Buying Guide
The Gemstone Guide to Diamonds
Loved for
Its brilliance and sparkle. A symbol of eternity and love.
About Diamonds
One of the most precious gemstones, the diamond is one of the hardest materials that we know. The diamond owes its name to the Greek word meaning ‘unconquerable’.
The sparkling diamond has been prized by jewellery lovers for almost as long as pearls, but their qualities could not be more different. Whereas a pearl has a complex, organic beauty, a skilled jeweller can cut and shape a diamond to show off its unique relationship with light.
The diamond is the traditional choice for an engagement ring or wedding band.
Colour
Colourless, tinted white to light yellow.
Fancy colour diamonds can be yellow and brown, or more rarely blue, green, pink, and red.
Where it's found
Russia, Australia, Botswana, Congo, South Africa, Canada, Angola, USA.
Moh hardness
10 (1 soft to 10 hard)
Birthstone
For April
Anniversaries
60th wedding anniversary
How Diamonds are Graded
The 4C’s system was developed by the Gemological Institute of America in the 1940s and 1950s to help explain the complexities of grading a diamond.
The 4C’s stand for Carat, Color or Colour, Clarity and Cut.
Carat
A carat is the unit used to measure the weight of a diamond, with each metric carat weighing 0.2 grams.
Carat weight is not the same type of carat as that used to describe the purity of gold, but takes its name from the carob seeds that were used as a balance on the scales of early gem traders.
A carat may also be divided into 100 points, with 15 points representing 0.15 carats.
The greater the weight of a diamond, the greater its rarity and value. One of the largest diamonds ever found was the priceless Cullinan Diamond, weighing 3,105 metric carats.
Colour
The most popular diamonds used in fine jewellery are white to near colourless, representing their purity.
The 4Cs scale grades these diamonds from D (Exceptional White+) to H (White), with colour and tints of yellow starting to occur at grades from I to Z.
Diamond colours need to be examined in controlled lighting conditions, but in general the less colour that a diamond has, the higher its value.
| Colour Grading | Description |
|---|---|
| D, E and F | Colourless |
| G, H, I and J | Near colourless |
| K, L and M | Faint yellow |
| N, O, P, Q and R | Very light yellow |
| S, T, U, V, W, X, Y and Z | Light yellow |
Clarity
As with other gemstones, a cut diamond may have a number of small internal blemishes or inclusions. These do not necessarily limit the beauty of a diamond and in many cases will not be visible to the naked eye.
The very best clarity grade on the GIA grading scale is a remarkable flawless diamond graded FL or F1.
The grades of VS1 or VS2 have very slight inclusions, that may be visible under a 10x magnification, and are used in jewellery offering excellent value to a discerning buyer.
| Clarity Grading | Description |
|---|---|
| FL | Flawless, with no blemishes or inclusions |
| IF | Internally flawless, with no visible inclusions under 10x magnification |
| VVS1 and VVS2 | Very very slightly included, with inclusions difficult to see under 10x magnification |
| VS1 and VS2 | Very slightly included, with inclusions noticeable with effort under 10x magnification |
| SI1 and SI2 | Slightly included, with slightly noticeable inclusions under 10x magnification |
| I1, I2 and I3 | Imperfect, with obvious inclusions that are visible to the eye |
Cut
The final and most important grading factor gives a diamond its dazzling qualities.
This Cut grading is also one of the hardest to judge, being dependent on how much light is reflected by the diamond (descibed as brilliance), its sparkle when it is moved (descibed as scintillation) and how it disperses light into different colours (descibed as fire).
The traditional round brilliant cut has 58 facets, with an established geometry of angles and size, but many other shapes can be exquisitely used in a variety of jewellery designs and styles.
Whatever the shape, the quality of the cut of a diamond may be graded as Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor.
