Shape, Color and Clarity in Diamonds | Make the right decision
There are certain key factors that determine the quality of a diamond and among them the most important are shape, color and clarity. Knowing how these basics work is essential in order to choose a good investment diamond or to maximize your budget in the case of a center stone for engagement rings.
Managing at least the basics of each characteristic of a diamond will not only save you from making a bad investment, but will also make it easier to understand how the value scales work and when it is best to focus on one property or another.
There is a lot of ground to cover on this topic, but with 5 minutes of your time you will be more than prepared.
Why is it necessary to know these characteristics?
Each characteristic of a diamond directly defines its rarity and price. Starting from the “ideal” conditions a really perfect white diamond is a stone almost impossible to get in natural origin, this is one of the reasons why collectors pay large sums for these beautiful internal and externally beautiful stones.
Many of these characteristics are invisible to the human eye, but certainly not to your wallet. This means that a small variation in some property of the diamond has big effects on its cost, even if you can’t notice it to the naked eye.
We’ll give a quick and easy tour to help you understand and be a little better prepared.
Diamond Properties: Shape
Diamond shape is literally the most visible property of this stone, followed by carat. It is the set of visible geometric patterns that the rough diamond acquires once worked.
Each diamond shape directly impacts how the other properties look and have a set of technical specifications such as facets, depth, proportion… This makes it possible for each diamond shape to have its own unique visual characteristics that make them more or less desirable in some contexts than others.
Are shape and cut the same thing?
At a commercial level both terms are often used interchangeably. In a more technical sense this is not the case. The diamond cut is the set of design specifications such as the internal angles of the diamond, table size, depth… The diamond shape refers to its overall external appearance.
How many are there?
There are as many diamond shapes as there have been designs in the world. With the evolution of jewelry and new gem cutting tools, diamond shapes have evolved into a science of playing with angles and creating truly unique light patterns. Currently the most popular shapes are:
- Round
- Marquise
- Oval
- Pear
- Princess
- Emerald
- Cushion
- Radiant
- Heart
And each of them have their own unique properties.
Effects of shape on other properties
As discussed above, the shape of the diamond interferes with other visible properties of the diamond such as clarity. Brilliant cuts such as round help to disguise some diamond imperfections very well or make them appear clearer than they are.
Some diamond shapes maximize the carat weight of the stone, which means they look larger than others, even though they weigh the same.
Which is the best?
Each diamond cut has its strengths, with respect to general preferences or more requests the round cut is perhaps the most striking. Although it is also the most expensive of all followed by the heart and marquise.
Does this mean that it is the best? Not necessarily, some cuts win in other aspects such as the marquise which makes the fingers look more stylized or the heart which is in itself a symbol of romance.
Diamond Properties: Color
Despite what many people think, diamonds aren't completely white, in fact, there are diamonds of many colors. Intense colored diamonds are very coveted but very rare to find. The “normal” scale of diamonds range from pristine crystalline white to slightly brown/yellowish.
How relevant is color?
Color greatly impacts the brilliance and overall beauty of a diamond. The less color a diamond shows the more rare and expensive it is. This applies only in the case of normal or white diamonds, as “fancy” colored diamonds are in a completely different ranking.
A diamond found in yellowish and brownish tones are the most common and the least desirable, they are often destined for the industrial sector. Some diamonds such as blue or the very rare red diamond could easily exceed the price of an all-white one.
Color scale
The industry standard for grading diamonds by color is that proposed by the GIA. This standard for white diamonds ranges from D (completely colorless) to Z (almost brown). A diamond less than L is rarely considered a white diamond.
Diamond color and price
A D-graded diamond is in theory structurally “perfect” and very difficult to obtain and therefore fetches very high prices on the market, depending of course on its other properties.
Interestingly, at first glance, no ordinary person would notice the difference between a D color diamond and an F or even a G, unless they can compare them closely.
The price difference between a D and a G is around 30%, even though you may not notice the difference.
The ideal color depending on the shape
The shape of the diamond greatly affects color perception. It does not mean that a diamond becomes lighter, but that certain types of patterns make it more difficult to notice the color difference. Specifically, very brilliant cuts such as round, oval and radiant are good for this.
Sleek cuts such as emerald do not disguise color very well. The heart cut usually disguises color well in the center, but expose it at the edges, while the marquise and pear cut can be problematic in the center (because of the bow tie pattern).
So, if you want to maximize your budget by saving on color to opt for a larger stone choose brilliant and not fancy or fancy cuts for any piece smaller than G. Understand that stone size and other properties should also be considered when choosing.
Diamond Properties: Clarity
The clarity of a diamond has to do with the amount of inclusions (internal details) and imperfections (surface details). Understanding that diamonds are formations of carbon that are created under ideal conditions of temperature and pressure deep in the earth, almost always surrounded by other elements, finding a “pure” diamond without imperfections is almost impossible.
Depending on whether what is “trapped” in the diamond when it is formed is a gaseous structure or a certain element, the inclusions may be more or less visible.
Myths and truths
There are many myths about diamond clarity. First of all, it is important to know that a diamond is always beautiful, but never perfect. Even imperfections are often a signature that allows us to identify whether a diamond is genuinely natural or created in a laboratory.
Most inclusions are invisible to the human eye and do not damage the aesthetics. Certainly some elements such as the size of the stone, the cut or certain angle can easily expose inclusions to a visible level.
Clarity does not define the brilliance of the stone. Keep this in mind when purchasing a diamond as it does not matter if imperfections are only visible with a 10x magnification loupe, the price difference between one scale and another is considerable.
Grading
To measure the level of structural purity of a diamond, the GIA clarity scale is used, which is made up of 6 levels and in turn these levels are broken down into 11 types.
In summary, the first type is the Flawless Flawlees (F) and is followed by Internally Flawless (IF), Very Very Very Small Inclusions (VVS1, VVS2), Very Small Inclusions (VS1, VS2), Small Inclusions (SI1, SI2) and Included (I1, I2, I3).
The most popular purchase range is VVS and VS. In some cases there are good SI quality diamonds whose inclusions are difficult to see as they are well disguised by the cut and low in size.
An F quality diamond is perfection in the industry standard, but in terms of value for money, up to the VS ranges you will need a magnifying glass to see the detail in the diamond.
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