The Four C's

The 4 Cs namely colour, cut, clarity, and carat are the main criteria in evaluating a diamond's quality. The most expensive diamonds have excellent marks in terms of these four components.

COLOUR
If you look at a piece of white paper through the thickest portion of a diamond, you can detect its colour.

Grading the colour would range from D to Z, from colourless to faint yellow. Diamonds may seem white, but can have a trace of yellow or brown when placed side by side. J to K is the most common commercial colour in jewellery shops in the UK. The most valuable stones are genuinely colourless stones, but these are rare.

CUT
From a rough diamond comes a polished stone. This is the only criterion that would require the skill of a craftsman. The cut will determine the brilliance of the stone. A diamond that is well-cut radiates brilliance and fire. A stone that is cut too deep or too shallow allows light to leak from the sides or bottom. This will affect the brilliance of the stone as well as its value.

The most common shapes of a diamond are emerald, princess, oval, marquise, heart, radiant, pear and round.

CLARITY
There are tiny crystallized forms of carbon in most diamonds. Clarity measures the size and number of these impurities, also referred to as inclusions. Most of these inclusions are not seen by the human eye and would need to be magnified to become evident. Clarity is graded from F (Flawless), Internally Flawless (IF) to I (Included). The scale I is visible to the naked eye. A stone with a grade I is the type of diamond to avoid.

If you are not an expert, it would be hard to detect the clarity of a diamond. You could either look at several diamonds first to appreciate the different scales of clarity or you could consult with a good jeweler to find out the impurities of a specific stone.

CARAT
The weight of the diamond is also measured. This measurement is referred to as carat. 1 carat is equal to 1/5 of a gram or exactly 200 milligrams. Since there are diamonds that weigh less than a carat, a diamond's weight can also be divided into points. One carat consists of 100 points; therefore a .83-carat diamond is the same as an 83-point carat diamond. A stone of 4 carats is worth more than 4 1-carat stones of the same quality.

The cut can make a diamond appear larger than it is so be careful in choosing the diamond you want. The weight of the diamond maybe of utmost importance but the other 3Cs should not be compromised.

Selecting a ring does not end in deciding which diamonds to choose. One must take into consideration the setting and the metal to be used for the band.