EDUCATION

KNOW WHAT YOU BUY

A diamond is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. Diamonds have been known to mankind and used as decorative items since ancient times; The hardness of diamond and its high dispersion of light - giving the diamond its characteristic "fire" - make it useful for industrial applications and desirable as jewellery. Diamonds are such a highly traded commodity that multiple organizations have been created for grading and certifying them based on the four Cs, which are cut, colour, clarity, and carat. Other characteristics, such as presence or lack of fluorescence, also affect the desirability and thus the value of a diamond used for jewellery.

QUALITY OF DIAMOND DEPENDS ON 4C's

Diamond cutting is the art and science of creating a gem-quality diamond out of mined rough. The cut of a diamond describes the manner in which a diamond has been shaped and polished from its beginning form as a rough stone to its final gem proportions.

The finest quality as per colour grading is totally colourless, which is graded as "D" colour diamond across the globe, meaning it is absolutely free from any colour. The next grade has a very slight trace of colour, which can be observed by any expert diamond value laboratory.

Clarity is a measure of internal defects of a diamond called inclusions. Inclusions may be crystals of a foreign material or another diamond crystal, or structural imperfections such as tiny cracks that can appear whitish or cloudy.

The carat weight measures the mass of a diamond. One carat is defined as 200 milligrams. The point unit - equal to one one-hundredth of a carat (0.01 carat, or 2 mg) - is commonly used for diamonds of less than one carat.