Education

Understanding Diamonds

Understanding Diamonds

In order to get a beautiful, brilliant diamond at a price you can afford, we have to look at 4 characteristics.

Diamond cut can easily be confused with “shape” 
(Round, Princess, Oval etc. ) 

A diamond's cut grade refers to how well its facets interact with light. Brilliance & scintillation are what Cut is all about!

A well cut diamond has more life & sparkles more than one of lesser quality cut & simply looks better.

Cutting away more rough to get a perfect cut grade makes a well cut diamond a bit more expensive but the difference is a visibly superior Gem.

DIAMOND CUT

DIAMOND COLOR

Diamond color is graded from D, which is completely colorless, to Z which has more a visible yellow to brown body color. Although colorless diamonds are rarer and more expensive, the best color is truly in the eye of the beholder. Choose the color, or lack of color, you find most appealing and the best value.

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         Colorless          Near Colorless     Faint Yellow    Very Light Yellow    Light Yellow

             DEF                     G H I J                    K L M            N O P Q R                      S - Z

Fancy color diamonds have a completely different color grading system and are rarer and often much more expensive. Fancy color can vary from distinct yellow to browns, pink, blue and many other unique and rare one of a kind colors.

DIAMOND CLARITY

Diamonds tiny internal markings are called inclusions & are graded under 10 power magnification. When not visible to the naked eye, inclusions have little effect on the visual beauty and brilliance, however they dramatically affect the price.

Small Heading

    Flawless

         FL

No inclusions visible (by an expert) under 10x magnification.

Very, Very Slight Inclusions

VVS1-VVS2

Minute inclusions; extremely difficult to find under 10x magnification.

Very Slight Inclusions

VS1-VS2

Minor inclusions; difficult to find under 10x magnification

       Slight          Inclusions

     SI1-SI2

Noticeable inclusions; Relatively easy to find under 10x magnification

    Included 

       I1-I3

Obvious inclusions under 10x magnification. Easily visible to the naked eye

DIAMOND CARAT WEIGHT

Points and Carats are units of measurement used to express the actual weight of a diamond. There are 100 points in a carat, 5 carats in a gram and 28.35 grams in an ounce. This weight is measured by a very sensitive scale called a carat scale, which shows the weight in carats and points. 

The easy way to remember points in a carat is they are the same as pennies in a dollar. 50 points is a 1/2 carat, just like 50 cents is a half dollar.