How to Grade a Diamond

A quick reminder on how to make sure you are picking the best diamond for your budget.

Don't be overwhelmed when picking a diamond.
Don't be too hasty either - follow our simple 4 Cs checklist below.

The 4 Cs are important to remember.
Cut, Colour, Clarity, Carat

Cut
The most important of the 4 Cs—cut - relates to the sparkle, how a diamond’s facets interact with light. It is determined by symmetry, proportion and polish. Spend your money on the sparkle- even a large carat diamond if badly cut will seem dull and lifeless. There is a very precise mathematical cutting formula that will give the diamond the maximum brilliance.

Colour
Colour refers to the natural tint diamonds have. The whiter, more colourless it is the rarer it is. Part of a diamonds value is determined by the absence of tint. The industry standard grades each diamond and assigns a letter from D {colourless} to Z {light yellow}
Colour is much more visible in large diamonds.

Clarity
Clarity is a measure of the purity and rarity of the stone, graded by the visibility of this under 10x magnification. All diamonds are unique, created underground through pressure and heat natural inclusions and blemishes are inevitable. A stone is graded as flawless if, under 10x magnification, there are no blemishes {external imperfections} and no inclusions {internal imperfections}

Carat
Carat denotes the weight of a diamond, not the size. A larger carat doesn't mean a better stone - carat is not linked to sparkle. The weight of the diamond is measured in carats and subdivided into points. There are 100 points to a carat, so three quarter carat weight diamond is referred to as .75cts. Where there is more than one diamond in a piece of jewellery the stones are weighed together not individually.

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