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One of the most important purchases you will make is that of a diamond. Diamonds symbolize a great deal to us, the engagement of the person who we will spend the rest of our life with, a lifelong love, a wedding anniversary. Diamonds are one of the most beautiful and brilliant gemstones in the world, and are the hardest substances as well. Buying a diamond can be extremely difficult if you don’t know what you are doing. How do you know if you are getting a good price on a diamond if you don’t know what you’re looking for? Diamond dealers often take advantage of impulsive buyers by pushing off the lesser quality diamonds on them. The more reputable diamond dealers will give you an appraisal with your diamond, but it is better to be informed before you buy.
The basic rule of evaluating a diamond is the rule called The 4 C’s. The 4 C’s are Color, Clarity, Cut and Carat. It’s easy to remember the 4 C’s but what do they mean?
Color refers to, of course, the color of your diamond. The color of a diamond is one of the determinants to its value, the more colorless your diamond is, the more value it holds. Diamond colors are broken up into grades designated by letter, the higher the letter, the more color in your diamond:
D,E,F: Colorless
GHIJ: Near Colorless
KLM: Faint Yellow
N-Z: Light Yellow
Cut refers to the way your diamond has been cut, there are many different cuts for diamonds and the cuts are further classified by how skillfully they were cut. The skill of a diamond cutter is evaluated in three categories:
Scintillation: this is the sparkle you see when your diamond catches light from different angles
Fire: refers to the colors you can see in your diamond
Brilliance: the shine of the diamond
There are many cuts to choose from and you should pick carefully with your recipients tastes in mind.
Clarity refers to the imperfections in your diamond and these can not be seen with the naked eye, a jewelers eyepiece is needed to determine clarity. Clarity is classified into different categories in this way:
FL: Flawless
VVSI: very, very slight, extremely tiny
VVS2: very, very slight, imperfect tiny
VS1: very slightly
VS2: very slightly imperfect
SI1: slightly imperfect
SI2: imperfect
I1: imperfect
I2: more imperfect
I3: even more imperfect
Carat means how many points your diamond has. One carat has 100 points and the more carats your diamond has, the more valuable it is.
Use caution when buying your diamonds and only shop from a reputed dealer, you can check with the better business bureau beforehand. The rewards you will receive from this purchase will be more than worth the price!
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