What in the world is a Las Vegas diamond?

A regular old round-cut has 58 facets. The Las Vegas cut boasts 111 … and it’s only for sale in the Valley.

By Sarah Feldberg (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2012 | 6:33 p.m.

It takes about a month for a factory in India to produce a standard, round, brilliant-cut diamond, start to finish. And that’s good time.

“About 90 to 91 percent of all diamonds are polished in India,” Margaret De Young says. “Certain things are machine cut, because you can. I don’t say that’s bad, because why wouldn’t you do it? But diamonds, like people and everything else, sometimes are unique and might require extra care.”

Extra care is exactly what it takes to polish the stones that have 20-year diamond industry vet De Young all excited. In December, the Las Vegas Cut diamond debuted at MJ Christensen in Henderson and Summerlin, created by Kimberlight, where De Young is senior advisor.

Unlike a regular round-cut diamond, which has 58 facets, the Las Vegas cut boasts a whopping 111 facets, making the polisher’s job “a bajillion” times harder and the bling that much more dazzling.

“That’s our bauble,” says De Young. “It’s sincerely magnificent. When you’re sitting across from someone and that stone is lighting up the room, yeah, you feel different.”