When you are planning on purchasing a diamond it is important that you know as much as possible about how diamonds are classified. Learning about diamonds is first learning about the “four Cs” of diamonds which are considered the most important grades and categories:

• Cut
• Clarity
• Color
• Carat weight

These are the criteria jewelers use when grading diamonds, and they’re the ones you’ll need to understand to buy the right diamond for you. Click on each bullet point to learn more.

The clarity of a diamond is influenced by the amount and location of flaws in the diamond when viewed under 10 power (10x) magnification. GIA rates clarity grades in diamonds from Flawless to Imperfect. Most diamonds contain very tiny blemishes known as “inclusions.” An inclusion can interfere with the light passing through the diamond. The fewer the inclusions, the more beautiful the diamond will be. Similar to scrateches on the face of your watch.

Diamonds have the potential of producing more brilliance than any other gem on earth. A diamond that is free of inclusions and surface blemishes is very rare…and therefore very valuable.  The most expensive diamond we found online so far is a 13.53 Carat Princess Cut Diamond Engagement Ring VS1. Ironically it was on Ebay.

Diamonds come naturally in every color of the rainbow (some more rare than others like blue). However most people are concerned with diamonds in the white range. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) rates the body color in white diamonds from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow). 
 The best color for a diamond is no color at all. A totally colorless diamond allows light to pass through it easily, resulting in the light being dispersed as the color of the rainbow. Colors are graded totally colorless to light yellow. The differences from one grade to the other are very subtle and it takes a professionally educated eye and years of experience to color grade a diamond accurately.

See chart below for scale of colors. Click here to go back to our diamond education guide.

Tip:  Diamonds graded G through I show virtually no color that is visible to the untrained eye.

Tip: Fancy color diamonds do not follow this rule. These diamonds, which are very rare and very expensive, can be any color from blue to green to bright yellow. They are actually more valuable for their color. My wife owns a rare an expensive natural blue diamond bought in Alaska at Diamonds International.  These diamonds are beautiful.

Most are more interested in the proportions of the diamond as opposed to its shape when speaking of cut(Round Brilliant, Marquise, Pear, Princess, etc.) Every diamond regardless of its shape gets it brilliancy and scintillation (sometimes referred to as bling) by cutting and polishing the diamond facets to allow the maximum amount of light that enters through its top to be reflected and dispersed back through its top. A correctly cut, “well made”, stone allows light to enter the stone and bounce back out of the top almost like a mirror. As you can see if the angles are correct the light that enters is dispersed properly back through the diamond’s top facets.

When a stone is cut too shallow  or too deep the light that enters through the top is allowed to escape through the diamond’s bottom and does not allow the maximum beauty of the diamond to be realized.  If a diamond is cut to wide the light tries to exit the bottom.  If the diamond is cut to thin the light exits out of the sides. Click here to go back to diamond education.