How to choose the perfect DiamondPurchasing a piece of Diamond jewellery should be an enjoyably and exciting experience, however people might feel a little overwhelmed with new information and gemological terminology that they might not be too familiar with. The best way to prevent this from happening is to educate yourself prior to making that all important step.
Our guide is specifically designed to provide you with all the important knowledge you might require when purchasing a
Diamond. You’ll be surprised, in only a few minutes you will be ready to choose your perfect Diamond!
Choosing your shape
Diamonds, just like people, come in all shapes and sizes. No two diamonds are ever the same no matter how much they may look similar. Choosing your diamond shape is a very personal choice, from the classic round brilliant diamond to fancy heart shaped diamond – choose the diamond that best reflects your personality.
The 4 C’s The 4C’s, Cut, Colour, Carat weight and Clarity contribute most to a Diamond’s overall beauty and appearance. Understanding these four principals will start you on your journey to buying the highest quality diamond within your budget.
Cut Cut is one of the most important factors contributing to a Diamonds beauty, and is the only one of the 4 C’s that is entirely controlled by man. It is important that cut is not to be confused with shape. Shape is the general appearance of a Diamond, whereas the cut consists of the angles, proportions and symmetry.
It is widely known that a fine cut means a lot of brilliance will be produced by the Diamond, as the cut has a huge impact on how it interacts with light. When a Diamond is cut well light enters though the top of the table, down to the pavilion, bounced from one side to another, back up to through the table again and into the viewers eye. If a Diamond is cut poorly, too shallow or too deep, light will not be returned and is lost, producing a Diamond which lacks in Brilliance.
The cut also has an impact on the outward appearance of the stone as well as light interaction. Very deep stones will appear smaller than another stone with an equivalent weight as the weight will be carried on the bottom half of the stone, and very shallow stones will appear larger as their weight is spread out. Both of these are not as desirable as a well cut Diamond.
Colour Colour refers to either the presence or absence of a tint within the Diamond’s body colour. This can be any colour from red to green Diamond, however the most common being yellow and brown. These are called fancy Diamonds. The colour of a Diamond is resultant of on what trace elements are present, for example the presence of Boron produces shades of blue and Nitrogen yellow.
In colourless Diamonds an absence of colour is preferred, colours D-F, with the ‘whiter’ shades commanding a higher price than those with a yellowish tint due to their rarity.
Diamond colour is graded in correspondence to the Gemological Institute of America’s (GIA) colour chart, starting at the letter D, meaning colourless. As you progress down the colour scale, the amount of tint increases.
Colour is considered one of the most difficult factors to evaluate in a Diamond, in comparison to the cut, carat weight and clarity. This is because colour is a hugely personal matter, everyone views colour differently and secondly differences between colour in two stones can be very subtle, almost unnoticeable to the untrained eye.
Carat weight The weight of a Diamonds, coloured stones and pearls are expressed in carats, with one carat equaling exactly 200mg or a fifth of a gram. This term, carat, came from a French word derived from the Greek ‘keration’, literally translating as ‘fruit of the carob tree’ or ‘ceratonia siliqua’. Carob trees were fairly abundant in the Middle East and it was found that the seeds they produced were fairly uniform in weight. Subsequently it was standardized that one seed of the carob tree matched one carat.
One carat consists of 100 points, so 25 points equals a quarter of a carat, 50 points equals half a carat and so on. When Diamonds are smaller, 10 points and under, they are often referred to as melee’. These are typically used as surround stones along the shank in pave set rings.
Clarity Clarity relates to the presence of and visual form of internal characteristics of a Diamond. These are called inclusions when they are fully within the stone, and blemishes when purely on the surface of the Diamond. They are many different types of inclusion, the most common being feathers and included crystals. The number, size, location and relief of the inclusions must be taken into consideration as a clarity grade is assigned, at 10x magnification, based on the overall appearance of all these factors combined.
Most Diamonds contain some form of inclusion, and typically these are invisible to the unaided eye and do not have any effect on the Diamonds durability.
The clarity grading scale starts at Flawless, which commands the highest prices, through to the lowest clarity being Included.
PLEASE NOTE: Any diamonds sold by Holts have been purchased from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations resolutions. Holts guarantees that these diamonds are conflict free, based on personal knowledge and/or written guarantees provided by the supplier of these diamonds.Here at holts we have a wide range of
loose Diamonds in our showroom in Hatton Garden, contact us today on 020 7405 5286 or visit us to have a consultation with one of our qualified Gemologists or a specialist Bespoke Designer.