Crown
The upper section of a cut diamond, from the top edge of the girdle up to the flat table facet.
The crown is everything you see above the girdle when a diamond is set and viewed face up. It bundles the flat table together with the sloping bezel, star and upper girdle facets, and the angle at which those facets sit decides how much light bends and splits into colour. Cutters treat the crown and the pavilion below it as a matched pair, because getting one right at the expense of the other flattens the whole stone.
What the crown is made of
A round brilliant crown carries 33 facets in all: the single large table on top, eight kite shaped bezel facets, eight triangular star facets nestled against the table, and sixteen upper girdle facets running down to the girdle edge. Each group has a job. The table lets light in and out, the bezel facets act as the main reflectors, and the smaller stars and upper girdle facets break light into finer flashes.
Crown height is usually stated as a percentage of the diamond's average girdle diameter, and crown angle is the tilt of the bezel facets against the girdle plane. On a well cut round these land close to a 34.5 degree crown angle and a crown height near 15 percent, though there is a workable range rather than one magic number.
How the crown creates fire
Light entering the table strikes the pavilion, bounces back up, and exits through the crown facets. As it leaves, the crown facets act like small prisms and spread white light into spectral colour, which is the fire you see. A steeper crown angle tends to lift fire, while a shallower crown leans toward broad white brilliance. Cutters balance the two against the pavilion depth to keep the stone bright without going dark or glassy.
Because crown angle and height feed directly into light performance, GIA assesses them when it assigns an overall cut grade to a round brilliant. A crown that is too tall wastes weight and can look sleepy, while one that is too shallow gives up fire, so the grade rewards proportions that work with the rest of the stone.
- Table: the large flat facet that admits and releases light
- Bezel facets: eight main crown reflectors set at the crown angle
- Star facets: eight small triangles that refine the sparkle
- Upper girdle facets: sixteen facets running down to the girdle
- The crown is the top of a diamond, from the girdle up to the table.
- It holds 33 facets on a round brilliant, including the table.
- Crown angle and height are graded as part of overall cut.
- Steeper crowns favour fire, shallower crowns favour white brilliance.
Crown, in short.
What is a good crown angle for a round diamond?
For a round brilliant, a crown angle near 34 to 35 degrees paired with a matching pavilion angle around 40.6 to 41 degrees gives strong light return. Values well outside that range often push the stone toward dull or overly dark.
Is the crown the same as the table?
No. The table is the single flat facet on top. The crown is the whole upper section that includes the table plus the surrounding bezel, star and upper girdle facets down to the girdle.
Does a taller crown mean a better diamond?
Not on its own. A taller crown can add fire but also hides weight in height rather than face up spread, and if it is too tall the stone can look small for its carat and lose brightness.
Related terms
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