Asscher vs Emerald Cut Diamonds: Which Should You Choose?

Both shapes are step cuts: long, straight facets set in rows around a large, flat table. Instead of sparkle, they give broad, mirror-like flashes of light, often called a hall-of-mirrors effect. An emerald cut is a rectangle with cropped corners. An Asscher is a square with larger cropped corners, which give it an almost eight-sided outline, and its rows of facets look like squares set one inside another.

The emerald cut reads as long and elegant; the Asscher as compact, symmetrical and Art Deco.

The emerald cut, a little. In our search a typical 1 carat emerald cut measures about 6.9 by 4.8 mm face-up, against about 5.5 by 5.5 mm for a 1 carat Asscher. At 2 carats it is about 8.6 by 6.0 mm against 7.0 by 6.9 mm. The emerald cut spreads its weight along the finger and makes the hand look slimmer; the Asscher keeps it in a compact square.

Our guide Understanding Diamond Size Before You Buy explains face-up size.

• Clarity. Like an emerald cut, an Asscher's open step facets show inclusions more easily than a brilliant, so VS clarity or higher is a common choice. Choose a stone that looks clean in its video.
• A true square. Look for a ratio of about 1.00 to 1.05; the typical 1 carat Asscher in our search is about 1.01.
• Corners. A prong or bezel at each cropped corner keeps them safe.

Compare stones in our Asscher diamond search, or read our clarity guide.

Both shapes are held at their cropped corners, by a claw at each corner or a bezel, a thin rim of metal around the stone. Our Astra turns an Asscher on its point, held by four prongs at its corners, on a split-shank band whose rails open around the stone. For an emerald cut, Verona is a solitaire in four corner claws, Victoria a three stone ring with tapered baguettes, Odessa a bezel, Lyra adds small bezel-set diamonds along the band, and Elowen turns the stone east-west, across the finger.

Read Engagement Ring Setting Types for every setting style.