While buying a diamond, one should always check the 4Cs so that he/she can make the most educated decision. The 4Cs are used for valuation of diamonds and refer to Color, Clarity, Cut, and Carat weight.
Cut plays an important role in deciding a diamond's brilliance. Brilliant round diamonds have roughly 58 facets, 33 of them are on top of the diamond body. There are 24 crown or star facets at bottom, which are known as pavilion facets.
All the facets of a diamond should be in the geometrical relations with each other. You can be sure about the quality of diamond by the lack of bow tie or fish eye in it. Fish eye will make the diamond appear larger and spread out with lower brilliance. With bow ties, there is a black region formed on the diamond, making it undesirable.
Color is also an important determinant for finding the diamond's worth. Colorless diamonds are of the highest value while traces of color depreciate its value. Most of the diamonds seem colorless to naked eye but majority of these diamonds have a tint of brown and yellow when they are under illumination and gemscope. Natural diamonds are found in blue, red, deep yellow and green shades. These are also known as fancy colorful diamonds basing on alphabetical scale starting from colorless D to yellow M.
Clarity of the diamonds is dependent on a number of factors including location, number, type, and size of inclusions. Inclusion is an imperfection or mineral trace in the stone, visible by the naked eye, under magnification of the loop or a gemscope. The fewer inclusions in a diamond allow for better brilliance and clarity. Fewer inclusions also mean higher prices.
Carat is another determinant for finding out a diamond's value. Weight of the diamond is measured in carats. Every carat is further divided in the 100 points. A carat weight is not of any use without considering clarity, color, and cut of the diamond. Large diamonds are not that worthy if they lack purity, better grade color, and brilliance. Since larger diamonds are rare to find as compared to smaller ones, value of the diamond increases exponentially with the carat weight.
You will not find similarity between any two diamonds. You must find out their value on a basis of 4Cs i.e. Cut, Clarity, Color, and Carat while doing your diamond shopping.
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