Searching for THE diamond ring can be an exciting yet overwhelming time. Not only may you have multiple ideas in your head but thinking about budget on top of choosing the right diamond can make the whole process seem intimidating. Most people when looking at purchasing a diamond ring will have heard of the '4 C's'. This blog post by House of Solus will explain to you just what to look in a diamond before considering that important purchase.
The 4'Cs of a diamond
Although you may not be able to tell one diamond apart from another, each diamond is unique in it's appearance and each has specific qualities that establish it's value.
Until the middle of the 20th Century there wasn't a way to grade a diamond until GIA ( Gemological Institute of America) created the first globally accepted checklist on how a diamond should be valued. The grading takes into account the Cut, Clarity, Carat and Colour of a diamond. Otherwise known as the 4 C's. This universal language of how a diamond should be certified is a fantastic way for customer's to be informed on what kind of diamond they are purchasing.
House of Solus only use GIA certified diamonds in all of its design .
DIAMOND COLOUR
The colour a diamond is an important factor to consider when choosing a diamond. It's also important to note that not all diamonds are clear. Blue, black and pink diamonds are amongst some of the colours available.
When it comes to colour, the less colour the higher the grade. The GIA colour spectrum grades diamonds from Colour D. (Colourless) to Z (Light Yellow / Brown) . Whilst D colours are amongst the rarest due to their purity, a G and a H colour diamond are still amongst the highest of quality but are more reasonably priced.
CLARITY
The GIA lab uses a GIA clarity scale to determine the quality of a diamond's clarity. They range from flawless to I3. Flawless describes a diamond that has no inclusions when it is magnified up to ten times. I3 describes a diamond as having clear and noticeable inclusions.
GIA CUT
Some argue that out of the 4 factors, the cut is the most important as it refers to how much 'sparkle' a diamond has. Even without a high cut grade, the quality of a diamond can appear dull.
The GIA cut scale has five points that range from excellent to poor. You may think of cut as the shape of the diamond, like square cut or round. However there is much more to the cut of a diamond than just it's shape. How a diamond is cut and polished determines how much brilliance comes off the stone. Each diamond is placed in a rotating device that turns the diamond 360 degrees and measures the diamonds facet angles and measurements. From this a cut grade is given. House of Solus always recommend to go as high on this scale as your budget allows. The higher the grade, the brighter the sparkle.
CARAT WEIGHT
One carat = 200 milligrams or one fifth of a gram in weight. At the GIA lab each diamond is placed in a sealed chamber and placed on an extremely precise scale that takes the diamond's weight.
The diamonds 4 C's along with a wealth of information appears on the diamonds own GIA grading report. This is the most advanced and technological diamond grading report there is. Each diamond purchased with House of Solus will come with it's own grading report.