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Diamond Education...

It all begins with the 4 C’s. Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat Weight.

Cut: The GIA Cut Scale ranges from Excellent to Poor. GIA provides a cut quality grade for standard round brilliant diamonds that fall in the GIA D-to-Z color range. A polished diamond’s beauty lies in its complex relationship with light: how light strikes the surface, how much enters the diamond, and how, and in what form light returns to your eye. The result is a display of three attributes. Brightness is the combination of all white light reflecting from the surface and interior of a diamond. Fire is the colored flashes that can be seen in a diamond. Scintillation describes the sparkle of light you see in a diamond, and the overall pattern of bright and dark areas when you look at a diamond face-up. A polished diamond’s proportions affect its light performance, which in turn affects its beauty and overall appeal. Diamonds with good proportions optimize the interaction with light, and have good brilliance, fire, and scintillation. The Design (weight ratio, durability) and Craftsmanship (polish, symmetry) of a diamond also affect its cut quality, and are considered in determining a diamond’s GIA Cut Grade.

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Color: The GIA Color Scale extends from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow or brown). Although many people think of gem quality diamonds as colorless, most diamonds used in jewelry are nearly colorless with tints of yellow or brown. Color grades are determined by comparing each diamond to a master set. Each letter grade represents a range of color and is a measure of how noticeable the color is.

 

Clarity: The GIA Clarity Scale includes eleven clarity grades ranging from Flawless to I3. Given that diamonds form under tremendous heat and pressure, internal and external characteristics are common. These characteristics help gemologists separate natural diamonds from synthetics and simulants, and identify individual stones. There are two types of clarity characteristics: inclusions and blemishes – the difference is based on their locations. Inclusions are enclosed within a diamond while blemishes are confined to its surface.

 

Carat Weight: Every diamond is unique. Each reflects the story of its arduous journey from deep inside the earth to a cherished object of adornment. Yet all diamonds share certain features that allow us to compare and evaluate them. These features are called the 4Cs.Carat Weight: One carat equals 1/5 of a gram in weight For diamonds under a carat, each carat is divided into 100 points – similar to pennies in a dollar. 0.75ct. = 75 points, ½ ct. = 50 points

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