As well as stylish accessories and treasured possessions, diamonds can be excellent investments. Buying diamonds requires careful consideration and forethought. Diamonds are evaluated according to four criteria: carat, colour, clarity and cut. Understanding these basics will allow buyers to make an informed choice when shopping for diamonds. Inside every diamond there is a fire. No other stone can split white light to create the magical play of coloured flashes that so captivates our imagination. Buying diamonds demands an understanding of the ‘Four Cs’: carat, clarity, colour and cut. Sculpting raw stones so that each seems to blaze and spark is the essence of the diamond-cutter’s art. Some knowledge of it helps with buying diamonds.
A diamond’s weight is measured in carats, with one carat equal to 200 milligrams. Smaller stones are measured in points (fractions of a carat). When buying diamonds, size isn’t everything. A large stone with specks or cloudiness is worth less than a smaller diamond without flaws. The largest flawless cut diamond is South Africa’s Centenary Diamond, discovered in 1986, weighing a massive 599 carats (just under 120 grams).
A diamond’s clarity depends on the presence or absence of tiny flaws, visible when magnified ten times. Diamonds are compressed carbon. As they form, other crystals may be caught within. Sometimes the pressure causes tiny fractures in their internal crystal planes. Inclusions, minute cavities and cracks mar the stone’s brightness. If you’re buying diamonds rough, remember that surface blemishes affect value less than flaws of internal structure and can be excised. Depending on size and location, internal flaws not only affect brilliance but may make stones vulnerable to fracturing. Over three-quarters of the world’s diamonds fail on clarity and are used in industry.
If you’re buying diamonds, remember that clarity is also linked to colour. Though we think of diamonds as ‘white’, only diamonds with no impurities or crystalline deformities are truly
colourless, and they are exceptionally rare. Some diamonds are valuable because they are coloured, but colour can also be a flaw. When buying diamonds a key caveat is that yellowness in white diamonds lowers value.
Diamonds may be yellow, blue, pink, green, orange and even red or black. Stones from the Kimberley area, South Africa, include nitrogen that sometimes gives the stone a bright yellow hue. These ‘canary diamonds’ are greatly prized. Blueness can be due to boron or hydrogen. Pinks and reds hues are determined by a gem’s crystal structure, which affects the absorption and reflection of light.
A diamond’s weight is measured in carats, with one carat equal to 200 milligrams. Smaller stones are measured in points (fractions of a carat). When buying diamonds, size isn’t everything. A large stone with specks or cloudiness is worth less than a smaller diamond without flaws. The largest flawless cut diamond is South Africa’s Centenary Diamond, discovered in 1986, weighing a massive 599 carats (just under 120 grams).
A diamond’s clarity depends on the presence or absence of tiny flaws, visible when magnified ten times. Diamonds are compressed carbon. As they form, other crystals may be caught within. Sometimes the pressure causes tiny fractures in their internal crystal planes. Inclusions, minute cavities and cracks mar the stone’s brightness. If you’re buying diamonds rough, remember that surface blemishes affect value less than flaws of internal structure and can be excised. Depending on size and location, internal flaws not only affect brilliance but may make stones vulnerable to fracturing. Over three-quarters of the world’s diamonds fail on clarity and are used in industry.
If you’re buying diamonds, remember that clarity is also linked to colour. Though we think of diamonds as ‘white’, only diamonds with no impurities or crystalline deformities are truly
colourless, and they are exceptionally rare. Some diamonds are valuable because they are coloured, but colour can also be a flaw. When buying diamonds a key caveat is that yellowness in white diamonds lowers value.
Diamonds may be yellow, blue, pink, green, orange and even red or black. Stones from the Kimberley area, South Africa, include nitrogen that sometimes gives the stone a bright yellow hue. These ‘canary diamonds’ are greatly prized. Blueness can be due to boron or hydrogen. Pinks and reds hues are determined by a gem’s crystal structure, which affects the absorption and reflection of light.
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