gradeWhen choosing a diamond, understanding the “4Cs”—Carat weight, Cut, Colour, and Clarity—is crucial for making an informed decision. These criteria are the universal benchmarks for assessing a diamond’s quality and value. Each “C” significantly impacts the diamond’s overall appearance and desirability. Carat weight refers to the diamond’s size, Cut affects how well it reflects light, Colour evaluates the presence of any hues, and Clarity measures internal or external imperfections. Mastering these factors will help you select a diamond that aligns with your preferences and budget, ensuring it’s not only beautiful but also a meaningful representation of your style and significance.
Diamond 4C’s – Clarity
Diamond clarity is a vital characteristic. It indicates the number and size of inclusions (marks) within the diamond.
The highest clarity grade is “Flawless.” A Flawless diamond is perfect both internally and externally, with no visible imperfections.
Next are “VVS1” and “VVS2” clarity diamonds. Even under 10x magnification, inclusions in these diamonds are extremely difficult to detect.
“VS1” and “VS2” diamonds are popular among customers seeking high-quality stones with no visible inclusions to the naked eye. Only tiny marks are visible under 10x magnification.
“SI1” clarity diamonds should be clean to the naked eye, though minor inclusions may be visible under a 10x loupe. DDS Diamonds carefully selects these stones, ensuring any visible marks are placed on the side, making them invisible to the naked eye.
“SI2” clarity diamonds are chosen by customers who are budget-conscious or prefer a larger stone. While they have more noticeable inclusions, DDS ensures these are positioned to minimise their impact on the diamond’s appearance and brilliance.
At DDS Diamonds, our expert gemmologists select diamonds that are clean to the eye and offer near-flawless clarity but at a lower price, providing you with excellent value.
Diamond 4C’s – Cut
The Cut grade of a diamond significantly impacts its brightness and brilliance. Reputable certifiers like the GIA (Gemmological Institute of America) grade diamonds as Good, Very Good, or Excellent based on their Cut. Polish and Symmetry are also graded similarly.
For round diamonds, a perfect proportional cut allows light to enter and reflect out through the top, resulting in exceptional brilliance. An “Excellent” cut ensures this brilliance. Poor, Fair, and Good cuts, however, may cause light to escape through the back or sides, diminishing the diamond’s sparkle.
Diamonds cut to perfect angles and proportions are rated as ‘Excellent’ or ‘Excellent Hearts & Arrows’. “Hearts and Arrows” refers to a specific cut for Round Brilliant diamonds, showing a pattern of hearts and arrows when viewed from different angles. This effect is visible to the naked eye but is more clearly seen using a Hearts and Arrows Loupe, which reduces surrounding light and highlights the diamond’s brilliance.
“Hearts and Arrows” is not usually listed on grading certificates. However, DDS Diamond Design Studios provides this information to help customers make an informed decision.
DDS primarily uses diamonds classified by the GIA as ‘Excellent Cut’. ‘Very Good’ Cuts are used when customers wish to maximise the size of their diamond within a budget.
A “Triple Excellent” diamond has Excellent ratings for Cut, Polish, and Symmetry, guaranteeing exceptional brightness and brilliance. The detailed angles and percentages are already assessed by the GIA, ensuring top quality.
Diamond 4C’s – Colour
Understanding diamond colour grades is essential as it affects the diamond’s overall appearance. The grading system for white and yellow diamonds ranges from D (the highest) to Z.
A D-grade diamond is the whitest. Sometimes diamonds are noted as D+, indicating they are slightly better than D. On certificates, D is the highest grade.
E and F grades are also considered exceptional and represent the finest white diamonds.
G grade diamonds offer very good colour, often used at DDS Diamond Design Studios due to their brilliance and affordability. This grade is near the top but allows for a larger diamond.
H grade diamonds are near colourless and still considered white, while I grade diamonds are termed ‘Commercial White’. Both are used in mass-produced jewellery.
K to N grade are classified as ‘Faint Yellow’, with a noticeable yellow tint.
O to R grade are ‘Very Light Yellow’ and are sought after for their soft yellow colour.
S to Z grade range from ‘Light Yellow’ to ‘Light Fancy Yellow’. Diamonds in these ranges become rarer and more expensive as the grades go lower.
Beyond Z, diamonds are graded as ‘Fancy Yellow’ or ‘Fancy Vivid Yellow’. These are significantly more expensive due to their rarity.
There are also various coloured diamonds, which are discussed in the coloured diamond section.
Diamond 4C’s – Carat (Size)
One carat (1.00ct) of a round brilliant diamond weighs 0.2 grams and typically measures about 6.45mm in diameter. The diameter can vary slightly depending on the cut. A shallow cut will result in a larger diameter, while a deep cut may concentrate the weight in the underside, resulting in a smaller diameter.
In the jewellery trade, carat weight is often referred to in “points”. There are 100 points in one carat. Thus, a 0.50ct diamond is known as a 50-pointer, and a 0.25ct diamond is a 25-pointer, and so on.
Carat weight greatly influences a diamond’s price. Prices are calculated per carat, so larger diamonds are more valuable. Larger stones are rarer, hence more expensive per carat. Smaller diamonds cost less per carat compared to larger ones.
While having a large face is advantageous, it should not compromise the diamond’s brilliance. Brilliance is achieved with ideal proportions, making a well-proportioned diamond with exceptional sparkle preferable to a larger stone that lacks brilliance.
