Cabochon Sapphires, An Introduction

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The cabochon is one of the oldest gemstone cuts. ​The incredible handmade jewelry from ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt often featured cabochon cut stones. Cabochons have a rounded top and a flat, rounded, or semi-faceted bottom. The top of a cabochon can be a smooth dome or a pyramid shape called a sugarloaf. The cabochon cut is often used to display a gemstone's color and size. It's also the only cut that can display asterism. Asterism is a special optical phenomena where a star pattern is formed by minute mineral inclusions within a gemstone. Star sapphires and ​star ​rubies are both examples of cabochon cut stones with asterism.