How to Select a Diamond - The Four C's

There are four C's that you should pay attention to while making your loose diamond purchase; carats, clarity, color and cut. Educate yourself before making a purchase in the four C's and you will get a better deal and quality for your money's worth. Unless you have a lot of money to spare, it is important to determine which C is most important to you. Ranking them according to your own order of priority will be helpful in deciding to go for a bigger diamond with less brilliance or a smaller one with more flare.
Briefly describing each:

• Diamond Carat - refers to the weight of diamonds.
• Diamond Clarity - measures the amount of inclusions (inclusions interferes with light passing through, therefore lowers the brilliance and fire).
• Diamond Color Grading - evaluates the whiteness of loose diamonds (the more yellow the less its worth).
• Diamond Cut - measures the quality, not shape of the diamonds (better cut results in more sparkle, simple as that).

Carat Weight of a Diamond
All loose diamonds are measured by carat weight. Normally, people want the biggest diamond they can get. But technically, bigger sized diamonds usually suffer in quality, such as a loss in brilliance. In order to cut loose diamonds at the best angles to produce the most fire, much of the original diamond rough is lost, resulting in a great decrease in the diamond's carat weight.

There are 100 points to a carat and a carat equals 1/5 of a gram. Don't be fooled into buying loose diamonds that are said to be .25 points. They are NOT a quarter of a carat, and will be so small that they should only be used as accents to other stones or the gold itself.

Since larger loose diamonds are more rare, the price of carats per gram rises dramatically at an exponential rate. A one carat diamond is worth more than several diamonds that measure a carat in total weight. A smaller carat diamond on a small size hand can look normal while a small carat diamond on a large hand can look overpowered. When choosing the size carat, think about your budget and the look of the diamond you are going for.

Diamond Clarity
Clarity refers to the clearness or purity of a diamond. There are very rarely perfect loose diamonds that are clear and clean of imperfections. When buying diamond jewelry, look for a clear diamond. Inclusions can sometimes be minor if not seen by the naked eye. When looking at clarity, look for a diamond that is from Flawless to Very Slightly Included, those are stones that look clear to the naked eye.

There are two Clarity grading scales done by the American Gem Society Laboratories (AGSL) and Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

The AGSL scale is from 0 to 10, 0 being flawless. The GIA scale has a scale that grades diamonds from Flawless to Imperfect (FL to I3).

GIA Clarity Scale:

Flawless (FL) and Internally Flawless (IF) diamonds are virtually flawless with no natural inclusions seen under 10x magnification. These diamonds are extremely rare.

Very Very Slightly Included (VVS1 and VVS2) diamonds has inclusions that are difficult to see under 10x magnification. They have excellent quality. It is extremely difficult to see, only visible from the pavilion or have small and shallow inclusions that could be removed with minor polishing.

Very Slightly Included (VS1 and VS2) diamonds has inclusions that are difficult to see with the naked eye. They are less expensive than VVS1 and VVS2. Inclusions in VS1 are difficult to see and somewhat easier to see in VS2 diamonds.

Slightly Included (SI1 and SI2) have inclusions that are visible under 10x magnification and may be seen with the naked eye. They are a good value because their brilliance is still high but their prices are more affordable.

Imperfect (I1, I2 and I3) diamonds contain inclusions that are obvious under 10x magnification and can easily been seen under the naked eye. These diamond gradings don't have as much sparkle to the naked eye

Diamond Color
Loose diamonds come in varying colors from yellow to light brown. Other colors, such as pink and black, are known as fancy diamonds and are not included in this color scale. The favorite color grading is colorless which is extremely rare. Color grading for diamonds has letter grades from D to Z.

White Diamond Color Scale:

• D is colorless and extremely rare.
• E is colorless with trace color only uncovered by an expert gemologist.
  
• F is colorless with a little bit more trace color than E, but still only detected by an expert gemologist.
• G-H are near colorless, but excellent value.
  
• I-J are near colorless, color is slightly detected.
  
• K-Z loose diamonds that have a faint yellow to light yellow color.
  The best value diamonds are G-I, but look at grades D-H when looking for an engagement ring diamond.

Fluorescence is when the loose diamonds are exposed to ultraviolet light. The diamonds emit a soft colored glow when held under an ultraviolet light. Fluorescence is a natural occurrence that does not affect the diamond in natural light.

Diamond Cut
A diamond's cut is important to reflect the brilliance of the gemstone. When loose diamonds are poorly cut either too deep or too shallow, it does not refract light efficiently, therefore, loosing liveliness.
AGSL only grades round cuts; fancy diamond shapes are marked with an asterisk with relevant information in the comment section. They have a scale from 0-10; 0 the best and 10 being the worst. When figuring out the Cut grade, there are 7 factors; five proportion factors, polish and symmetry.

AGSL Cut Scale:

• 0 is AGSL Ideal.
• 1 is AGSL Excellent.
• 2 is AGSL Very Good.
  
• 3 - 4 is AGSL Good.
  
• 5-7 is AGSL Fair.
• 8-10 is AGSL Poor.

When loose diamonds are cut too shallow, the light is lost through the sides. When the diamond is cut too deep, the light escapes through the bottom.
Diamond cut is an important part of diamonds and diamond jewelry because the stone may have beautiful color and clarity, but if it has a Poor or Fair cut, the diamond will appear dull or dark and lack sparkle.

Parts of a diamond are:

• Diameter of a diamond is the width measured through the girdle.
• Table is the largest facet of the stone.
• Crown is the top portion extending from the girdle to the table.
• Girdle is the narrow band around the widest portion of the diamond.
• Pavilion is the bottom portion from the girdle to the cutlet.
• Cutlet is the facet at the tip of the stone.
• Depth is the height from the cutlet to the table.