The 4 C's Of Buying A Diamond | Ellington Jewelers Inc. in NC

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The 4 C's Of Buying A Diamond

Well you’re here; you’re ready to buy the gift of a lifetime. But you have no idea what separates one diamond from another. No worries! Take a look at the 4Cs (Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat) and you’ll become more confident in your brilliant selection. You can also browse the Metals Guide to decide which metal is right for you.

Diamond Cut

Cut is often considered the most important of the four C’s. This is because the cut of a diamond determines its brilliance (the amount of light reflected). When rough diamonds are mined, they emerge in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Highly skilled diamond cutters then cut and polish these stones to remove flaws and inclusions (tiny particles) – ideally taking out as many as possible while still preserving as much of the diamond retaining its brilliance.

Too Shallow

If a diamond’s cut is too shallow, the light that enters the diamond will leak out of the bottom.

Too Deep

If a diamond’s cut is too deep, the light will reflect out of the side.

Ideal Cut

An "ideal" cut will reflect the maximum amount of light through the top of the diamond - created a radiant sparkle that travels straight back to the viewer’s eye.

Diamond Color

Diamonds come in a surprisingly wide array of colors (yellows, blues, greens, and reds). However, the most valuable white diamonds are completely clear (“colorless”); others may contain a slight yellow tint.

White diamonds are graded on an alphabetical scale from “D” to “Z”.
A diamond with a grade of “D” is completely colorless (and very rare).
As diamonds move closer to the “Z” grade, they begin to display more of a yellow tint.

While the difference between these grade levels may be fairly difficult to see (unless you are a gemologist), the difference in price can be significant. For that reason, a diamond in one of the middle ranges usually offers the best value.

Diamond Clarity

Most diamonds contain a few minor flaws or “inclusions” that effect their clarity.

An inclusion is any spot, scratch, bubble or line that occurred when the diamond was being formed deep in the earth.

Most inclusions are not visible to the naked eye, so gem laboratories use a magnifying glass (at 10x magnification) to determine the amount, size, position, nature, and color of the inclusions.

The clarity of diamonds range from “flawless” to “included”.

FL, IF (Flawless, Internally Flawless): These rare diamonds contain no flaws (FL) or only very insignificant blemishes (IF) when viewed under 10x magnification.
VVS1, VVS2 (Very, Very Slightly Included): The tiny inclusions in these stones are very difficult to see, even at 10x magnification.
VS1, VS2 (Very Slightly Included): These stones contain inclusions that are visible only under 10x magnification.
SI1, SI2 (Slightly Included): Diamonds at this level have inclusions that are clearly visible under magnification and may be visible without magnification.
I1, I2, I3 (Included or Imperfect): In these diamonds, the inclusions are clearly visible without magnification.

You should avoid diamonds with visible flaws that affect their overall beauty or durability, but it is not necessary to select a flawless diamond. To make sure that your diamond has no visible flaws, we recommend stones with a grade of SI2 or higher. However, some SI diamonds can provide great value as many are virtually flawless to the naked eye.

Carat

This word is often confused with "karat", a completely different term used to describe the quality of gold.
Since all diamonds must be cut and polished to remove the outer layer of "rough", large diamonds are rare.
The price of diamonds rises as their size and weight increase. Therefore, a two carat diamond can cost four times as much as a one carat diamond of the same quality.
Some gemologists describe diamond weight in terms of points, not carats. 1 carat = 100 points , 1/2 carat = 50 points, 1/4 carat = 25 points , etc.

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