Know your Diamonds…Know your Diamonds…

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4 C’s OF POLISHED DIAMOND

In selecting a diamond, the rarity, value and beauty is determined by the four factors mentioned here, called as:

arat

larity

olor

ut

No two diamonds are exactly like. Understanding how todistinguish one diamond from another is made possible with the Four Cs:

Cut• A diamond's cut grade is one of the most important factors in determining its beauty. The way a stone is cut unlocks its natural brilliance. GIA breaks down diamond cut grades as follows:

• Excellent: most brilliant and most rare• Very Good: brilliant and rare• Good: average brilliance and rarity• Fair: less brilliant and not as rare• Poor: low brilliance and not rare

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Cut

• A diamond's shape, ranging from a round brilliant to one of numerous "fancy" shapes, is different from its cut, which rests on criteria such as proportions, symmetry and polish.

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Color

• This criterion will challenge your logic skills, because color actually refers to a lack thereof, grading the whiteness of a diamond.

• Color is measured on a scale from D (highest) to Z (lowest); fancy color diamonds are graded on a different scale (using colors instead of letters of the alphabet, and thus defying your logic skills a little less). The less color a diamond has, the higher its color grade.

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Color GIA breaks down diamond color grades as follows:

• Colorless diamonds (D-F) are the rarest of the color spectrum. They do not show any perceptible color; only F color stones display a trace amount of color when viewed by a trained eye face-down on a special color grading pad (most of us will simply see a gorgeous White diamond).

• Near colorless diamonds (G-J) appear colorless when face-up, but do show a slight amount of color when viewed face-down on a special color grading pad. Don't despair, because this is usually undetectable to an untrained eye.

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Clarity• Clarity is a measure of the small natural imperfections, or inclusions, that appear in almost every diamond. Because each stone's inclusions are unique, they represent its "fingerprint."

• A clarity grade is determined by their number, size, position, nature and visibility. The smaller the inclusion, the higher the clarity grade and the more valuable the diamond is.

• Generally, because of their microscopic nature, inclusions are usually not visible to the naked eye and do not materially affect the way a diamond looks.

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ClarityGIA breaks down diamond clarity grades as follows:

• FL: Flawless• IF: Internally Flawless• VVS1/VVS2: Very Very Slightly Included• VS1/VS2: Very Slightly Included• SI1/SI2: Slightly Included• I1/I2/I3: Included

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Carat Weight

• Carat is measure of a diamond's weight. No advanced math required here: just like a dollar is made up of 100 cents, a carat consists of 100 points, so a diamond weighing 75 points is equal to 0.75 carats.

• While a diamond's weight plays a part in determining its value, overall price depends on other aspects of the Four Cs as well.

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Carat Weight

• The more a diamond weighs, the rarer it tends to be because larger gem-quality rough diamonds occur in nature less frequently than smaller ones, and as much as two-thirds of total carat weight may be lost when a rough diamond is polished. Also important when considering carat weight is the diameter of the diamond when viewed face, or table, up.

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