Buying precious stones especially diamonds is an empowering feeling. These are not just gemstones but a sign that you are doing well monetarily in life and can spend some money on the luxurious things like diamond jewellery. Diamonds are collectibles, investment and adornments, the value of which always appreciates with time.
But while we are spending our hard-earned money on diamonds, it is also important to know how to get the best out of each penny spent. Here, we have put together a basic guide for you to understand the specifications about diamonds that one should know about.
The 4 Cs: The foremost and important things to know about a diamond are it 4 Cs, which stand for: colour, cut, clarity and carat. The Colour of the regular diamonds can vary from light yellow to colourless. The ones with yellowish colour are considered inferior in quality to the ones that are colourless. The Gemological Institute of America or GIA has a standard scale to grade the colour of a diamond. This grading is from D to Z, wherein, D stands for perfectly colourless diamond. Difference in colour is not easy to detect try looking at the diamond with a diamond of same cut and clarity but a lower colour grade.
The next parameter is the Cut of the stone. This is the factor that affects the appearance of the stone the most. Do not confuse the cut with the shape of the diamond. The diamonds that are cut very well glitter the most as every angle and facet of the piece refracts the light that comes in contact with it. The cut of a diamond is graded from excellent to poor, excellent cut diamond refracts all the light it receives from its top and sides. If on a budget, pick excellent to very good cut diamonds with intrusions or a dull colour, as former shall outshine the latter and the diamond shines brilliantly.
Clarity, is the third parameter in the 4 Cs. This attribute of diamond affects the price greatly. The diamonds range from flawless to obvious inclusions. Flawless diamonds are rare and highly priced. In between, the range are diamonds with very very slight or slight inclusions that are not visible to naked eye and need a high-power microscope to establish the inclusion. In smaller diamonds the cut can easily hide the inclusions but in larger pieces the inclusions are evident.
The fourth C is Carat, the term used to denote the weight of the diamond. the weight can also be denoted in quarter, 3/4th of a carat etc. A word of caution, whenever going for a whole carat like 1 or 2 carat diamond check the weight is 1.00 and not 0.89 or 0.91 which is a common practice among retailers. The price of diamond rises drastically with the rise in the carat but also note that a dull, not so well cut and diamond with inclusions can have a higher carat but shall be cheaper than a brilliant diamond with slight inclusions and lower carat weight.
The four Cs if backed by another C can give you an absolute peace of mind about your purchase and that is Certification of the diamond. The online portal diamondbuyingguide.com, has therefore named it the 5th C. A certificate stating the carat, cut, clarity and colour of the diamond. this certification is given by standardised agencies like GIA or AGS. The certifications are given of loose diamonds before setting these as a wearable piece.
We at sparkling stones believe in strong and loyal customer-seller relationship and therefore, emphasise on certified quality diamonds. Our customers are always assured with a valid certificate of their purchase and we cater to individual specifications and budgets. So, contact us for a certified genuine diamond purchase.