Buying Diamonds: Making Your Money Go Futher
You’re all prepared to purchase a diamond for whatever purposes, when you realize, you simply don’t know anything about diamonds in general? Is a color diamond better than a clear diamond? What’s better, larger diamond of lower quality or vice-versa? How does the cut affect the stone? What is more popular, a solitaire diamond, or perhaps a cluster of stones? If you know the answers to these questions, then you are likely prepared to go purchase a new diamond today. For the rest of us however, buying a diamond is obviously important yet maddeningly confusing. Here are some common questions that untrained diamond consumers will likely have when searching the market for the perfect diamond.
How does a person who has never purchased a diamond go about getting going?
First and foremost, when purchasing a diamond, it is essential that you take the time to learn the most important characteristics that signify a high-quality diamond. These factors are known as the “Four C’s” and they consist of; Cut, Color, Carat and Clarity. Knowing what to look for when inspecting each of these areas of importance will offer you significant assistance in identify the good diamonds (clear & flawless) versus the bad diamonds (inclusions & blemishes). Never rush into purchasing the first diamond you find. It is important you shop around and do some comparisons before committing to such an important purchase.
Is one of the “Four C’s” more important than the others?
While it could easily be argued each of the four C’s carry their own importance and are essential pieces of what makes a diamond the best it can be. With that said, most experts would agree that if you could only choose one of the four C’s, then focus on the cut of the diamond. Cut is the essential aspect of a diamond which directly affects it’s beauty and cost, not to mention the cut can also affect the durability of a diamond. The two most commonly used words to describe a high-end diamond, is sparkle and brilliance. Not surprisingly, the cut of the diamond heavily determines the sparkle and brilliance because when a diamond is cut, the way light travels through the diamond and how much is reflected back to the eye as well as how much “slips” out the back. Furthermore, here are some more identifying factors of a good and bad cut of a diamond.
- A diamond exposed to a bad cut will likely become far more likely to breaking and/or cracking
- A bad cut to a diamond can quite literally cut the value of the diamond in half
- Diamonds exposed to bad cuts, can be too thin to sparkle and will appear dull and lifeless
There is a major misconception that clarity is the indicating factor of a brilliant sparkling diamond, when in reality, the more accurate cause of sparkle and brilliance is the cut of the diamond.
I was told that the most important aspect of a diamond is clarity. Am I being given false information?
It would seem obvious that if a diamond sparkles then it must be “clear” and as such the sparkle must be a result of the clarity of the diamond. It seems relatively straight forward that this would be true, but in fact the sparkle of a diamond and clarity of a diamond simply do not have a correlation with one another. When clarity is referenced regarding a diamond, they are referring to the existence of microscopic features that came about around the time the diamond itself crystalized. Poor clarity does have a major impact on the overall value of the diamond, however, when it comes to the overall beauty of the diamond, clarity has little to do with it.
I heard that by simply getting the right diamond shape and a creative design, my engagement ring can be made to look bigger. True or False?
The answer to this question is, thankfully for many, true! If your intention is to design a diamond engagement ring that maybe looks bigger and therefore more expensive than it really is, there are certain characteristics you will want the ring to entail. First, the shape of the diamond you purchase should unfortunately be something other than round. Unfortunately, the vast majority of engagement rings are usually, round brilliant-cut diamonds. An alternative to the round shape can other shapes like pear, oval or marquise, all of which tend to appear larger than the diamonds that are round shaped.
In terms of using innovative and stylish designs, when you combine them with a diamond shape that isn’t round, it doesn’t take as many carats to design a ring that looks more lavish and luxurious that it may actually be.
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