| What are the 4 C's? The 4 C's, or also known as | | | | such as scratches, and therefore are the most |
| cut, color, clarity and carat weight, hold the | | | | expensive ones. Nonetheless, most diamonds do |
| essence of a diamond. By understanding those 4 | | | | have a few inclusions. Certified diamonds are |
| characteristics, you'll gain important tools to know | | | | carefully monitored and examined so you'll get the |
| your diamond. | | | | most excellent valued diamonds. |
| The Cut - The cut of a diamond defines its | | | | A diamond clarity scale: |
| brilliance. It is considered as the most important | | | | Flawless |
| characteristic, as a diamond with a poor cut will | | | | FL |
| have a faint brilliance. Below you can find a cut | | | | No internal or extern flaws. Very rare and dazzling |
| quality grade (only for standard round cut | | | | diamonds. |
| diamond, as this characteristic refers to it only). | | | | Internally Flawless |
| Cut Scale: | | | | IF |
| -Excellent | | | | No internal flaws. Also rare and beautiful diamonds. |
| -Very good | | | | Very Very slightly included |
| -Good | | | | VVS1, VVS2 |
| -Fair | | | | High-quality diamonds, very hard to detect a flaw |
| -Poor | | | | in it. |
| The Color - A diamond acts just like a prism; it | | | | Very Slightly included |
| catches the light and divides it into a spectrum of | | | | VS1,VS2 |
| colors. The fewer colors in the diamond, a better | | | | Those excellent valued diamonds have inclusions, |
| color grade are achieved. | | | | but are rarely visible to the human eye. |
| A diamond color scale: | | | | Slightly included |
| Colorless | | | | SI1,SI2 |
| D-F | | | | Beautiful diamonds, yet less expensive than the |
| The highest color grade and therefore the most | | | | VS1 or VVS1 diamonds. |
| high-quality diamonds. D is rarely found. | | | | Included |
| * Near Colorless | | | | I1,I2,I3 |
| G-J - In these excellent valued diamonds, color is | | | | The carat weight - Carat is the term used to |
| barley detected, as it has slight evidence, and only | | | | express the weight of a diamond, with one carat |
| when compared to a better grade diamonds, such | | | | equaling 200 milligrams of actual weight. Diamonds |
| as D-F. | | | | that weigh just under the next full carat are |
| * Faint | | | | typically less expensive than diamonds passing the |
| K-M - K-M grade diamonds has noticeable color. | | | | full-carat hurdle. There is no single visual scale that |
| * Very Light to light | | | | can illustrate diamonds of different carat weights, |
| N-Z - N-Z grade diamonds has noticeable color. | | | | because variations in a diamond shape and cut |
| The Clarity - The most high-quality diamonds are | | | | make diamonds of similar weights look very |
| the ones which are clear and have no inclusions, | | | | different. That's it! Not so complex now, isn't? |