Melee are small diamonds, either single cut or full cut, that weigh less than one fifth of a carat.
In more detail
A single cut has 17 or 18 facets, and a full cut is a round brilliant with 57 or 58. Jewelers set melee close together in pavé, or around a center stone in a halo. Melee come in large parcels, sorted by color and clarity, so grading each stone is not practical. Total carat weight gives the combined weight of all the diamonds in a piece.
Related terms
- Old single cut: The old single cut, or eight cut, has 8 facets above the girdle and 18 in all. They are a table, 8 crown facets, 8 pavilion facets and a culet.
- Round brilliant: A round brilliant is a round diamond with the brilliant facet plan. It has 33 crown and 24 pavilion facets: 57 in all, or 58 with a culet.
- Carat weight: Carat weight is the weight of a gemstone. One carat is 200 milligrams, a fifth of a gram, and it has 100 points.
- Facet count: The facet count is the number of facets on a cut. On our cut pages, it is the number of planar faces of the cut's STEP solid.