Rings with Diamonds
When it comes to buying diamond engagement rings the most important thing to factor in is how it appeals to you. Questions to ask yourself are: does it match your personality, does it suit your hand and will it be something you will feel comfortable wearing for a lifetime? The next thing to consider is your budget because unless you have a large amount of money to spend it is likely to be a question of compromise. For example, if you want a really large stone you may have to sacrifice a little on the quality and vice versa. At the end of the day more than 80 percent of the cost of the engagement ring goes on the diamond and there are 4 main criteria that affect how much it is worth. These are the 4 Cs of carat, clarity, colour and cut.
CARAT
A carat is the unit of weight used to measure a diamond. It is equivalent to one-fifth of a gram of 200 milligrams. The term is derived from ancient India, where the carob bean was used to work out the weight of gem. It was used because unusually each carob bean weighs exactly the same amount and so was a reliable as a method of measuring. However, because larger stones are much rarer than smaller ones, it is not the case that two 0.5 carat diamonds will be worth the same as one 1 carat diamond. The 1 carat stone will be valued considerably higher.
CLARITY
Clarity pertains to the amount of inclusions or flaws within the diamond. These impurities can be anything from a clouded spot, to a fracture or even a smaller diamond inside the bigger one and are often only visible under magnification. There is a system of grading with takes this into consideration with FL, which stands for flawless, being the highest quality of diamond. Generally for a good standard of diamond you should not select anything below a SI2 as then inclusions start to become visible to the naked eye.
COLOUR
The rarest and therefore the most valuable type of diamond is completely colourless. It is rated by the letter D on a scale that goes through to Z. The more yellow or brown hues in the diamond the lower down the scale it ranks, although again much of the colour change between grades is indistinguishable to the untrained eye, although leap several grades and the difference becomes apparent. Fancy coloured diamonds like pink or red do not fall into this category and can actually be extremely expensive.
CUT
This refers not only to the shape of the diamond but the make. This is the mathematically worked-out dimensions to which the diamond is cut in order to produce maximum sparkle. The flat surfaces that are cut into the diamond are called facets and are what reflect and refract the light. You may have heard that a diamond has fire and brilliance; well these terms refer to this process. BRILLIANCE is almost unique to diamonds and is the white light that is bounced directly back out of the stone, providing the proportions are correct. The FIRE is actually the dispersion or refraction of the white light which is split like a prism into the colours of the rainbow. Together they form the sparkle or scintillation of the diamond.