Understand the quality of a diamond before you buy one.
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Do you love diamonds from afar but want to get to know them better? If you’re in the market for a diamond accessory, you may be overwhelmed by the buying process because you’re unsure what to look for.
Now that you’ve made it to this blog, you won’t need to look further. Scroll down for everything you need to know to find the perfect diamond out there waiting for you!
The 4Cs are four important factors to remember when looking for and purchasing a diamond. They were developed in the 1950s by Robert M. Shipley, the founder of The Gemological Institute of America. Before the 4Cs, diamonds were considered in very abstract, subjective terms, and Shipley’s guide simplified and standardized the evaluation process.
The 4Cs determine the value of a diamond and include carat (abbreviated as ct.), cut, color, and clarity. How pretty a diamond is - that’s up to your personal taste and the style you’re going for. But the rarer the carat, cut, color, and level of clarity, the more monetary value. Rarity and value go hand-in-hand when it comes to most gemstones.
No single 4C is more important than the other. Each factor is equal depending on what you like. Are you bothered by the slightest hint of yellow in a diamond? Maybe you’re looking for a large diamond. Perhaps neither of those qualities matters to you, and you just want a diamond that sparkles.
Ultimately, the best measure of a diamond is the joy it brings to the person who wears it. By familiarizing yourself with the 4Cs of diamonds, you’ll know what to look for to find the gem that will bring you the most joy.
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Color is a great place to start on the 4Cs of diamonds because it is the easiest to understand. When it comes to regular white diamonds, the kind that immediately comes to mind when you think “diamonds,” the less color it has, the more valuable it is.
Diamond color is surprisingly difficult for the average person to discern. Contrary to what you might think, it can be almost impossible to tell just by looking at it.
The color grading process occurs in a controlled environment, so the conditions are the same during every evaluation. A gemologist will compare the diamond in question to a set of master stones. These stones correspond to different color grades on GIA’s (The Gemological Institute of America) chart, the official authority on diamond color.
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There are five possible categories in this chart where a diamond could end up, ranging from letters D through Z:
As I mentioned, the colorless and near colorless are the most pricey diamond varieties. But if you want a white diamond and the price exceeds your budget, all is not lost! The setting influences the perceived color of a diamond. While silver, platinum and white gold enhance colorless stones, yellow gold can make a yellowish diamond appear whiter. Rose gold also compliments diamonds in the lower color ranges.
The last section may have left you wondering where colored diamonds stand. For example, how can pink diamonds be so expensive when they seem like they would rank so poorly on the color scale? Colored diamonds, officially called fancy diamonds, are evaluated with a separate scale made specifically for them.
Cut encapsulates a diamond’s proportions, symmetry and finish and profoundly impacts the gem’s interaction with light. There are two types of interaction: brilliance and fire. Brilliance refers to the white light that sparkles and reflects in a stone, while fire is that twinge of rainbow light.
If a diamond cut has the length, width and depth proportional to each other, light filters out through the bottom and sides of the stone rather than bouncing back through the top. Check this out in the image below.
Misdirection of the light and poor quality of the cutting job will result in less sparkle. But, if the goal is to find a diamond that is asymmetric or proportioned to appear a certain size, this may not matter to you.
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Clarity involves using a microscope to find and measure the number, type, and size of inclusions or blemishes to the size of the gem. Inclusions are materials that become trapped inside a gemstone when it forms. Blemishes are surface imperfections.
Both of these factors can greatly impact the price of a diamond. If a diamond is small and has many or large inclusions and blemishes, it will likely look less appealing. However, if the same flaws were present in a larger diamond, they may be less noticeable or important.
Luckily, their practical impact is minimal either way. Inclusions and blemishes rarely influence the stone's brilliance, meaning it will still sparkle as brightly as with greater clarity.
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If you’re like I was in the not-so-distant past, you don’t know what a carat is and, at this point, are too afraid to ask. Don’t be scared because I’m about to explain it in a way that makes sense, finally!
The carat (ct.) is the unit of measurement for a diamond’s weight, pearls and other gemstones. Carat is, of course, related to size, but size alone can be deceptive. If carat weight is your primary concern, remember that the stone cut can create illusions. A gem with a given carat weight could be cut in different ways to make it look larger or smaller, as demonstrated in the image below:
Diamond carats have subdivisions called “points.” One carat contains 100 points, and a single point equals two milligrams. For an example of what this might look like in real life, say you’re checking out a diamond ring, and the description says it is 1/4 carat. Regardless of the shape or cut, it weighs 25 points (or 50 milligrams).
When it comes to finished jewelry containing one or multiple diamonds, you will often see the abbreviation “CTW,” which means “carat total weight” of all the diamonds in the piece.
I have one other important note about carat. Because it is much rarer to come across a large rough diamond than a small one, the price per carat goes up as the size (and therefore weight) of the gem increases.
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The 4Cs of Diamonds are a set of standards for evaluating the quality and value of a diamond. They are color, cut, clarity and carat.
The Gemological Institute of America’s founder, Robert M. Shipley, invented the 4Cs of diamonds. Before the 4Cs, diamonds were considered in broad and inconsistent terms. He wanted to simplify and standardize the evaluation process.
None of the 4Cs is objectively more important than the others. It all depends on what you, as the consumer, consider the most important and appealing trait.
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