Understand how these four things make a diamond remarkable before buying one
If you made the decision to buy that special someone a diamond as a gift, that was the easy part. The next thing you must decide is which one to buy and before you do that you will have to understand how diamonds are assessed so that you can make the best decision.
Every diamond is unique. That's what makes them special, and it's what gives them their value. But every diamond is evaluated the same way to determine its value. The method using the four c's of diamond quality — carat, cut, color, and clarity — is a uniform process accepted as the standard for evaluating a diamond. Some people are accustomed to grading diamonds on carat weight alone, but there's more to its value than carat size. Many people find beauty in the shape of a diamond, but it's not enough to use a diamond cut grading to determine value.
Before you invest in the perfect diamond for that special occasion, let's consider what those four c's mean when evaluating a diamond and how they affect the quality of the one you choose.
Calculating Carat
A diamond's carat relates to its weight or size. The carat measurement is very precise, broken up into 100 points to allow for identifying exact size. Diamonds that weigh less than one carat are described precisely by the total of points within 100, such as .25, or a quarter of a carat. Diamonds that weigh more than a carat are described as 1.10, or one carat and .10 of a carat. The larger the carat size, typically the greater the value of the diamond because larger is rarer, and therefore more valuable. But two carats of equal size can vary greatly in value, based on other factors considered when evaluating a diamond, like cut and clarity.
Capturing Cut
A common mistake people make about diamonds is thinking about the cut as the shape, like round, oval, marquis, or pearl. But cut actually refers to the diamond's ability to interact with light. The diamond's cut reflects its perfect proportion, expert craftsmanship, precise symmetry, and pristine polish, or perhaps its lack of these things. While this is perhaps the most subjective assessment used to evaluate the diamond, the best cut provides the most value because it is more precise and symmetrical. That helps to create the best interaction with light, the brightest white, and the greatest sparkle in a diamond.
Considering Color
Perhaps it sounds counterintuitive, but the best diamonds really have no color. They are pure, with no hints of any shade. It's not easy to see a diamond's color with the untrained eye, but some can actually have a bit of yellowish tint in them, degrading their value. But you'd have to look very closely to see that, and you'd probably have to be a fairly well-trained expert to detect it. There are four degrees of colorlessness considered when evaluating a diamond. That's why it's so important to have an expert's opinion of the diamond completed to assess whether that amazingly bright gem you are looking at is actually a bit more colorful deep down. This is one factor where many consumers will sacrifice some quality if it allows for a larger carat weight or greater clarity because the color is so difficult to detect.
Comparing Clarity
The nature of how diamonds are created, carbon crafted from the chaos of heat and pressure, can also lead to imperfections in the gem. These are called inclusions and blemishes. A diamond's clarity represents the number of these imperfections and how they affect the gem's overall appearance. No diamond is free of these often nearly undetectable inclusions and blemishes, but the greater value goes to those with fewer and of least impact to its appearance. The measure of clarity spans six categories from flawless, where nothing is detected under 10 times magnification, to included, with inclusions detected that affect the diamond's transparency and brilliance.