Hunting for the perfect diamond engagement ring or indeed, a diamond for any other occasion is a task the uninitiated may sometimes feel overwhelmed by; diamonds sparkle but everything that sparkles is not gold! Certainly not "gold" when it comes to making the right decisions on the diamond of your choice!
Before you start looking for a diamond, take a few moments to educate yourself on how to spot a great diamond from a piece of squashed graphite: diamonds and graphite are made from exactly the same element - Carbon - but the process for making each of them is very different deep within the bowels of the earth.
Diamonds are formed at least fifty miles under our feet where the pressures defy belied and at extremely high temperatures which force the carbon atoms into a peculiar lattice structure and it is this atomic formation which gives diamonds their strength and beauty as well as three of the four factors which affect their value and the price you pay - "The Four C's".
The four C's are:
1. Color - this is something of a trick; the most valuable diamonds have no coloring at all which accentuates the brilliance and fire after they are cut and polished; many diamonds have a yellowish coloring and this decreases the luster and sparkle of the stone so the less color a diamond has the more valuable it is. As a side note, there are blue and pink diamonds which are exceedingly rare and these do have an astronomical price tag!
2. Clarity - when a diamond is forming in the earth, other material aside from carbon may be included in the mix - bubbles of gas or foreign matter, or as part of the process the growing diamond may have scratches or faults along the lattice - these may be visible or may not be; if they are visible this will impact the value of the diamond and you will pay much more for a flawless diamond than one with flaws. Even though your diamond may have flaws, there are considerable detailed classifications for how serious the flaws are - visible inclusions near the surface of the stone decrease the value much more than a tiny, invisible to the naked eye inclusion towards the base of the diamond.
3. Carat - this is a measure of weight drawn from ancient times when the seeds of the Carob tree were used as a counterbalance on the diamond weighing scales - one carob became one carat and this is equal to 0.2 grams. Be aware that the term carat is a measure of weight and not shape of size; a diamond may appear to be large from how it has been cut (see the following) but is in fact a lesser carat than another smaller looking stone. The more carats the more you will pay.
4. Cut - The only man-made part of the process which affects the value of a diamond; how it is cut will account for as much as 40% of the final value of the diamond itself. It is a highly skilled process practiced by exceptionally gifted craftsmen. The cut will determine the final shape and appearance of the stone but more importantly, how brilliant and fiery a diamond appears is directly related to how well it is cut. The sparkle of a diamond comes from the internal reflection of light entering the stone; it bounces around the interior of the diamond and this gives an amplified effect when it leaves the stone and enters your eye. Too shallow a cut and the light does not reflect so well as it simply passes through the stone; a good cut will maximize the internal reflection of light and it will enhance its sparkling appearance.
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