When shopping for diamonds, there are four “C’s” that you should take into account, and all of these things will affect the overall price of the diamond.
| Carat | Clarity | Colour | Cut |
Carat
The carat of a diamond is probably the thing that you are most aware of and have heard the most about, but do you know what it actually means?
Carat is the unit of weight measurement for gemstones. One carat = 1/5 gram, and a carat is then divided into 100 points to accurately measure to the hundredth decimal place. For example, 25 points = 1/4 carat. So, the larger the carat, the larger the diamond. Most engagement rings are 1-2 carats.
Clarity
The clarity of a diamond refers to the degree at which it is free from naturally occurring inclusions. These refer to an internal crack in the diamond, or other factors caused by the conditions under which the diamond was formed. The type of inclusion, colour, size, position and number can affect the value of the diamond. Generally inclusions in diamonds are not visible to the naked eye, and most diamonds will have inclusions unless they are super expensive!
Colour
The majority of diamonds do appear white, but actually show hints of colour if you look very closely (generally this is very hard to see with the naked eye). The more “colourless” a diamond is, generally the more expensive it is, however this does also work in reverse as extra yellow diamonds are very rare and therefore can be very expensive also.
Diamonds also come in pink, green, grey, violet, blue, orange, chameleon, purple, fancy white, fancy black and champagne.
Cut
The cut of a diamond is the only characteristic that can be influenced by humans. A diamond that is cut well will have all the facets in proportion and light will reflect through, and if it is cut poorly it can decrease the value of the diamond.
There are 12 shapes in which a diamond is generally cut into; round, pear, emerald, radiant, marquise, heart, baguette, oval, asscher, lozenge cushion and princess. The trends in diamond shapes does tend to change over time, for example in 2018, pear shape diamonds had a big moment!
Most small diamonds are cut in Surat in India, and many people travel directly to Surat in order to get larger pieces of diamond cut since they do such a great job.
We hope that this has answered all your diamond questions, but do leave us a comment if there are any other queries that you have!