A diamond is a salute to the precious moments in our lives, a dazzling reminder of someone’s love, a reward for a great accomplishment and an enduring symbol to be treasured and celebrated
Choosing a diamond or any jewelry item is usually regarded as an overwhelming task for anybody. The secret behind the appraisal of any diamond lies in what is referred to as “the 4 C’s of diamonds”, namely carat, cut, clarity, and color. This 4 c s will assure that you know exactly what you are getting in a diamond and once you embrace them and use them to make your purchase, getting a nice bargain becomes a lot easier.
Once you fully understand the diamond 4Cs, you can use them to your advantage, learning how to prioritize one over the other to find a beautiful diamond within your budget.
That grade is made up of four factors, often known as the 4Cs: cut, clarity, color and carat weight. Each “C” has its grading scale for evaluating quality. Put together, the diamond 4Cs help diamond sellers determine the price and compare diamonds to one another. They’re also a useful tool for shoppers — and the more you understand about them, the savvier you’ll be in choosing your diamond.
What is Diamond 4Cs?
A diamond’s 4 C’s represent the four main components of its beauty and structure: cut, color, clarity, and carat. When looking at a diamond, the eye perceives a balance of its characteristics and components, including, but not limited to, the 4 C’s.
Each of the C’s is graded on a scale and can be evaluated for quality. Though some universal terminology and standard grading exist, it does vary by lab entity. The most consistent entities—and the ones we recommend gaining a certificate from—are the GIA and the AGS.
Grading of the 4 C’s help determine the value of a diamond and indicate its quality. Diamond sellers often set their prices based on grading reports. Knowing the basics of these grading is helpful when comparing two similar diamonds, but what remains most important is how the diamond appears to the naked eye—and how attractive the diamond is overall. In this sense, having a foundational understanding of the 4 C’s is imperative as a buyer, so that you can avoid spending your budget on a component that will go unnoticed.
Why the 4Cs matter
When the diamond 4Cs was introduced in the mid-20th century, for the first time the world had a universal standard for judging the quality of a diamond and a transparent way of determining its value. The 4Cs also became a tool for people to understand why they might want to buy one diamond over another when it was often hard to discern differences between two different diamonds with the naked eye.
The diamond 4Cs is still as important today as they’ve always been. However, a renewed emphasis on one of the Cs (cut) can help a diamond shine more brilliantly. Knowing this means you as a shopper can prioritize some Cs over others to find a diamond that works within your budget.
Navigating the Cs
When you shop for a diamond, you may see a string of letters and numbers that indicate the diamond’s grade. It might look something like this: 1 ct E VS1. Diamond experts will tell you that’s a very nice diamond — and probably a quite expensive one.
Let’s demystify the 4Cs and the way diamonds are graded.
CARAT: THE HEAVY ON DIAMOND WEIGHT
People often mistake carats as a measurement of size, but they actually measure weight. Diamonds are also measured in points: 100 points equals 1 carat. The abbreviation “ctw” standards for “carat total weight,” which measures the total weight of all diamonds in a piece of jewelry.
Very small differences in carat weight can sometimes result in a disproportionate spread in cost. To the eye, the difference between a 1.1-carat and 1.2-carat diamond (1 1/10 carat and 1 1/5 carat diamond) might be impossible to discern, but the cost difference between those carat weights can be thousands of dollars for otherwise identical diamonds.
If shaving off the cost on a diamond, start by looking at a diamond 10 or 15 points less than a diamond you like. For example, if you love a 1.20-carat (1 1/5 carat) diamond, see what it looks like next to a 1.10-carat (1 1/10 carat) diamond of the same quality — it’s likely you’ll have difficulty seeing a big difference, but you may save hundreds of dollars.
COLOR: WHITE IS RIGHT
Diamonds come out of the earth in many different colors. The market has traditionally valued white diamonds higher than others, and the grading scale reflects that. The D grade, at the top of the scale, is considered “colorless,” rarest and most expensive. Going down the 23-grade scale from D to Z, diamonds become progressively more yellow, brown or gray.
Most diamonds sold for jewelry today are considered “near-colorless” — between G and J on the diamond color scale. At a J grade and beyond, the human eye can start to detect a yellow tint.
A D-color diamond is a rare specimen — and it costs a pretty penny. Moving down the color scale toward H or I lets you buy a diamond that still appears white, but is more common and thus more affordable.
One thing to note: color diamonds have become more valuable as they’ve become more fashionable, and “fancy” colors, when they occur naturally, are rare and expensive. (Diamond color treatments can help you get these coveted colors for less.)
