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Page 1 of 4 Introduction
The brilliance of the diamond has made it the world's most recognized and sought after jewel. Diamonds are the hardest known natural substance found on the planet and are essentially crystals of carbon (sharing the same elements as coal) which have been subjected to intense heat and pressure over millions of years. This process has been replicated in laboratories and synthetic diamonds are now common place, but not as valued as natural diamonds. Over the next few pages, we examine various aspects of diamonds, including valuation techniques, famous diamonds, industrial usage and more.
Four Cs Guide to Diamonds
People have adored diamonds for thousands of years. However, until this century, there was no uniform way of measuring the quality of any given diamond. Today, as you may realize, it is common practice for jewelers to determine the quality of a diamond by taking into account the 4 Cs: carat, clarity, color and cut. Let us explore these terms in further detail.
Carats - Diamond Weight
What exactly does a carat measure? When you hear the term carat, jewelers are actually referring to the mass of a diamond, not the size of a diamond as is commonly believed by many people
To be more precise, a one carat measurement is defined as weighing about 0.007 ounces or exactly 200 milligrams using the metric system. For comparison purposes, the mass of one carat is about the same as the mass of a paper clip.
For diamonds that weigh less than this one carat benchmark, a point unit system is utilized. There are 100 points in a metric carat and therefore, one point unit equals one one-hundredth of a carat or 0.01 carats or 2 mg.
Since large diamonds are quite rare and the demand for these types of diamonds is quite high, the value of a diamond increases dramatically when the carat weight of a diamond increases. Thus, for diamonds of equal quality, the cost per carat increases as the carat weight increases. For instance, the price of a 1.05 carat diamond is significantly more than a 0.95 carat diamond. Since, there is not much difference in these two types of diamonds when you look at them with the naked eye, it makes more economic sense for you to purchase the 0.95 carat diamond.
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