Diamonds

Buyer's Guide » Stones & Metals

A section devoted to diamonds could easily occupy hundreds of web pages so we will concentrate mainly on the four C's of diamonds, Cut , Color , Clarity and Carat Weight , and a little history of this most coveted gemstone.

Diamond Cuts

Above all other things, cut is what brings a diamond to life. Cut reveals the fire and brilliance of the rough stone. Diamonds need the proper relationship of angles and facets to reflect light and give us their magical sparkle. Poorly cut stones will often look dead, dark, or faded next a well cut one. We see many types of cuts in estate jewelry, both old and new. Here are the cuts we most often carry. View diamond cuts page

Older Cuts		Modern Cuts
Asscher	Baguette	Emerald	Heart
Briolette	European	Marquise	Oval
Mine	Rose	Pear	Round
Single	Table

Diamond Color

A diamond's color grade greatly influences both its price, and appearance. The majority of diamonds used in jewelry are colorless, near colorless, or fancy colored. The GIA diamond color grading scale begins at D for colorless stones and goes to Z for light yellow or brown stones. Any yellow or brown stone with more color than a Z master stone is considered to be a fancy color. As a side note, if a stone has noticeable traces of any color other than yellow, brown, it is automatically considered a fancy color. The value of a stone is directly related to its color. Completely colorless diamonds are much more rare than their slightly tinted counterparts and are correspondingly more expensive. Diamond price decreases as we move from D to Z, but increases again when the stone becomes a fancy color. Diamond color is truly a case of "beauty in the eye of the beholder". Some people are very sensitive to diamond color and insist upon only high color stones. Others prefer the “warmth” of a more yellow stone and are able to afford a larger stone, with a lower color grade.

Color Grades	Appearance	Defnition
D, E, F	Colorless or Exceptional White	No body color present. Stone appears colorless from all angles.
G, H, I, J	Near Colorless or White	Stone will face white, but will have slight body color when viewed from the back. Stones in this category are usually the best value.
K, L, M	Faint Yellow or Brown	Slight body color when viewed face up.
N to Z	Very light to Light Yellow or Brown	Noticeable body color when viewed face up.
More than Z	Fancy Yellow or Brown	Fancy Yellow (Vivid yellows are called Canaries), Fancy Brown (Champagne or Cognac).

Diamond Clarity

A diamond's clarity grade will almost always affect its value much more than it affects the stone’s beauty. In the majority of grades, inclusions (anything inside the diamond crystal) and surface blemishes are invisible to the naked eye, and require a 10 power magnifier (loupe) to be seen. Diamonds almost always have some kind of inclusion(s), and the fewer the inclusions, the rarer, and more expensive, the stone. The types of inclusions found in diamonds range tremendously. The most common are feathers (internal fractures) and included crystals (often mistakenly called carbon). Both the location and relative size of an inclusion factor into the grade. A small inclusion directly in the center of a stone might get the same grade as a larger inclusion that is off to the side. In rare cases an unusual inclusion may actually boost the value of the stone.Some modern diamonds are treated with a glass type filler that hides inclusions. This clarity enhancement is not a permanent treatment and will come out if the diamond is heated to a high temperature . Dianne's DOES NOT sell clarity enhanced diamonds.The GIA clarity scale ranges from Flawless to Imperfect with many levels in-between. Grades are assigned by a trained diamond grader using a 10 power loupe and proper lighting. Some grades are subdivided to reflect the severity of the inclusions. Please note: Most melee (diamonds smaller then 0.10ct) are graded in ranges of VVS, VS, SI, and I (also called pique) with no sub division.

Grade	Definition	Notes
FL	Flawless	No inclusions or surface blemishes. Rarely seen in jewelry.
IF	Internally Flawless	No inclusions. May have surface blemishes or extra facets.
VVS1, VVS2	Very, very slightly included	Tiny inclusions. Difficult for even a trained grader to spot under 10 power magnification.
VS1, VS2	Very slightly included	Small inclusions, but visible under a loupe.
SI1, SI2	Slightly included	Noticeable inclusions under 10 power, but impossible or difficult to see with the naked eye. Usually the best value.
I1, I2, I3	Imperfect	Obvious inclusions visible to the naked eye that impact the beauty of the stone, its durability, or both.

Diamond Carat Weight

Diamonds are weighed using carats. One carat equals 0.2 gram. This system of measurement dates back to antiquity when carob seeds were used as the standard measurement for stones. The seeds had a very uniform weight equaling approximately one carat, and were found in abundance throughout the ancient world. It is important to point out that a carat is a measure of weight NOT a measure of size. Depending on the cut of a stone, it may appear "small" or "large" for its weight.

As diamond weight increases, its cost grows exponentially. Large diamond crystals are much rarer than small ones. The price jump per carat between a one-carat stone a two-carat stone is about double. That is, a two-carat stone would cost approximately four times more than a one-carat diamond with similar color, clarity and cut.
Diamonds that have "magic" weights, i.e. 0.50 carat, 1.00 carat, etc., will sell for a premium while stones that are just a little shy (0.49 or 0.96) usually sell for less.
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