CLARITY: NATURAL FLAWS
The clarity grade is a reminder that, after all, a diamond is a thing of nature — and like most natural things, it’s rarely perfect. Like any rock or mineral, diamonds often have flaws, known as inclusions and blemishes. Diamond cutters try to cut and polish a diamond to hide these inclusions or work around them, but they’re still there — and the clarity grade measures them. The scale ranges from flawless to heavily included:
F (flawless inside and out)
IF (internally flawless, which means there are blemishes on the surface but not inside the diamond)
VVS1 and VVS2 (very very slightly included – two levels)
VS1 and VS2 (very slightly included – two levels)
SI1 and SI2 (slightly included – two levels)
I1, I2, and I3 (included – three levels)
It may be difficult to see inclusions with the naked eye unless you look closely, depending on where they are located within the diamond. But every diamond is different, so you have to look for yourself. If you look at an SI2 diamond and personally can’t see the inclusions without a jeweler’s loupe, you can probably accept a lower grade and save on cost without compromising beauty.
CUT: BRINGING OUT THE BEAUTY
A diamond’s cut is harder to quantify than color, clarity and carat weight. That’s because cuts can vary from diamond to diamond and have to do with how the diamond cutter chooses to shape, facet and polish a diamond. Sometimes diamonds are cut so they’re heavier, thus fetching more value for their carat weight; sometimes they’re cut to hide or minimize inclusions.
But many diamond companies are focused on cutting diamonds for beauty. A diamond is essentially a prism of light, and diamond cutters work to let the lightest shine through each stone. When done well, a diamond’s cut can be the most important C. When grading the cut of a diamond, laboratories evaluate the diamond:
- BRIGHTNESS:
The light that reflects from the diamond.
- FIRE:
How the light scatters through the diamond to create a rainbow of light, like a prism.
- SCINTILLATION:
The amount of intense sparkle or flashes that occur across the surface of the diamond as it moves under the light.
Diamond cuts are often evaluated as:
Ideal or near ideal (meaning that the angles and proportions of the diamond have been cut to produce the ultimate brightness, fire, and scintillation)
Excellent
Very good
Good
Fair
Poor
Making the Cs work for you
Now that you understand the diamond 4Cs, you can use them to your advantage. As you are comparing diamonds and trying to work within your budget, consider how you might:
Get a beautiful, sparkling diamond by focusing on the cut while sliding down the scale a few levels on color and clarity.
Get a larger diamond but scale back a fraction of a carat (10-20 points) to save money.
Buy a lower-weight diamond but a near-ideal or ideal cut, focusing on the diamond’s radiance and beauty and putting less emphasis on the size.
The 4Cs will reassure you that you’re buying a quality diamond and getting what you pay for, but remember that they’re really just a tool. Rather than bragging about her “1-ct. E VS1” diamond, your fiancée will exclaim, “Look at my beautiful diamond engagement ring!” And that’s ultimately what matters most.
Advantages of a GIA Certified Diamond
Every diamond needs a diamond certificate that details the unique characteristics of the same. GIA (Gemological Institute of America) is the most prominent of the many diamond grading laboratories around the world and is also the most trusted and widely accepted laboratory for grading diamonds. GIA is a nonprofit institute that does gemological research and studies. They coined the 4C’s (Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat weight) which are universally used now to speak of the value of a diamond. There are numerous advantages to buying a GIA certified diamond. Some of them are listed below:
The certificate of GIA contains all the necessary information you need to know about the diamond.
You can be sure that you are buying a natural diamond and not a synthetic one.
The trade is sound without any scope for misunderstanding because the seller knows what he sells and the buyer knows what he buys.
GIA is reputed for the rigorous rating of most subjective scales like rated Color and Clarity.
They are consistent in an incredible way and help the buyer to be at peace after the deal.
A comparison of the stones is very easy because of the consistent grading.
You can be assured that you get the real product for which you paid.
As an organization, GIA maintains a high standard of integrity. This is reflected in the GIA certified diamonds.
GIA grading makes a laser inscription of the unique report ID number which helps the owner to identify the real diamond. It also makes the recovery easy in case of theft of the diamond.
GIA places its security features like holograms, copy guards and micro printing to avoid certificate forgeries.
There is no risk in buying the GIA certified diamond online. Customers are also provided with the opportunity to verify the details of the diamond directly with GIA or with a third party gemologist.
Flaws of the diamond are given in the written report and also illustrated to clarify the severity of the flaw in the particular parts of the diamond. Hence the true quality of the diamond is assured.
GIA certification of diamonds is undoubtedly one that is trustworthy as proved by time. Even in the present time, it is GIA certification and grading that people look for when they buy diamonds. If you or your loved ones are inclined to buy a diamond, make sure that you buy the GIA certified diamond so that you can be assured of the quality of the product.
Conclusion
Beautiful. Rare. Cherished. Each diamond is unique and is a miracle of time, place and change. And each has specific qualities that establish its value.
Until the middle of the twentieth century, there was no agreed-upon standard by which diamonds could be judged. GIA created the first, and now globally accepted standard for describing diamonds: Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat Weight. Today, the 4Cs of Diamond Quality is the universal method for assessing the quality of any diamond, anywhere in the world. The creation of the Diamond 4Cs meant two very important things: diamond quality could be communicated in a universal language, and diamond customers could now know exactly what they were about to purchase.