Diamonds earlier, now and will always be the most precious stones that are desired by all. Having and wearing a diamond feels so different and special. Diamond is an allotrope of carbon and the hardest substance in nature. Also the rarest, most precious, the hardest are the few qualities that make it the most expensive of all the stones. Hence while buying you should be aware of specific features so that you buy only genuine diamond not its copy or duplicate ones.To do that you must check the "4-Cs" of diamond. These are
Cut
Clarity
Carat
Color
Cut – it is the most important feature to check whether you are buying a true diamond or not. Cut is the manner in which the stone has been cut and it determines the luster, shine and fire on the surface. Princess, asshcer, emerald, oval, heart-shaped, and marquis are few the most prevalent cuts. Fancy and brilliant cuts are the most popular. While choosing any kind of cut, the the diamond cutter considers the shape and the size of the crystal.
Polish and symmetry are the two factors that are associated with the cut. Polish determines the smoothness and symmetry is the alignment of facets. Poor polish will give dull surface and there will no brilliance in the diamond. Some diamond cutters are so efficient that they can give just perfect polish and symmetry to the fake diamond that it looks like a real one.
Cut gives a crown (top half of diamond), pavilion (lower half of diamond) and facets. Number of crown, pavilion and facet differs with cut. But as a normal buyer you wont be able to make out the difference very clearly. So you must check the associated certificate to know more about this. It should contain the actual measurement of all the crown angle, facets and pavilion angels.
There are many groups which are associated with top quality diamond. These are:
- AGA - Accredited Gem Appraisers
- HCA – The Hollow Cut Adviser
- AGS – The American Gem Society
- GIA - The Gemological Institute of America
So if the diamond you are buying is having the certificate from any of these groups then you are certainly buying the top quality diamond.
Clarity – clarity refers to the internal flaws in diamond. Lesser the internal flaws more will be the clarity. Flaws are because of some foreign mineral that gets included while the formation of diamond. This affects the appearance of stone. Also the amount of flaws decreases the strength of the stone. So clarity should always be more.
GIA has given the clarity grading scale.
- Flawless – FL
- Internally Flawless – IF
- Very Very Slightly Included –VVS1 and VVS2.
- Very Slightly Included – VS1 and VS2
- Slightly Included – SI1 and SI2
- Included – I1, I2 and I3
Same like this there are grading system by other groups.
Carat – Diamond is sold in carat that defines the weight of the stone. Carat is a unit of weight equal to 1/5th of a gram or 1/142nd of an ounce. If the quality is same then small diamond will be of lower price than the large one but if the small stone is higher on quality then its price can be more than the larger one.
Weight of small diamonds are expressed in points rather than carat. Five points mean 0.05 carat. 0.25 means twenty five points and is equal to one quarter of a carat.
Color – colorless and transparent diamonds are of highest quality and the colored ones are lower than colored ones. All colored diamonds are called fancy diamonds. Grading for the colorless, near colorless, faint yellow, very light yellow and light yellow has been given by different groups.
