Understanding The Four C's of Diamonds
For many people, purchasing a diamond can be a bewildering experience. To the untrained eyes of many, it can be nearly impossible to distinguish the difference between a “good” or “bad” diamond. By not knowing what you are looking for, you run the risk of overpaying or being scammed into purchasing a fake diamond, or one which doesn’t contain the characteristics that make the diamond worth its purchase price. For those who are unsure what to look for when planning on purchasing a diamond, fear not, there is are a group of well-known identifiable characteristics that will assist you in the process of your search for the perfect diamond.
A diamond gets its “grades” from the diamond industry based upon the “four c’s” of diamonds, which are widely considered the most essential characteristics of diamonds. The four c’s are; Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat weight. By understanding the criteria in which jewelers use to judge the quality of a diamond, you will be putting yourself in a position of strength when you purchase the diamond, because you are well-versed on what to look for and won’t be taken advantage of by a crooked jeweler looking to make a quick buck off of an unsuspecting customer.
“The Four C’s”
Cut: Diamond cut is quite possible the most important defining characteristic of a diamond, so it is essential that you understand how the cut of a diamond affects the properties and overall value of said diamond. A high quality cut will create a diamond which is bright and brilliant, seemingly giving you a glimpse into the very heart of the diamond. Ultimately, it is the finish and the angles in which the diamond has been cut that will ultimately lead to a brilliant, gleaming diamond. To the untrained eye, and because the value of the cut is so high, methods to grade these diamonds have been crafted over the years to allow consumers to determine the “grade” of the cut. Generally speaking, these are the grades for cut:
- Ideal
- Premium
- Very Good
- Good
- Fair & Poor
Clarity: Most, if not all diamonds contain a flaw of some sort, also known as blemishes or inclusions, that can at times become a result of the formation process. It is the visibility, as well as the size of and number of the inclusions or blemishes that ultimately determine the clarity of a diamond. Obviously, the clearer the diamond is, the more it shines and sparkles, the higher the demand for it and the higher the price of purchase it will carry with it. The two types of flaws that should be looked for before purchasing a diamond, inclusions and blemishes, both carry different tell-tale signs. Inclusions, refer the internal flaws of the diamond while the blemishes will occur on the exterior. Some examples of inclusions are; air bubbles, non-diamond minerals and/or cracks. Examples of blemishes would be; scratches, puts and chips. Ultimately, the diamonds which contain little to no inclusions or blemishes are obvious far more highly valued due to their exceptional clarity. Like the other aspects of diamonds, there is a grading system for the clarity of a diamond as well:
- F – Flawless: no internal flaws. Extremely rare
- IF – Internally flawless; no internal flaws, but some surface flaws, Very rare
- VVS1 – VVS2 - Very Very Slightly Included (two grades). Minute inclusions which are very difficult to detect under 10x magnification by gemologist
- VS1 – VS2 – Very Slightly Included (two grades). Minute inclusions seen only with difficult under 10x magnification
- SI1 – SI2 – Slightly Included (two grades). Minute inclusions more easily detected under 10x magnification
- I1 – I2 – I3 - Included (three grades). Inclusions visible under 10x magnification as well as to the human eye. It is rarely recommended that you purchase diamonds with this clarity grade
Color: It can be odd to think of a “color” of a diamond, when you hear so much about the importance of it being clear so that light can shine through and refract off of the diamond’s interior. So why is color one of the almighty important “four c’s”? Well, when speaking of color in a diamond, generally they are referring to the presence or absence of color in white diamonds. Color is thought to be the end result of the composition of the diamond, which will not change whatsoever over time. Much like a clean window lets light into your home, so too does a colorless diamond allow the light into itself. The result of the light passing through the diamond is a greater sparkle and gleam, than you would receive if the diamond was colored. The whiter (clearer) a diamond is the greater its overall value will be. Because of the formation process that diamonds go through, there are generally only a few rare diamonds that can be truly considered colorless. Like everything else in a diamond, the color of a diamond also utilizes a “grading scale” to identify just how colorless a diamond may be. With a high rating of “D” and low rating of “Z” here is a graph to give you a better idea of what a diamond color scale looks like:
Carat: One of the most well-known aspects of diamonds, yet also the most misunderstood aspect, is the amount of carats in a diamond. We all know that the more carats the bigger the diamond, the more expensive it is. What most people don’t know is that, the word “carat” was originally taken from the carob seeds the people at one time utilized to balance scales. These seeds were/are so uniform in shape and weight that even today’s advanced technologies are unable to detect more than three one-thousandths of a difference between them! With that said, a carat is a unit of measurement, utilized to measure the weight of a diamond. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams or .2 grams. The process that occurs to form diamonds generally only happens in some of the rarest of circumstances. As a result, because larger diamonds are uncovered far less often, these large diamonds have a greater value per carat. For this reason, and this reason alone, the price of a diamond rises exponentially to its size.
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