The 4 Cs of Diamonds

A diamond’s cut is not just a description of its shape. It is the most crucial factor in determining its fire, brilliance, and scintillation.

The cut of a diamond determines how well light that enters the stone is refracted inside and reflected through the top. A diamond cut to ideal proportion and symmetry will reveal the perfect balance of light back through the top of the stone.

Colour refers to the presence or absence of a yellow or brown tint in white diamonds. The closer a diamond is to being colourless, the rarer and more valuable it is. The exception to this is fancy-coloured diamonds, such as deep yellows, pinks, and blues, which lie outside the white diamond colour range.

The colour of a diamond is measured on an alphabetical scale starting from D (colourless) to Z (colour appearance). Each letter grade has a clearly defined range of colour appearance that determines its value.

Every diamond has a unique clarity that acts as a fingerprint. Clarity measures the degree of natural inclusions or imperfections found in a diamond. The closer a diamond is to being flawless, the rarer it is and the higher its value. Most inclusions are only visible under a 10x magnifying loupe to determine clarity.

A diamond’s clarity is determined by the number, size, type, and placement of the inclusions found in the diamond.

A carat is a unit of measurement equal to 0.2 mg or 200 mg. A carat refers to the weight of a diamond or other gemstone.

A larger diamond will fetch a higher price in the diamond trade. Because of their rarity, large diamonds are more expensive than lesser diamonds of the same colour and quality. This indicates that the larger a diamond is, the higher its price will be per carat. An important caveat: a diamond’s size or carat weight are not the only factors that go into establishing its value. Considerations like hue and clarity need to be made as well.