The Diamond Buying Guide

Every where you go during your diamond hunt, everyone you talk to will be spewing something about "The 4 C's" of Diamonds. What are the four C's? They are Carat, Color, Clarity and Cut.

Carat, quite simply, describes the weight of the diamond. One carat equals .200 grams (or 200 milligrams). Carat is ussually abbreviated "ct". This is commonly used to define the overall SIZE of the diamond.

Clarity defines the perfection (lack of imperfections) so-to-speak. It categorizes diamonds according to the size and number of imperfections or impruities in the diamonds. "Flawless" diamonds are incredibly rare (and expensive - if you can even find one). So most of us will buy diamonds with varing number and types of imperfections. Diamonds are tyipcally graded in a scale from "Flawless" to "Internally Flawless" to "Very Very Slightly Included" to "Very Slightly Included" to "Slightly Included" to "Included". (I know, really sophisticated, isn't it?)

Color characterizes the diamond's shade using an alpha-scale starting with D as follows:

Colorless (D,E,F colors)
Nearly Colorless (G, H, I, J)
Faint-Yellow (K, L, M)
and so on.

The Cut defines the overall shape of the diamond. Popular shapes are Round, Oval, Pear, Heart, Princess (square), Marquise, Emerald and Radiant (rectangle).

Approximately 75% of diamonds sold today are Round.

Cut describes more than the shape of the stone; it describes prismatic effect of light reflected back through the diamond. The three ways to characterize this effect are Brilliance, Scintillation and Fire.
Brilliance describes amount of light that reflects from the inside of a diamond. It gives a polished diamond its brightness.
Scintillation describes the flashes of light you see when the diamond, the light source, or the observer moves.
Fire describes the different colors you see in a polished diamond; the prismatic effect.

The Cut is graded as either "Excellent", "Very Good", "Good", "Fair" or "Poor",.

With the basics out of the way, here are our suggestions for getting the most for your money:

CARAT is one that is entirely up to you but typical solitaire rings (rings with only the one diamond) will typically fall between 0.5ct and 1.5ct. Remember, that since price is based on rarity, the larger stones will be disproportionately more expensive.

CLARITY is as great place to save money. The top Clarity ratings (Flawless, Internally Flawless, Very Very Slightly Included and Very Slightly Included all mean that you cannot see the imperfections with the naked eye. So, why would you pay more for a higher Clarity if you can't see the difference anyway?

COLOR is a place where you should spend a little extra if you can. If you're buying a diamond, the last thing you want is for it to look yellow. Think twice before you buy anything less than "Nearly Colorless" (G,H,I,J) and do your best to stretch for the best Color grade possible.

CUT , though difficult to quantify, can impact the look of a diamond significantly. It is the hardest "C" to quantify and is most difficult for a novice to judge and value. The only advice here is look at the stone. If the Cut is good, light will reflect back through the stone and give it "fire", "brilliance" and "scintillation".

Final Thoughts
If you have narrowed down the first 3 C's, look at your stone from the top for that 'fire'. If you think it has fire, and it's in your price range, your job here is done.

Congratulations!