How to Choose a Diamond

If you have ever purchased a diamond, or are in the process of making your first diamond purchase, you will probably have heard mention of the “4 C’s”. The 4 C’s refer to attributes of a diamond that are commonly used to evaluate its quality. These factors are cut, colour, clarity, and carat (weight). This provides us with a good starting point, but always remember that every diamond is unique!

CUT

More than anything else, the brilliance of a diamond depends on its cut. While nature determines a rough diamond’s carat weight, colour, and clarity, it is the hands of a master craftsman that cuts a diamond to exacting proportions, neither too deep nor too shallow.

There are also many shapes that a diamond can be cut into. Below are a few examples.

COLOUR

Diamonds are graded on a colour scale from D through to Z based on the amount of colour that they contain. The less colour in a diamond, the more rare it is. Fancy coloured diamonds, however, such as yellows, pinks and blues, are an exception, and are much desired due to their extreme rarity. For fancy diamonds, the more colour the rarer it is.

CLARITY

Virtually all diamonds have what are called “inclusions” – tiny crystals, clouds or feathers than can be seen under magnification. Generally, the greater the number and size of inclusions within a diamond, the lower its clarity score.

Diamonds with no inclusions are quite valuable, and are categorized as flawless (FL) or internally flawless (IF).

CARAT (WEIGHT)

A diamond’s size is measured in carat weight, which is commonly expressed in points. Each carat point equals 100 points or 1/5 of a gram. In nature, larger diamonds are found less frequently, and so are valued more. But remember that the quality and beauty of a diamond depends on more than just it’s size!