Carat Weight - 4 C's Part 1

The 4th C, is carat weight. This honestly, is as upfront as possible.

I just ended up talking with a customer and showing them some diamonds. He had a couple of questions in regards to how we express their sizes. Carat is abbreviated ct. So, a one carat diamond is written out 1.00 carat diamond.

Since he had looked a couple of other places, he had also seen factions and points. It's common to see a 0.25 diamond, also written 1/4 ct or 25 points. While we worked on fractions in school, points are probably new. A way to think of it is, there are 100 pennies in a dollar, and a 100 points in a carat.

I tend to find using points to express how heavy the diamond is, more straight forward than fractions. With say 1/2 carat, it could range. It might be 45 points. It might be 55 points.

The biggest part of importance is how carat weight affects the cost of the diamond. The larger the stone, the more rare it is, thus the more costly. Seems cut and dry.

Here is where that matters. a .75 carat diamond is a lot cheaper than a 1.00 diamond. For some people they tend to come into the store thinking that the need to get a 1 carat stone for their girlfriend, but the cost of the average one carat might be out of their price range. Here is where I do not sacrifice the color or clarity in order to help them get a one carat, but suggest maybe getting a 90 pointer. The difference in size is not really noticeable, but the saving is easily felt.

Diamond Color part 1

One of the four “C’s” and the first one I education my customers on is color, or how white the diamond is. Diamonds can come in all colors, but before you run out and search for a colored stone, make sure that’s what she wants, particularly if it is going to be set in an engagement ring.

Diamonds have a color scale from D-Z

D, E, and F are the bright ice white diamonds. G has a slight amount of body color, and for reference’s sake, Z is the color of Red Bull. Most people tend to favor the whiter stones, while some people side with a diamond with a little more warmth to it.

The color of your center stone really begins to matter when I am setting it in a mounting with side diamonds. For instance, if my side stones are colorless (F or better) and I put something even as close as an I, the difference is going to be startling (not in a sexy “is that a canary yellow diamond”, but a “Is something wrong with that center?” sort of way).

Another factor to note is diamonds pick up the color of the metal they are set in. Meaning that if you are setting your diamond in white gold, platinum and palladium it’s more important to use a whiter diamond to avoid a contrast, while there is more lee-way with yellow gold.

When viewing diamonds, try to wear neutral colored clothing. I made an interesting mistake of wearing a deep green when showing my customer a diamond, while he was thinking about the stone at home he could have sworn the diamond had a greenish hue. View the diamond against a white background, and other stones to double check the color. Or cheat and double check the certification -- if the diamond is certified.