs 1.445 times as long as it is wide.

In ruby it has more fire than any round, though less than the oval. The elongated outline that buys that fire costs light: Brilliance 59, nearly a quarter of the light leaking, and the lowest tilt score on our ruby pages.

A ruby drop is often chosen for the colour it carries in a pendant or earring, where it hangs and turns. That makes the tilt figure the one to read first on this page.

Is a teardrop cut good for ruby? Pros and cons

Pros

Far more fire than a round ruby 64 vs 37

Cons

Much less light than a round 59 vs 94
Darkens quickly when tilted 52 vs 80
Nearly a quarter of the light leaks 23 vs 5
Heavier than diamond 1.46 vs 1.28 ct

Compared with the T73 Round Brilliant in ruby 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 ruby (white) against the T73 Round Brilliant in ruby (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 ruby: ahead on 3, behind on 5.

Global67, the comparison 79, difference −12
Brilliance59, the comparison 94, difference −35
Fire64, the comparison 37, difference +27
Scintillation81, the comparison 80, difference +1
Spread101, the comparison 100, difference +1
Symmetry98, the comparison 100, difference −2
Shape-norm69, the comparison 102, difference −33
Tilt52, the comparison 75, difference −23

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 ruby gains in a teardrop

Far more fire than a round ruby

Fire 64 against 37 for the T73 Round Brilliant in ruby: 27 points higher

Fire 64 against 37 for the T73. The facets along the drop meet light at a spread of angles a round does not have, and even corundum's weak dispersion shows more colour that way.

Teardrop cut in ruby face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 64) — 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.

T73 round brilliant in ruby face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 37) — 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.

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

The teardrop's costs in ruby

Much less light than a round

Brilliance 59 against 94 for the T73 Round Brilliant in ruby: 35 points lower

Brilliance 59 against 94: the largest light gap of the elongated cuts on our ruby pages after the marquise.

Teardrop cut in ruby face-up Light Return map: red, green and blue show where the light returns from, grey shows where it leaks (Brilliance 59) — 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 ruby face-up Light Return map: red, green and blue show where the light returns from, grey shows where it leaks (Brilliance 94) — 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: For more light with an elongated outline, the Oval Cut Ruby returns 66 and has more fire too, 74.

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

Darkens quickly when tilted

Tilt 52 against 80 for the Teardrop Cut in diamond: 28 points lower

Tipped 20°, it keeps 52 of its face-up light; a diamond teardrop keeps 80. A drop in a pendant or earring moves constantly, so this con weighs more here than for a ring.

Teardrop cut in ruby tilted 0 degrees: Light Return map, 23% 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 ruby tilted 10 degrees: Light Return map, 31% 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 Oval Cut Ruby keeps 58; no elongated ruby we measure holds light like a round.

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

Nearly a quarter of the light leaks

Leakage 23 against 5 for the T73 Round Brilliant in ruby: 18 points higher

Close to a quarter, 23%, leaves the ruby teardrop through its pavilion; the T73 loses 5%. The pavilion, at 38.46°, is only just above ruby's guide minimum of 36.4°.

What helps: Size does not change the share. The Cushion Cut Ruby leaks 11% if a drop is not essential.

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

Heavier than diamond

1.46 ct at 6.5 mm, against 1.28 ct for the same cut in diamond (+14%)

A 6.5 mm wide teardrop weighs 1.46 ct in ruby and 1.28 ct in diamond.

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

What helps: Choose by length and width.

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

Who a teardrop ruby suits

The teardrop suits a ruby pendant or drop earring where a gentle point and some colour flashes matter more than sheer light. Expect a darker stone than a round, especially as it swings.

The Oval Cut Ruby beats it on fire, light and tilt in ruby, and is the better choice where the point is not essential. The Pear Cut Ruby keeps the sharper classic point.

Teardrop Cut Ruby: questions

Does a teardrop ruby have fire?

Plenty for a ruby: Fire 64, against 37 for a round. A diamond teardrop reaches 89.

Teardrop or pear for a ruby?

The teardrop has more fire (64 against 56) and leaks a little less (23% against 26%); the pear returns a little more light (62 against 59).

Is a teardrop ruby good for a pendant?

It flashes colour, but it holds light poorly when tilted: Tilt 52, against 75 for a round.

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

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

Teardrop Cut Ruby: much more fire than a round, in a gentle drop