Lots of ladies are flashing some beautiful diamonds, as this period of time– from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day — brings out the nesting urge in guys. Diamonds are made from the mineral carbon – and yes that’s the same mineral that you find in pencils. However, when the carbon is placed under high extreme pressure and temperature, the diamond is created.
When you go to purchase a diamond, keep in mind the four C’s – Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat (or weight). All those factors determine the value of your particular diamond.
Cut refers to the shape of the diamond. The traditional “round cut” is the most well known diamond shape. That cut is also known by the name “brilliant” as that cut reflects the whitest light back to your eye. There are other shapes which you might have heard of including Marquise, Oval, Pear Shape, and Princess Cut.
Color is based on a letter scale starting at D and progressing through Z. D is considered completely colorless, and as you progress to Z, there is more yellow to the stone. And, unfortunately, as the color moves up the alphabet, the value declines. There are exceptions. A “Z” color stone, whereby the diamond clearly appears yellow, is now considered “Fancy Yellow” and is a current trend. And, finally, there are other diamonds in other colors like pink and blue and they are very valuable – thus, very expensive.
Clarity refers to how many imperfections there are in the stone. The F scale is Flawless – and that’s the top of the scale. Other scales range from IF (internally flawless) down to I1,I2, I3. Most will fall somewhere between these two scales.
The last consideration is Carat Weight and that is the measuring scale by which diamonds are weighed. In a 1.00 carat diamond there are 100 points, a .75 carat diamond would have 75 points, etc.
These are all good facts to keep in mind, when shopping for your wedding set. Now you can shop with confidence. And if some of you ladies are still waiting for your ring, give your guy this post. (Hint, Hint!)