How to Choose a Diamond
What to Look for in a Diamond
Diamonds are those mysterious yet beautiful gemstones that fascinate and intrigue most people into buying a piece of jewelry that has at least one diamond. This can be a tennis bracelet, diamond earrings for women or a diamond earring for men, rings, necklaces, pendants, ankle bracelets, and so on. There are, of course many types of of these precious stones—all are not cut the same way or have the same quality of color. For example, the cut, weight, and clarity of each can vary a great deal.
Many people are often confused or overwhelmed about a pending purchase of a piece of diamond jewelry. They wonder if they are getting a good quality and are often puzzled because they can’t really decide what makes a diamond a good diamond. When you buy diamond gifts online for someone special or for yourself, make sure you can view an image of the item and read a description.
So many clichés have been said about diamonds and, by extension, diamond gifts. A few of these clichés include the classic line about diamonds being a girl’s best friend; Elizabeth Taylor saying big girls need big diamonds; and the old Chinese proverb about having a diamond with a flaw than a perfect pebble. Indeed, diamonds are the most desired and most desirable gemstone known to man – and women, for that matter.
But just because a diamond glitters, glows and gleams, not to mention looks gigantic, does not necessarily mean that it is the best diamond in the lot. Many factors must be considered when one wishes to buy diamond earrings, necklaces and rings for their beloved woman – or man for that matter since men are also great fans of diamonds – and make them happy about the present. If you wish to give the best diamond gifts that your money can afford, the most important first step that you can do is to educate yourself about the five Cs.
Cut
Let’s discuss the most important C- cut. Its primary importance lies in the fact that the quality of the cut makes virtually all the difference in how a diamond looks particularly in terms of brilliance. A good cut gives a diamond its mesmerizing brilliance when light enters its table, travels through the pavilion and then reflected back out through the table again before hitting the observer’s eyes. The effect is a fiery fire that seems to come out of a well-cut diamond’s heart!
If you want to find the best diamond gifts, ask the jeweler about the grade for the cut criterion. For example, when you buy diamond earrings, we suggest looking for the diamonds graded as “Ideal”, “Premium” and “Very Good” on the certification while avoiding the diamonds with a “Fair and Poor” ratings. Of course, the Ideal cut diamonds have the best brilliance in the lot with the assumption that the other three Cs are on similar footing.
Clarity
Clarity refers to two things, namely, the presence of blemishes on the diamond’s surface and inclusions within the gemstone. While blemishes can be visible to the naked eye, inclusions are only visible with the use of special magnifying tools. Well, of course, you will want to buy diamond gifts without internal and external flaws but you must also consider other factors particularly your budget.
Diamonds are graded for clarity according to the following classification:
• Flawless – This is an extremely rare diamond with no visible internal and external flaws
• Internally Flawless – A very rare diamond, indeed, it has no internal flaws but a few external blemishes can be seen
• Very Very Slightly Included – Minute inclusions are very difficult to detect at 10x magnification
• Very Slightly Included – Minute inclusions can be seen albeit with difficulty
• Slightly Included – Minute inclusions are more easily detected with a 10x magnification
• Included – Inclusions and blemishes are visible to the naked eye
So, what does these clarity grades all mean where choosing diamond gifts are concerned? For one thing, it should be noted that a diamond’s clarity grade will have no impact on its general appearance but it will affect its financial value. For example, when you buy diamond earrings for your wife, we always suggest going for the highest clarity value your pockets can afford but never to purchase diamonds graded at the “Included” category. Even an untrained person in the art of diamonds will take unfavorable notice of your poor choice in the gemstone.
Color
Color obviously refers to the presence or absence of colors like pink, blue and yellow tones in white diamonds. The adage about diamonds and, by extension, diamond gifts being forever may be said to arise out of the fact that a diamond’s color never changes regardless of the time that passes by.
Color in a diamond itself is the result of its unique molecular composition with gemologists grading diamonds from D to Z, with D (colorless) as the highest grade and Z as the lowest with increasing degrees of yellowish to brownish color in between. It must be emphasized, however, that fancy color diamonds are the exceptions to the rule in that their very color increases their values. These fancy diamonds range in color from bright blue to bright yellow, even green.
What bearing does color have on choosing from among a wide array of possible diamond gifts? Well, if you want to buy diamond earrings with a sizable amount on its price tag, we recommend asking the jeweler for the diamonds graded D to F since these are the rarest. If you are on a budget, diamonds graded J to M on the color scale are still good choices for as long as the base metal used to mount them highlight their color.
Carat
Carat refers to the weight of the diamond with one carat equaling 0.2 grams. Size does matter when it comes to this criterion as even an untrained eye will know the difference between a one-carat diamond and a ten-carat stone.
How do you choose diamond gifts based on carats? For example what should look for when you want to buy a tennis bracelet? Do you want bezel diamond earrings? It all boils down to how much you can afford, what your recipient prefers in terms of size, and how the diamond looks on its setting. We always suggest buying what you can afford since a diamond may be a girl’s best friend but it can quickly become a man’s worst enemy when the credit card bills come pouring in. So, when you buy diamond earrings, you must put careful thought into the factors of cut, clarity, color and carat – often in that order of importance.
You must also ask for a diamond certificate, which represents the fifth C in the gemstone. Basically, it is the professional analysis of a diamond’s dimensions, polish, symmetry as well as the four Cs. Think of it as a particular diamond’s identification card.
Everybody loves to receive diamond gifts especially when these were chosen with a balance of the best in the four Cs and the best of loving intentions. So, choose well and let your gift recipient be the happiest person on earth. Relax, and choose thoughtfully—because in the end the person receiving the diamond gift will probably be satisfied no matter what you buy!