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Best Diamond

DIAMOND GRADING

Learn about the 4Cs

Choosing a diamond for your engagement ring is a big commitment, but how do you know you’ve found the perfect stone? Before buying a diamond, we’d always recommend you have a good grasp of the 4Cs, and how a diamond’s characteristics are graded.

Choosing a diamond for your engagement ring is a big commitment, but how do you know you’ve found the perfect stone? Before buying a diamond, we’d always recommend you have a good grasp of the 4Cs, and how a diamond’s characteristics are graded.

"How can you the determine the value of a diamond?" or in other words, "How much does a diamond cost?"

These are some of the general and frequently asked questions which pop up in someone's life when they first think about a proposal, which followed eventually by buying an engagement ring to uphold their decision. Suddenly however people get confused and uncertain whether to buy a ring with a diamond, with a gemstone or use less expensive alternative ones such as cubic zirconia or swarovski stones. "Diamond is expensive and I am not sure I can afford it".
In matter of fact, it is indeed costs more than the artificial counterparts, however keep in mind that diamonds has a long lasting value, and these diamonds are special minerals which naturally formed over millions of years deeply in our planet. Each diamond is unique and cannot be replaced with or put into the same category with any other stones in the market. Your fiancé deserves your appreciation and by buying a diamond engagement ring you can fully express your love and loyalty towards her.

Best Diamond engagement ring

"How do I know which diamond fits into my budget?"

The value of the diamond and the final price of an engagement ring depends mainly on the stone's 4 main characteristics (the so called 4C's), these are the following:
1. Carat
2. Colour
3. Clarity
4. Cut
Each characteristic above has it's own measuring scale, followed by determining it's certain grade. Down below I am going to extract these to you and explain them in detail so you can feel yourself at home in the world of diamonds.

Carat Weight

Carat Weight

We measure a diamond's weight and size by a special measurement type called Carat (abbreviation: ct).
(Note: When it comes to jewelry, especially gold rings, you might often saw or heard the expressions "14 Karat" or "18 Karat". This has nothing to do and has no connection to a diamond's Carat. The Karat refers to the gold's purity, or in other words how much gold in percentage has a specific ring - this will be dealt with in a separate blog post).

"How big is 1 carat?"

Here is the formula: 1 CARAT weighs 0.2 g and it's diameter equals 6.5 mm. In order to be able to determine also the smaller stones than a carat, it has been divided to points: 1 CARAT = 100 points.
The image below illustrates the carat weight scale, so you can visualize better the size differences between the stones.

As you can see, there are very small diamonds weighing 0.10 ct (10 points), medium sized ones such as the 0.50 ct (50 points/half a carat) or relatively big diamonds such as 1 ct or even 2 cts.

KEEP IN MIND!

There is no such rule which says the bigger the diamond, the better it is. The appropriate size depends on several factors. For example the palm and the fingers of your future fiancé, the style she likes and lastly also has to be in line with the type of ring setting you choose and of course it has to fit into your budget! You do not have to worry, I will gladly help with all of these once you decide to get in touch with me.

Colour

The diamond color scale is ranging from colorless (the most valuable) followed by near colorless (slight tint of yellow color) to obvious yellow colored stones (the less valuable).
The grading scale starts from D (colorless) and goes till Z (obvious color). The image below illustrates the best color grade (D-E-F), followed by slightly tinted, near colorless grade (G-J). The medium colored stones called faint with obvious yellow color (K-L-M) and the grading scale end with the fully yellow colored diamonds (N-R, S-Z).

KEEP IN MIND!

In my opinion, the G-H graded diamonds are just enough and perfect, these are the ones I usually recommend to my clients. It is unnecessary to spend a lot of money on colorless stone, when you can also choose a near colorless one which is just as good. Similarly to carat measurement, the final grade pick can depend on other factors as well, for example choosing a yellow gold ring can look quite well with a yellow tinted diamond.

Clarity

The diamonds are formed deeply in our earth, it is a long lasting, million years procedure.
Diamonds are born under high pressure and high temperature, which must then cool off within a certain time by this forming crystals. During this long process several type of inclusions (such as carbons) can be formed inside the stone and by this influencing it's clarity. On top of the internal inclusions, the diamond cut (see later below) is also an important factor, if the diamond is poorly cut (e.g. there are scratches on the surface) it can impact as well the final clarity grade.

See below the abbreviations and their meanings of the grading scale above:
FL (flawless): absolutely perfect, you can not spot anything, even under 10x magnification
IF (internally flawless): the internal part of the diamond is spotless, you can not notice anything under 10x magnification. On the surface there might be a tiny pinpoint, which can be very hard to see, even for a diamond specialist
VVS  – VVS1, VVS2 (very very small inclusions): very very small amount and size of inclusions, which can barely be seen under a 10x magnification
VS – VS1, VS2 (very small inclusions): very small inclusions which can be seen under 10x magnification
SI  – SI1, SI2  (small inclusions): inclusions which are not visible to the naked eye, but under 10x magnification can be easily noticed
I1 (P1) (piqué): medium sized inclusions, visible to the naked eye
I2 (P2): the inclusions obviously visible to the naked eye and influence substantially the diamond's sparkle
I3 (P3): many and relatively big inclusions which are super obvious to the naked eye

KEEP IN MIND!

Similarly to color grading, you do not have to pay premium for top category grades such as the FL, IF or VVS. The VS-IS ones are just fine as you can not see any major issues by looking at the diamonds with a naked eye, therefore their clarity grade is completely acceptable. The I1-I3 categories are quite dirty stones which I highly recommend to avoid.

Cut

We have arrived eventually to the most important characteristic, the cut. Many traders and jeweler do not mention it enough, however I would like to emphasize: this one is the most important from all!

The cutting of the diamond is the process of turning a mined rough diamond into a beautiful sparkling precious stone. I did highlight the word sparkling, as the diamond has a sparkle only if the cut is made well, if not we have a serious lack of sparkle and the diamond won't look nice. The cut of the diamond is not equivalent with the shape of a diamond (such as pear, heart or oval shaped diamonds, also called as fancy cut diamonds - learn more about this in a separate blog post)! The cut of the diamond meant to unveil the hidden beauty and brilliance of a specific stone.

The final grading of a diamond's cut is quite complex and depends on several components, which helps us to calculate and see how the rays of light reflected back by the facets which created during the cutting process (overall 58 facets). The image below shows all important parameters I check when I choose the best diamond for your ring:

A gyémánt csiszolási paraméterei - Diamond Cut Parameters

As the overall, calculated results of the above components we receive a grade which fits into 5 different categories:

Excellent : excellent cut, 100% sparkle
Very good : very good cut, very good sparkle
Good : Good cut, slight sparkle
Fair : Fair cut, sparkle can barely noticed, if any
Poor : Poor cut, complete lack of sparkle

KEEP IN MIND!

Now you are familiar with the 4C's and you also know that the cut is one of the most important factors, therefore I am not telling you a secret if I say I only work with excellent and very good cut graded diamonds, no less than that.

DIAMOND GRADING

Final words

A diamond's final value can not be determined if we are not familiar with the 4C's grades of a particular stone.

Best Diamond engagement ring

"How much a 1 ct diamond costs?" The answer can be given only if I am familiar with the color, clarity and cut grades.

"How much a 1 ct diamond costs?" The answer can be given only if I am familiar with the color, clarity and cut grades.
And so on...

Whatever the case is, the CUT is key. Join me for a private consultation and based on your budget I will recommend you to a diamond CARAT (size), followed by COLOR and CLARITY grade.
The final result is a beautiful sparkling diamond engagement ring which will land on your future fiancé's hand.