The 4C'S
Cut, Clarity, Color, Carat
You’ve most likely have heard about the famous 4C’s before, it is the most associated phrase in the diamond world after all. But most people don’t really know the meaning behind it, and if they do, it’s only a shallow understanding.
The 4C’s are what help us determine the value of a diamond. It stands for: Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat (weight)
Let’s delve deeper into all of them.
Diamond Cut
A diamond cut is determined by three criteria: cut, polish, and symmetry
Cut – The quality of a cut is undeniably one the most crucial factors, having a direct effect on the sparkling of our diamond. During the cutting process all the angles are measured and must be in a perfect sync for light to get inside the stone and and shine light back out.
Symmetry – The symmetry of the diamond is extremely important. All the facets must be perfectly aligned. One facet that is misaligned is enough to negatively influence the way your diamond sparkles.,
Polish – at the end of the process, when the cutter cuts the stone and ensures perfect symmetrical, the polishing procedure begins. During the polishing process, the cutter polishes every facet (in a round brilliant 58 facets) to ensures that they’re as smooth as glass for maximum light return.
DIAMOND COLOR
When we talk about the color of the diamond, our meaning is in fact the lack of color. The more colorless a diamond is, the more valuable and expensive. Diamond Colors are rated using a scale with letters (see scale). The highest level of color is D – which means completely colorless, and as you proceed in letters, diamonds have a more yellowish hue and their value goes down. This scale relates only to white diamonds.
Once the diamond is set in a jewelry piece it is difficult to determine its color. Even diamond experts find it very difficult to distinguish between one or two color grades, once the diamond is set.
Fluorescence – the fluorescence also plays a big part in the color department. Some diamonds are fluorescent, and when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays from sources like the sun and fluorescent lamps, emit a bluish light, and rarely, even a yellow or orange light. Once the UV light source is removed, the fluorescent effect is gone. In high color grade stones, strong fluorescence can make the stone look more hazy- and less desirable.
There are also colored diamonds called Fancy Colored. Natural Fancy Colored Diamonds- formed in the earth: pink, green, black, blue, red and yellow – are considered extremely rare, some of which more and some less. The more a diamond is rare it is obviously the more expensive.
Diamond Clarity
The clarity of a diamond is based on the external and internal world of every diamond. Every diamond is different from one another. In the internal world – most of the diamonds have inclusions (beside FL/IF grade that stands for flawless/internal flawless).
The inclusions consist of: feather(Gletz), Crystal, Clouds, Pinpoints, Needle, Twining wisp and many more. In the external world, the inclusion are: Scratch, Natural, Burn Marks, Wheel Marks and morel
When you buy a diamond – in the gemological certification diagram – the internal inclusion will be marked in red and the external will be marked in green. The clarity is based on 10x magnification(loupe). Gemologists use microscopes to find the exact location of the inclusion in the diamond. Some inclusions, depending on their size and location can even be seen in a naked eye.
You can see in the clarity scale – going from Flawless(FL) to I3 (Included)- the diamond clarity decreases gradually.
Diamond Carat
In Diamonds, like it or not, the size does matter. As the weight increases – the price increases. But we need to remember, that in the end, the value of the diamond will be calculated by all four parameters – the 4C’S
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