What Is a Cabochon? A Beginner's Guide to the Polished Stone

If you've shopped for gemstone jewelry, you've almost certainly seen a cabochon — even if you didn't know the name. A cabochon (often just called a "cab") is a stone that's been shaped and polished into a smooth, rounded dome, typically flat or slightly convex on the back, rather than cut with the flat, angular faces of a faceted gem.

The cabochon cut is one of the oldest lapidary techniques in the world, predating faceting by thousands of years, and it remains the standard cut for opaque and semi-translucent stones — material like turquoise, labradorite, malachite, and kyanite that doesn't have the clarity to show off faceted sparkle, but does show off color, pattern, or optical effects like flash and banding beautifully in a smooth dome. Faceting works best on transparent stones that bend and reflect light internally; cabochons work best on stones where the beauty is on or near the surface.

Cabochons are calibrated (cut to standard sizes like 6mm or 8mm round) or freeform, and they're one of the most beginner-friendly ways to start setting your own jewelry — calibrated cabochons fit standard bezel and prong settings without custom work. Across our shop you'll find cabochons cut from blue kyanite, labradorite, nuummite, carnelian, and opal, each showing off that particular stone's character in dome form.

Browse our cabochon selection to find a stone and shape suited to your next project.