Before you set out on your diamond shopping trip, it helps to know the 4C’s beforehand. Think of the 4C’s – Cut, Colour, Clarity, and Carat – as a guideline to help you buy the right diamond. There is no right or wrong answer; what is important is picking the right diamond that you and your partner will love to have on your rings.
The cut refers to the quality of the diamond’s overall appearance in polish, proportions, and symmetry. A gemstone’s cut is considered the most significant aspect of the 4C’s as it influences how it looks and how brilliant it is in light.
Diamonds follow a simple grading system based on the overall cut: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor. While the Cut’s grading mainly applies only to round-cut diamonds, you can use this grading system to pick the right diamond. It is also important to note that the cut can significantly affect the diamond’s final price, even at higher carat weights; the right proportions can make all the difference in the appearance of the diamond.
While it might be odd to think of diamonds as having colour, coloured diamonds are the rarest and most expensive on the market. Diamonds come in numerous shades, and their colour scale reflects this. For clear diamonds, the colour scale goes from D to Z, with D being colourless and Z having a light yellow hue; the standard diamond typically falls between D and J.
It might interest you to know that the shape of the diamond can influence its colour. Round diamonds are the best at hiding a diamond’s colour, making it appear colourless to the naked eye. Conversely, longer shapes reveal colour much more quickly.
Not every diamond is flawless. Natural imperfections, called inclusions, may sometimes be found in a stone. Clarity pertains to the number of inclusions in a diamond, their size, and how easily you can spot them. In most cases, however, you will hardly notice any inclusions when you examine a diamond with the naked eye.
Carat is the measurement unit used for diamonds, where one carat equals 0.2 grams (200 milligrams). The higher the carat weight, the more expensive it gets. Even so, no two diamonds are the same, and you may find two diamonds of similar carat weight and the same colour, cut, and clarity will have vastly different shapes and sizes. If you are lucky, it is possible to find a diamond that weighs 2 carats but looks just like a 2.2-carat weight diamond as the depth of the diamond might differ significantly between them.
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