Buying a Diamond - The 4 "C's"

Selecting a fine diamond is easy if you use the four "C's" as your guideline: Cut, Color, Clarity & Carat. Remember that when chosing a diamond, bigger is not always better.

Cut

No two diamonds are alike - they are as unique as a finger print. The diamond's uniqueness and value are determined by the cut of the stone.

Whether you chose a round, marquise, oval, pear, heart or emerald shape for your diamond, the cut of the diamond is what allows it to make the best use of light.

If the cut is too deep, some light escapes through the opposite side of the pavilion. If the cut is too shallow, light escapes through the pavilion before it can be reflected.

When cut to good proportions your diamond is able to handle the refraction of light better, creating more brilliance and sparkle.

Color

Diamonds are found with a wide range of color: from faint yellow or brown to the very rare pinks, blues, greens and others known as "fancies." While these different colored diamonds are nice, the perfect color for a diamond is no color at all.

The color grade for a diamond works as follows - the less yellow within the diamond, the higher on the alphabetical scale the diamond will be graded:

• Colorless Diamonds are D-F.
• Near colorless are G-J.
• Faint yellow are K-M.
• Very light yellow are N-R.
• And S-Z are light yellow.

Clarity

The clarity of a diamond is determined by viewing the diamond with 10 power magnification. Most diamonds contain small flaws or inclusions. The fewer and smaller the inclusions are, the less likely they will interfere with the passage of light through the diamond. Additionally, the fewer inclusions and surface blemishes that a diamond has, the more rare and valuable it becomes.

There are several grading scales used for diamonds, but in general, those diamonds with extremely small inclusions are referred to as VVS1 and VVS2 diamonds. VS1 and VS2 diamonds possess small inclusions, SI1 and SI2 have inclusions that can be seen easily under 10 power magnification, but are not usually visible to the naked eye. If the inclusion is visible to the naked eye it is referred to as I1, I2 or I3.

Carat

The weight of a diamond is determined using a universal unit of measure called a "Carat." A carat can be subdivided into smaller unites called "points." One carat is equal to 100 points, so a diamond of 75 points is equal to 0.75 carats.

Carat weight is the easiats of the four "C's" to remember. But two diamonds of equal weight can have unequal value, depending on their cut, color and clarity.