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The
Four C's
The price of a diamond varies depending on the four C's:
cut, color, clarity and carat weight.
Cut:
When a diamond is a cut to good promotions, light will reflect
from one mirror like facet to another and disperse through the
top of the stone, resulting in brilliant display. Diamonds that
are cut too shallow or deep will lose light through the sides
and bottom of the stone and may have dark center.
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IDEAL
/ VERY FINE
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RANGE
|
| TABLE |
51.4%
- 62% |
| CROWN
ANGLE |
32.2
- 36.8 DEGREES |
| CROWN
HEIGHT |
13.1
- 16.2% |
| GIRDLE |
VERY
THIN TO THICK |
| DEPTH
PERCENTAGE |
59
- 63% |
| PAVILLION
% |
41.7
- 44.8% |
| CULET |
NONE
TO MEDIUM |
| FINISH |
VERY
GOOD - EXCELLENT |
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Color:
Diamond color is graded on a scale from D to Z. Truly colorless
stones are rated D and are extremely rare. Value starts to drop
significantly at grades L, M and N, and then increases again at
the very end of the spectrum, which includes fancy diamonds that
can be yellow, blue, pink or other color.
Clarity:
Virtually all diamonds have some type of inclusions, or flaws.
The difference in the clarity of stones depends on the naked eye
or only when magnified 10 times under a microscope .The location
of the flaws also are important. Clarity is a graded on a scale
with flawless (F) or internal flawless (IF) at the top, followed
by VVS1 and VVS2 (very slight inclusions), SI1 and SI2 (very slight
inclusions), and I1, I2 and I3, which means inclusions are visible
to the naked eye. The smaller the number, the fewer the inclusions.
Diamonds any lower on the clarity scale are not considered gemstones
and used mainly for industrial purposes.
Carat weight: The carat is a unit of weight derived
thousands of years ago from the relatively constant weight of
the carob seed. Carats are divided into 100 points. The carat
weight is the size of the stone and has no bearing on the color
and clarity of a diamond.
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