---
title: "Bow-tie: meaning in gemology"
description: "A bow-tie is a dark band across the belly of an oval, pear, marquise or other elongated stone. It is not an inclusion or a color: the facets there send…"
url: https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/bow-tie
image: https://digitalgemology.com/img/og-digital-gemology.png?v=d224fb01
---

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[Glossary](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary) · Cuts and shapes

# Bow-tie

Also called bow-tie effect

A bow-tie is a dark band across the belly of an oval, pear, marquise or other elongated stone. It is not an inclusion or a color: the facets there send little light back to the viewer.

## In more detail

GIA's guides call it a reflection of the viewer's head and shoulders. They add that the shape and facet pattern play a part. In DG's ray trace of a diamond, belly facets over about 51.9° let head-on light leak out through the back. That leakage makes a dark band too, and the room light decides how dark either kind looks.

## On a grading report

A GIA report gives fancy shapes no cut grade and says nothing about a bow-tie. IGI's optional fancy-shape cut grade checks for bow-ties, and the AGS Ideal Report's ASET map covers some ovals.

## Related terms

- [Belly](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/belly): The belly is the wide middle of an elongated stone such as an oval, pear or marquise.
- [Fancy shape](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/fancy-shape): A fancy shape is any diamond outline other than round, such as oval, pear, marquise, cushion, princess or emerald.
- [Length-to-width ratio](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/length-to-width-ratio): The length-to-width ratio of a fancy shape is its length divided by its width, both taken from the measurements.
- [ASET map](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/aset-map): An ASET map is a four-color picture that shows from which directions a stone's face-up light comes. It can be part of the AGS Ideal Report by GIA.
- [Leakage](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/leakage): Leakage is light that enters a stone and leaves where the viewer cannot see it, mostly through the pavilion. Lower leakage is better.
- [Contrast (Light Return)](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary/contrast): Contrast is the part of a face-up stone whose light comes from 75° or higher above the girdle plane. This zone lies within 15° of the line of sight, where the viewer's head is.

## Learn more

- [The bow-tie effect in diamonds: what it is](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/bow-tie-effect-in-diamonds)
- [What causes a bow-tie? Four explanations, tested](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/what-causes-a-bow-tie)
- [Bow-tie in the stone, sometimes on your finger: tilt and head shadow](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/bow-tie-tilt-and-head-shadow)
- [Fixing a bow-tie: the steep belly of DG-Bowtie](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/how-to-fix-a-bow-tie)
- [Bow-ties and grading reports: what the numbers can't tell you](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/bow-tie-and-the-grading-report)
- [How to check a stone for a bow-tie: a bench routine](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie/how-to-check-a-diamond-for-a-bow-tie)
- [The bow-tie effect](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/bow-tie)

[All 328 terms](https://digitalgemology.com/learn/glossary)