DG-Rafaello Sapphire: Pros, Cons & Scintillation

DG-Rafaello is a twelve-fold round whose pavilion steps down in five tiers, each a little shallower than the last, so it curves from girdle to point. Our model has 145 facets and a 40.0° pavilion figure, 59.0% deep.

Those tiers were tuned for diamond, where it scores 94 for light and 80 for fire. In sapphire, with a critical angle of 34.6° against diamond's 24.4°, the shallower lower tiers give light more ways out.

Is DG-Rafaello a good choice for sapphire? Pros and cons

Pros

Much more sparkle than the T73 96 vs 80

Cons

The least fire of our rounds in sapphire 25 vs 80
Holds its light less well than in diamond 81 vs 97
Heavier than diamond 1.07 vs 0.94 ct
Three times the T73's leakage 15 vs 5

Compared with the T73 Round Brilliant in sapphire and with the DG-Rafaello 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 DG-Rafaello in sapphire (white) against the T73 Round Brilliant in sapphire (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 sapphire: ahead on 3, level on 1, behind on 4.

Global75, the comparison 79, difference −4
Brilliance85, the comparison 94, difference −9
Fire25, the comparison 37, difference −12
Scintillation96, the comparison 80, difference +16
Spread101, the comparison 100, difference +1
Symmetry100, the comparison 100, difference 0
Shape-norm92, the comparison 102, difference −10
Tilt81, the comparison 75, difference +6

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 a sapphire keeps in DG-Rafaello

Much more sparkle than the T73

Scintillation 96 against 80 for the T73 Round Brilliant in sapphire: 16 points higher

Twelve-fold crown, five pavilion tiers, 145 facets against the T73's 73: the face is cut into many small, quick flashes.

DG-Rafaello · 145 facets · Scintillation 96

T73 Round Brilliant · 73 facets · Scintillation 80

Scintillation follows the number of facets: more facets, more and smaller flashes as the stone moves. Count the facets in each crown. Drawn from each cut's own model.

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

What a sapphire loses in DG-Rafaello

The least fire of our rounds in sapphire

Fire 25 against 80 for the DG-Rafaello in diamond: 55 points lower

Fire 25, against 80 for DG-Rafaello in diamond: the widest fall of any round we measure on the move from diamond to sapphire.

Dg-rafaello in sapphire face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 25) — 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.

Dg-rafaello in diamond face-up under a single bright light: a render from our simulator, its coloured flashes are the fire (score 80) — 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: Among rounds, DG-Anteros Sapphire has the most fire in sapphire, 43.

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

Holds its light less well than in diamond

Tilt 81 against 97 for the DG-Rafaello in diamond: 16 points lower

The diamond version keeps 97 of its light at 20° of tilt, near the top of our scale. In sapphire it keeps 81, still a few points over the T73 in sapphire.

Dg-rafaello in sapphire tilted 0 degrees: Light Return map, 1% 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.

Dg-rafaello in sapphire tilted 10 degrees: Light Return map, 20% 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: DG-Miliano Sapphire keeps 83 when tipped and leaks less, 10%.

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

Heavier than diamond

1.07 ct at 6.5 mm, against 0.94 ct for the same cut in diamond (+14%)

Weighed at 6.5 mm across, this design is 1.07 ct in sapphire and 0.94 ct in diamond.

A DG-Rafaello 6.5 mm across, weighed from the model's measured volume and each stone's specific gravity.

What helps: No cut changes density; compare by width.

Try it yourself: Weights in all seven gemstones on the DG-Rafaello page

Three times the T73's leakage

Leakage 15 against 5 for the T73 Round Brilliant in sapphire: 10 points higher

15% of the light leaves through the pavilion in our census, 5% for the T73 in sapphire. The pavilion sits at 40.0°, above sapphire's 36.4° guide minimum, so the main angle alone does not explain it.

What helps: Not a steeper pavilion: at 40.0° it already clears the guide minimum. DG-M5 Sapphire, also twelve-fold, leaks 0% in sapphire.

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

Who a DG-Rafaello sapphire suits

DG-Rafaello is a diamond design, and in sapphire it shows. Keep it for diamond, or for a sapphire where fine sparkle matters more than light, perhaps a pale or colourless stone.

For a twelve-fold round that suits sapphire, DG-M5 Sapphire: Brilliance 100 against 85 here. For the same level of sparkle with less leakage, DG-Vitruvio Sapphire.

A deep blue in particular needs every point of light it can get, and this pavilion gives more away than most.

DG-Rafaello Sapphire: questions

Is DG-Rafaello good for sapphire?

Less than for diamond: Brilliance 85 against 94, Fire 25 against 80. Its sparkle holds at 96.

DG-Rafaello or DG-M5 for a sapphire?

DG-M5: Brilliance 100 against 85, and 0% leakage against 15%. DG-Rafaello sparkles more (96 against 85).

How much does a 6.5 mm DG-Rafaello sapphire weigh?

1.07 ct, against 0.94 ct in diamond.

Does DG-Rafaello hold its light when a sapphire tips?

Better than the T73 in sapphire, 81 against 75, but well short of its own 97 in diamond. At 85 brilliance we do not count that as a pro.

Get the DG-Rafaello Cut files

6 formatsMillimetresWatertight

DG-Rafaello Cut 3D files

The DG-Rafaello Cut as exact geometry: 145 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

GemCad96 index

DG-Rafaello Cut cutting files

The DG-Rafaello Cut as a faceting design: 121 + 24 girdles = 145 facets, 96 index, 12-fold mirror-image symmetry, ready for the machine.

.ascGemCad design file, 96 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

Sapphire: optical properties and the top ten cuts · The DG-Rafaello: specifications, model and files

DG-Rafaello Sapphire: a five-tier pavilion that sparkles far above the T73