To the untrained eye, most diamonds look alike. "They look white and sparkle - right?" So you ask yourself, " Why should I spend some thousand dollars for this solitaire from you, when The Super Duper allowance solitaire Emporium, just down the road (or over on that other Url), will sell me a "Bigger Diamond" for less than 0.00?" The sass to this tasteless questions lies in the capability of the diamonds that you are comparing.
Diamond price is considered by four factors: the Color of the diamond, the Cut of the diamond, the Clarity of the diamond, and the Caret weight of the diamond. These four factors are commonly referred to by jewelers as the "Four C's."
Diamonds - How To Get The Best Value For Your Engagement Ring
Of these four, the easiest one to understand is Caret Weight. For centuries the tiny seeds of the Carob tree were used to weigh all gemstones because their weight and size were consistent. The word Carat was derived from these seeds. Over time the Carat was standardized on the metric scale. Gemstone weights are expressed in metric carats (ct.) and are weighed to a thousandth (0.001) of a carat and then rounded off to the nearest hundredth (called a point). One carat equals .200 grams (200 milligrams), just over seven thousandths of an ounce. An ounce contains roughly 142 carats. All diamonds are rare and large diamonds are not as tasteless as small diamonds. So one would expect to see the higher value located on the larger diamond. A big solitaire at a low price may sound great, but size alone does not tell the whole story.
Diamonds come in a rainbow of many different colors. These colors comprise colorless, yellow, brown, red, green, blue and black. Some of these colors are extremely rare (red, green, blue) and others are more tasteless (colorless, yellow, brown, black). The darker brown and black colors are the most tasteless and for many years were considered only convenient for commercial uses. In the last few years these darker colors are starting to appear in jewelry. They are sometimes marketed as "champagne" and "black diamonds". Most of the diamonds used in jewelry sold in the United States fall into the colorless to near colorless classification. The colorless solitaire is the most extremely valued, with the value of the solitaire decreasing with addition yellowness. Again, color does not tell the whole story when it comes to quality.
Clarity refers to flaws within the diamond. Diamonds are a product of nature and no two are identical. Some of the types of flaws commonly seen in diamonds comprise bubbles, crystals of other minerals, carbon grains, fractures or "feathers" (very tiny fractures that look like a feather). An internally flawless solitaire is very important and the value of the solitaire decreases with the total estimate and size of the flaws. Again, Clarity alone does not tell the whole story when it comes to solitaire quality.
The Cut of the solitaire does not refer to it's shape, but rather how the angles of the tiny "facets" are cut and polished. The cut of the solitaire is the only one of the four capability factors that is controllable by man and in my thought the most prominent of all the capability factors. One of the primary reasons that population buy diamonds is because of the sparkle. The idea is to trap as much of the light that enters the solitaire as possible, bounce it nearby inside the solitaire from one facet to another, and have as much of the light leave the solitaire directly through the large flat facet on top of the solitaire (the Table). This will make the solitaire sparkle and how well the solitaire sparkles is directly linked to how well it is cut. We want diamonds to sparkle, so the more they sparkle - the more important they are. A poorly cut solitaire will look dull or "dead". solitaire cut is rated as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. For Round brilliant and Princess shaped diamonds there is an further rating of Ideal. Diamonds that have ratings of Very Good or good will have intense brilliance or sparkle. Fair to Poor diamonds will have very dinky sparkle or look like a piece of glass (dead).
All four of these factors work on the value of the diamond. To get the best "Bang for your Buck" start with Cut, then Color, then Clarity and ultimately caret weight. The shape of solitaire that you pick will also work on how big it looks and will also work on the Color and Clarity somewhat. Oval and Marquise shapes look bigger than other solitaire shapes with the same caret weight. Princess shape diamonds will look smaller than other diamonds with the same caret weight. The infer for this is total exterior area of the top of the solitaire versus the diamonds thickness. Oval and Marquise shapes have large top exterior areas and are less thick than other stones. Princess shape diamonds are thicker and have small top exterior areas.
Diamond shapes with corners (Princess, Emerald, Pear, Marquise, Trilliant) can sometimes have yellow flashes in the corners when the Color Grade is on the border line to the next lower color grade. This color shift is most noticed when the solitaire is on the borderline of Near Colorless (J color) and Faint Yellow (K color) on the Gia Color Grade Scale.
Diamond shapes with large table areas, such as Emerald and Oval can also emphasize the Clarity of the stone. Small inclusions may be graphic with these solitaire shapes that would not be graphic with other shapes. This only becomes a factor when the Clarity rating of the solitaire is below Si2.
Diamonds can also be treated in varied ways to improve their clarity and color. Their color can be changed with radiation and varied substances can be injected into the solitaire to fill cracks. An ethical jeweler will disclose any treatments that may have been done to the diamond. treatment to improve the diamonds clarity or color greatly reduces the value of the diamond.
How do you know if you are getting a good deal or being ripped off? Ask for a Gia, Ags or Egl certificate. These certificates are available for diamonds of 0.4ct. And above and are issued by the Gemological construct of America, the American Gem community and the European Gemological Laboratory. These are independent gem testing laboratories and are the solitaire jewelry business accepted standard. When you collate the price of two diamonds all the time make sure that you are comparing equals. If the two certifications are essentially the same, the lowest price is the best deal.
Diamonds - How To Get The Best Value For Your Engagement Ring
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