Loose diamonds are a great way to hold investments, travel with world market items, and collect for unique jewelry settings. If you are looking into the market of loose diamonds, follow a few diamond selection tips prior to shopping so you have full diamond education.
A diamond’s grade depends on four characteristics, also known as the Four C’s: cut, carat, clarity, and color. Together, these properties determine how much a diamond is worth.
Cut. Cut is extremely important in determining a diamond’s worth. A round brilliant diamond has 58 facets and the proportion of the facets are a key characteristic in a quality diamond. The better the proportion of the facet, the more light will be reflected off the diamond and into one’s eye. The diamond will also sparkle more and give off a bigger shine. The cut can also refer to the shape of the diamond such as round, princess, emerald, heart, pear, or oval.
Carat. Carat is the size and weight of the diamond. Larger diamonds cost more per carat because of their size. Diamonds are measured in points, with 100 points per diamond. Example: a half carat diamond has 50 points.
Clarity. Clarity describes how clear the diamond is and ranges from flawless, which is a perfect diamond, to I, meaning Included.
Flawless: The flawless diamond is perfect inside and out. These diamonds are the rarest of them all. Flawless diamonds are very difficult to find and they are the purest. They contain no imperfections.
Internally Flawless: These diamonds are internally flawless and have no imperfection inside. These diamonds are very rare.
VVS1, VVS2: It is very difficult to see any imperfections, even under 10x magnification. Diamonds in this range are rarer than the lower clarity grades.
VS1, VS2: Diamonds in this range are the most sought after for being as clear as possible without the heavy price tag of VVS and Flawless Diamonds. Diamonds in this category have very small imperfections that are not visible by the naked eye, though can be picked up using 10X magnification.
SI1, SI2, SI3: Diamonds in the SI1 category tend to be visibly clean with some exceptions. Some SI2 Diamonds are visibly clean as well. Once in the SI3 range, you can expect to see small imperfections by the naked eye. The SI1-SI2 range is very popular because it will give you higher quality at a low cost.
I1, I2: Diamonds with a clarity grade of I1 or I2 tend to have multiple imperfections visible by the naked eye. Diamonds in this range are great because of the relatively low cost compared to other clarity grades. Clients tend to like this range when looking for a larger size diamond at a low cost.
Color. Color describes the amount of color the diamond contains. The most flawless and perfect diamond should have no color at all. Diamonds can range from colorless to yellow with slight tints of yellow, gray or brown. Some can also range from intense yellow to brown, blue, green, pink and red. These fancy colored diamonds are rare and therefore more valuable. Their range is measured on a letter scale from D-Z, with D being exceptionally white and so forth. The color of a diamond or stone can be determined using a Gemological Institute of America (GIA) Certified set of master stones or by using a Colorimeter. The colorimeter is a computer that accurately grades a polished diamond’s color.
Mark Broumand will help you find loose diamonds for your next investment.
