Diamond Guide
Your guide to diamond quality and value
The 4Cs of diamonds are the criteria jewellers use when grading diamonds, and they are the one you will need to understand to buy the right diamond for yourself.
Cut
A good cut diamond with its proper proportions brings out more brilliance and more sparkles.
Diamonds can be cut in various shapes (e.g. round, square, heart, etc) the brilliant or round is the most classic and popular.
Color
Most diamonds vary in shades from colorless to yellow, which are ranged from D-Z; D E F = Colorless / G H I = Near Colorless / K L M = Faint yellow / N O P Q R = Very light yellow / S-Z=Light Yellow. Colorless is extremely rare.
Other colors occur also in diamonds such as yellow, orange, pink, blue, etc. The most intense of these shades are determined as “Fancy” colors.
Clarity
All diamonds have identifiable characteristics, but most are invisible to the naked eye. Under a 10X magnifying loupe, diamond clarity is graded into 6 categories.FL = Flawless / IF = Internally Flawless / VVS2 VVS2 = Very Very Small Inclusions / VS1 VS2 = Very Small Inclusions / SI1 SI2 = Small Inclusions / I1 I2 I3 = Inclusions
Carat Weight
The weight or size of diamonds is measured is carats. A carat is 0.2 grams and there are 100 points (or 200 milligrams) per carat.
Reminder
Be aware of numerous imitations of diamonds: cubic zirconia, synthetic moissanite, synthetic rutile, strontium titanate, colorless topaz, colorless sapphire, and many others. Scratching glass is a useless test as many imitations also scratch glass. Consult a professional, independent retail jeweler to insure you are getting the real thing.
If you are making a large investment in a diamond, make sure that you are getting a diamond grading report from a reputable gemological laboratory.
*All images are subjected to GIA.edu website