If you want to know everything about diamonds – we are here for you
The famous 4 C’s: Carat, Color, Clarity & Cut – The diamond language.
Carat is the weight of the diamond, not the size. Depending on quality, large diamonds are rarer and more valuable than smaller ones, e.g.: a 1 carat diamond weighs the same as four 0.25 carat diamonds, but because a large diamond is much rarer, the 1 carat diamond would be worth many times more than the sum of the value of the 4 0.25 carat diamonds.
It is also important to remember that diamonds of equal carat weight can vary greatly in value because they differ in the quality of their cut, color, and clarity.
Color refers to the natural tint inherent in white diamonds. In nature, most white diamonds have a slight tint of yellow. The closer to being “colorless” a diamond is, the rarer it is. The industry standard for grading color is to evaluate each stone against a master set and assign a letter grade from “D” (colorless) to “Z” (light yellow).
Diamond Color Chart:
D,E,F = Colorless
G,H,I,J = Near Colorless
K,L,M = Faint
N,O,P,Q,R = Very Light
S,T,U,V,W,X,Y,Z = Light
Clarity means, how pure the diamond is. As diamonds are formed over millions of years deep within the earth’s surface, they are exposed to tremendous heat and pressure, which usually produces slight internal inclusions and external blemishes in the stone. Most of these internal imperfections are so small that they can not be seen by the naked eye. A diamond without any infections is graded as “Flawless” (FL) or “Internally Flawless” (IF), and are the most rare, treasured and valuable diamonds.
Diamond Clarity Chart:
FL = Flawless
IF = Internal Flawless
VVS1, VVS2 = Very, Very Slightly Included
VS1, VS2 = Very Slightly Included
SI1, SI2 = Slightly Included
I1, I2, I3 = Imperfect
Cut is what gives a diamond its ability to reflect light and sparkle intensely. It’s the only one of the 4 C’s that is affected by human hands.
Cut refers to how a diamond’s facets interact with light and is determined by “Symmetry”: How precisely the various facets of a diamond align and intersect, “Precision of cut”: How the size and angles relate to the different parts of the stone, and “Polish”: The details and placement of the facet shapes as well as the outside finish of the diamond.
Diamond Clarity Chart:
E = Excellent
VG = Very good
G = Good
F = Fair
Colored diamonds are far rarer than diamonds in the D-Z color range. They come in all different shades, they can be graded: faint, very light, light, fancy light, fancy, fancy dark, fancy intense, fancy deep and fancy vivid.
The more intense the color of the diamond, the higher the price can be. Only one out of 10,000 carats of fashioned diamonds displays fancy color, and a diamond’s chances of displaying intense color are even less than one in 25,000.
