Diamonds, The Girl's Best Friend

The weight of diamonds is measured in Carat. One carat equals 200 milligrams. The word Carat comes from the word carob, a bean that grows in the region around the Mediterranean Sea. In old times, if a diamond weighed the same as a carob bean, it was one carob, or one carat.

Sometimes the weight of a diamond is adverted to as four grains, which signifies as well that this is a one carat diamond. This is because in the far east, where Carob trees do not grow, the weight of diamonds was measured with the help of rice. A diamond with the weight of four grains of rice was reffered to as four grains, or one carat as we know it to be now. However, most of the purchased diamonds purchases are 1/3 of a carat.

Bear in mind when buying diamonds that are already set or mounted. If several diamonds are used, the tag on the jewellery will indicate the CTW or Carat Total Weight and it does not separate the carat weight of each diamond in the piece. You will have to ask the jewelry maker for the carat weight of the largest diamond in the piece. Just this way you can really interpret what you are buying.

D, E and F on the color grading scale mean that the diamond has no color at all, while G, H, and I mean that it has very little color. J, K, and L signifies that the diamond has a slight yellow color and P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, and X says that the diamond is a darker shade of yellow. Z refers to a diamond that has a fancy color - different than white or yellow. D ist the most valuable color on the color grading scale, while X is the least valuable. Anyway, diamonds that get a Z rating are the rarest and thus most expensive diamonds in the world.

It is significant to acknowledge how to grade the clarity of a diamond before you buy one. Clarity is an substantial aspect of a diamond. But don't worry, learning how to grade the clarity of a diamond is actually rather easy. Basically there are just two things to understand: Those diamonds with optical inclusions and defects, and those that are 'eye clean' signifying that there are no inclusions or defects that can be seen with the unaided eye. The clarity is than more broken down into various subcategories..

Oftentimes people think that diamond clarity signifies how clear the diamond is. But it isn't this way. Actually clarity just stands for the internal and external imperfections of the diamond. Of course, while the best diamonds get a grade of FL or IF, which means Flawless or Internally Flawless, standing for being perfect, a grade of I-1, I-2 or I-3 signifies that the diamond is imperfect, with a grade of I-3 being the worst.

Additional grades are VVS1 and VVS2. It means that the diamond is very, very slightly imperfect. VS1 and VS2 signifies the diamond is very slightly imperfect and SI-1 and SI-2 indicates that the diamond is slightly imperfect.

Unless you are in the diamond business, the cut of a diamond basically signifies the shape that the diamond is cut into. Nevertheless, this shape has an eminent influence on how much the diamond sparkles. There are a lot of different cuts you can choose from.

Within the most popular cuts you will find the heart, marquise, emerald, trillion, oval, round, pear and princess cuts. As the shape has a big influence on how much the diamond sparkles, the same is to say for the genuine cutting itself. The cutting of the diamond into a special shape by the diamond cutter matters a good deal as well. A poorly cut diamond will miss its sparkle.

In the diamond industry the cut of a diamond does not signify its shape at all. It is an acknowledgment of the stone's depth, width, durability, brilliance and some other aspects. The most common problems when cutting diamonds are misalignment, off center or missing culet, a diamond that is too thick or thin, cracks or broken culets. The culet is the flat face on the bottom of every gemstone.

However, when choosing a diamond, you should go for the shape you like the most. Just look at various diamonds of that shape and compare to find the best one. The diamond with the best cut and the one that sparkles the most in every type of light.

When you are seeing all these diamonds in a jewelry store it is quite difficult to understand that diamonds are really rare and most people don't even think about how that diamond came to be sitting in this luxury jeweler's case. But there is quite a lot of work to be done, before a diamond is ready to sell.

Until a one carat diamond will be found, one million diamonds must be mined and for a two carat diamond it takes already 5 million diamonds. It needs to mine more than two hundred tons of ore to find just one small diamond.And even than 80% of the mined diamonds ar just fine for industrial use like diamond drill bits.

Next time you enter a jewelry store, ask the jeweler to show you the one carat diamonds and when you look at it you will appreciate that it is truly one in a million.