The 4 C's of Natural Diamonds
The four C’s of diamonds are Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat, which serve as a universal standard for evaluating a diamond’s quality and value. The Cut refers to how well the diamond has been proportioned to reflect light, the Color is graded on a scale from colorless to light yellow, Clarity assesses the absence of internal and external imperfections, and Carat is the diamond’s weight.
- Cut: This is often considered the most important C because it determines the diamond’s brilliance, fire, and scintillation. The cut is not the shape of the diamond, but rather the quality of its proportions and angles, which dictates how effectively it interacts with light.
- Color: Diamond color is graded on a scale from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow or brown). The less color a diamond has, the higher its value is typically considered to be.
- Clarity: This refers to the absence of internal characteristics, known as inclusions, and external characteristics, known as blemishes. The fewer and less visible these imperfections are, the higher the clarity grade and value.
- Carat: This is the unit of measurement for a diamond’s weight, where one carat equals 200 milligrams. A diamond’s weight does not solely determine its value; two diamonds of the same carat weight can have very different prices depending on the other three C’s.
