The 4 C's of Diamonds
Posted by GOLDSMITH JEWELRY SHOPPE
If you are in the market to buy a diamond, it is likely you have heard of the 4 C's. It is important to educate one self about the 4 C's of diamonds to avoid being taken advantage of. Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat are the four characteristics that make up a diamond and are the basis of how the diamond is valued.
Cut plays an important role in deciding a diamond's brilliance. Chances are your future bride has tipped you off about the shape of the diamond she prefers but there is more to its shape when it comes to the diamond's cut. Brilliant round diamonds have around 58 facets, 33 of them are on top of the diamond body. There are 24 crown or star facets at bottom, which are known as pavilion facets. Many times the line connecting pavilion and crown is faceted too but are not a part of round brilliance cut.
All the facets of a diamond should be in the geometrical relations with each other. You can be sure about the quality of diamond if you do not find any bow tie and fish eye in it. Due to fish eye, diamond looks larger and spread out but with lower brilliance. With bow ties, there is a black region formed on the diamond, making it undesirable.
Color is also an important determinant for finding the diamond's worth. Colorless diamonds are of the highest value where traces of color depreciate its value. Most of the diamonds seem colorless to naked eye but majority of these diamonds have tint of brown and yellow when they are under illumination and tripod. Natural diamonds are found in blue, red, deep yellow and green shades. These are also known as fancy colorful diamonds basing on alphabetical scale start from colorless D to yellow M.
Clarity of the diamonds is dependent on a number of factors including location, number, type, and size of inclusions. An inclusion is imperfection or the mineral traces in stone, visible only under magnification of the loupe of jeweler. Fewer inclusions in a diamond, better brilliance, and clarity it has. Fewer inclusions also mean higher prices.
Carat is another determinant for finding out diamond's value. Weight of the diamonds is measured in carats. Every carat is further divided in the 100 points. A carat weight is not of any use without considering clarity, color, and cut of the diamonds. Large diamonds are not that worthy if they lack purity, better grade color, and brilliance. Since larger diamonds are rare to find as compared to the smaller ones, value of the diamond increases exponentially with the carat weight.
Each diamond is unique to itself and how its is graded. You will not find two diamond that are exactly alike. You must find out their value on basis of 4Cs i.e. Cut, Clarity, Color, and Carat while doing diamond shopping.