All About Diamonds!

January 14, 2020

Diamonds

Diamonds have enchanted generations through ages. It had been recognised and treasured as a precious stone since ancient times.  The most typical colour used for Diamond jewellery is colourless. However, most Diamonds have a light tint, usually yellowish or brownish. The immense hardness of Diamond contributes to its suitability and importance as a gemstone. Because of its hardness, a Diamond is immune to scratching, as the only thing that can scratch it is another Diamond. This resistance lends it the ability to withstand daily wear and tear beyond the capabilities of most gemstones.

A grading system was implemented to evaluate Diamonds based on four aspects. These four grading systems are known as “the four C’s”, in which all Diamonds are evaluated:
  Color
  Cut
  Clarity
  Carat weight

Color:
The color of a Diamond is graded on an alphabetical scale ranging from the letters D to Y. This scale measures the color saturation, ranging from absolutely colorless to deep yellow (or yellow-brown). D is totally colorless, without a hint of any other color. Y indicates an intense deep yellow or deep yellow-brown.

Cut:
The cut, or facet of the Diamond, is the shape and style in which it is cut. The most prevalent cut is the brilliant cut, a facet specially designed to bring out the most fire in the stone. Sometimes this cut cannot be given, either because of flaws or cleavage habits. Much planning must be taken before cutting a Diamond, as a slight error in the facet may significantly decrease the value of the stone.

Clarity:
Clarity is graded on the size and visibility of the flaws and inclusions. Letters are assigned to a stone to label the quality of its clarity:

 

FI	Flawless	Contains no flaws or inclusions at all
IF	Internally Flawless	Contains no flaws or inclusions at a magnification of 10x
VVS1	Very, very small inclusions	Contains very tiny flaws or inclusions visible at 10x magnification
VVS2	Very, very small inclusions	Contains tiny flaws or inclusions visible at 10x magnification
VS1	Very small inclusions	Contains small flaws or inclusions visible at 10x magnification
VS2	Very small inclusions	Contains flaws or inclusions visible at 10x magnification
SI1	Small inclusions	Contains larger flaws or inclusions visible at 10x magnification
SI2	Small inclusions	Contains larger flaws or inclusions easily visible at 10x magnification
I1	Inclusions	Contains inclusions visible to the naked eye
I2	Inclusions	Contains large inclusions visible to the naked eye
I3	Inclusions	Contains very large inclusions visible to the naked eye

Carat Weight:
The size of a Diamond is measured in carats (abbreviated as ct). A carat is equivalent to 0.2 grams (about 0.007 ounces). Another weight measurement sometimes used for small for Diamonds is the point measurement (abbreviated as pt). Each point is one/one hundredth of a carat. For example, a stone weighing 34 pt weighs .34 ct Larger Diamonds are worth more than proportionally smaller ones, meaning a 3 ct Diamond surpasses the value of three 1ct Diamonds.

Source: http://www.minerals.net