Buying diamonds can be an intimidating time regardless of whether it is your first time or not. Much like wine, there are factors you are supposed to be able to understand and pick out. Most people can talk the talk, but few can walk the walk with diamonds.
For such a sought after jewel, the diamond has an odd beginning. It is essentially a large chunk of carbon that has been compressed by massive pressure deep underground for millions of years. With heat be applied, it turns into a much desired gem.
The diamonds you see in the jewelry store have nothing in common with what comes out of the ground. Diamonds found in nature are random shapes and much larger. A jeweler will then cut them to shape and buff them out so they can be used as jewelry.
Diamonds that have serious imperfections cannot be used for jewelry. Instead, they are often used for industrial tools given their hardness. A common use is as a saw blade or drill bit since they tend to be harder than anything they come into contact with.
So, what does this have to do with buying diamonds? Well, you need to know how diamonds come about to understand why you should follow the four Cs when buying a diamond. The four Cs are clarity, cut, carat weight and color.
As you can probably guess, clarity refers to the brilliance of the diamonds. Diamonds often have imperfections within their structures. These can impact their funneling of light. The few imperfections, the more clarity there is which is a good thing.
Cut refers to the reflectivity of the diamond. A diamond has certain traits and only a good cut can bring them out. A good cut is one in which light enters one side of the top of the diamond, reflects across the bottom and back out the other side.
The cut does not have anything to do with the shape of the overall diamond. It is just the location of the facets compared to the diamond overall. A rectangular, circular or whatever shape diamond can all have great or bad cuts.
When it comes to diamonds, nothing is what it seems. Our fourth C, color, does not refer to the color of the diamond. It refers to how clear the diamond is. If diamonds have a yellowish tint, they are considered to have bad color.
The final big C is carat weight. This is not to be confused with Karats, which are a measurement of gold. Carat weight refers to the number of carob seeds a diamond balances out. I kid you not! Of all the factors in evaluating a diamond, carat weight is the least important.
Putting all this together, we have one class of certified diamonds that pass the must. You cannot really go wrong with Grade G diamonds. They have quality cut, color and clarity. The size you go with is just a factor of what you can afford.
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