With the right care, a diamond can last for a life time.
Okie i guess guys are really careful when they purchase diamonds. Please if you do intend to get engaged , kindly only go for the D, E & F grade. Guys do not see the yellow tint in Grade G onwards but ladies do. and it's very obvious.
Do not believe in sellers telling u "oh u can get a G grade but with more cuts and it will be of the same brightness" hai~~ Wrong!!! the Yellow tint can still be seen!!. The cut allows the diamond to shine more but does not change the colour of the diamonds.
Clarity is a measure of the number and extent of the flaws in the diamond. Generally speaking, the fewer the flaws, the more valuable the diamond. Completely flawless diamonds are extremely rare -- only a few hundred "FL" diamonds are produced per year worldwide.
There are several grading systems used to describe clarity. By far, the most popular is the Gemological Institute of America's (G.I.A.) scale, which ranks diamonds as Flawless (FL), Internally Flawless (IF), very very slightly included (VVS), very slightly included (VS), slightly imperfect (SI), and imperfect (I):
Although seemingly subjective, the G.I.A. scale has specific criteria that are used to differentiate between the different grades (what's the difference between "very very" slight and "very" slight anyway!):
FL: Completely flawless
IF: Internally flawless; only external flaws are present, which can be removed by further polishing the stone
VVS1 - VVS2: Only an expert can detect flaws with a 10X microscope. By definition, if an expert can see a flaw from the top of the diamond, it is a VVS2. Otherwise, if an expert can only detect flaws when viewing the bottom of the stone, then it is a VVS1
VS1 - VS2: You can see flaws with a 10X microscope, but it takes a long time (more than about 10 seconds)
SI1 - SI2: You can see flaws with a 10X microscope
I1 - I3: You can see flaws with the naked eye. Consider avoiding I2-I3 diamonds.
There are many different types of flaws. The best way to become acquainted with them is to look at lots of diamonds. The more common ones are as follows:
Pinpoint: A very small white dot on the surface of the stone. By far, the most common flaw
Carbons: A very small black dot on the surface of the stone. Less common than pinpoints
Feathers: Small cracks within the stone, similar in look to broken glass. Small internal feathers are harmless (other than lowering the clarity rating of the diamond), but large feathers can become a problem because the crack can grow as the diamond ages
Clouds: Hazy areas within the diamond, actually made up of many small crystals that are impossible to see individually
Crystal Growth: A small crystalline growth within the diamond. Looks like a small diamond within the big diamond
Unfortunately, clarity is very difficult to judge accurately by an inexperienced consumer, so your best bet is to gain an education first by looking at lots of diamonds before making a purchase. Any good jeweler will spend the time you need to get comfortable judging the clarity of your stone -- ask different jewelers to point out the flaws in several stones until you can detect pinpoints and other flaws by yourself.
One pitfall to avoid when shopping for clarity is the "clarity-enhanced" diamond. This is an artificial process used to "fix" the flaws on an otherwise good stone. Although a clarity-enhanced diamond can look nearly flawless (in some cases, it is impossible to detect the enhancement), it is intrinsically worth as much as a flawed stone. Furthermore, the durability is nowhere that of pure diamond. Be sure to confirm with your jeweler that the stone you are considering is not clarity-enhanced, and be sure to double-check this fact on the G.I.A. certificate. If you do not receive a G.I.A. certificate with your stone, ask the jeweler to state that the diamond is not clarity-enhanced on the appraisal.
The "color" of a diamond refers to its degree of "yellowness." The ideal diamond is completely colorless, and therefore it will be the most expensive. The Gemological Institute of America (G.I.A.) grades color alphabetically from D (totally colorless) to Z (yellow):
For a diamond to be considered "colorless," the G.I.A. requires that it be a D, E, or F. However, the D-Z scale is continuous, so the difference between an F and G is very small. The average color for engagement diamonds in the United States is G to H.
Jewelers have two tools at their disposal to judge the color of a given diamond. The first is what's known as a "reference set" of stones. A jeweler will compare the stone in question with a set of stones of known color (the set is typically made of cubic zirconium!), and make a qualitative determination as to the color grading of the stone in question. The second, more precise method, is to use a colorimeter, which is nothing more than an electrical device that will measure the optical characteristics of the stone and report the color to within 1/3 of a grade. Be aware that most jewelers routinely "round up" the results of a color test. Therefore, a stone that is only slightly better than an F grade automatically becomes an E (and hence becomes more expensive for the consumer to purchase).
When judging the color of a diamond, it is crucial to see the diamond unmounted. Ask to see the printout from the colorimeter, or ask the jeweler for a reference set of stones to make the comparisons yourself. To do this, place the diamond in question next to the reference stones face down on a white piece of paper, and compare the color of the stones until you get the best match.
Cut is by far the most confusing of the 4 Cs, since it can refer to the cutting style, the shape of the stone (round, square, heart-shaped, etc.), its proportions, or the workmanship of the actual diamond-cutting process. Each of these four characteristics are important while evaluating a stone, so we will discuss each separately.
Diamonds, as crafted by nature, consist of translucent crystalline carbon. If the outer rough could be peeled away, the resulting stone would be as smooth as glass; unfortunately, it would be no more aesthetically pleasing than a piece of glass crystal. The art of the diamond-cutter is to transform that chunk of crystallized carbon into a beautiful piece of jewelry.
The diamond-cutter has two basic types of cuts in his arsenal: The step cut and the brilliant cut. You may also hear of hybrids of the two basic cuts, such as the emerald cut, or you may also encounter some of the older-style cuts, such as the rose cut, the old European cut, or the old mine cut. If you are planning to purchase a diamond for a modern engagement ring, you only need to concern yourself with the two basic cuts.
The step cut has parallel facets that usually span the length or width of the stone. Refer to the picture shown here, and notice the "steps" that lead from the outer edges to the top of the diamond. If a step-cut diamond has rounded-off facets in the corners, this is a variant of the step-cut called the emerald cut.
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| Step Cut | Emerald Cut |
The brilliant cut has triangular facets that surround the stone and usually culminate on a flat top called a table. Again, refer to the picture shown here and notice how the triangles fit into each other. The modern and popular brilliant-cut round engagement diamond has 58 of these triangular facets -- 33 above the middle of the stone (or the girdle), and 25 below.
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| Brilliant Round Cut |
 | The choice between a brilliant-cut or step-cut stone is simple: If you want the shiniest diamond possible, select a brilliant cut. If you prefer a more glassy, elegant stone, the step cut is for you. |
One point of clarification is that you cannot just go to the jewelry store and purchase a generic step-cut or brilliant-cut diamond -- you must select a stone with a given shape, that will in turn be created using step-cuts, brilliant-cuts, or a mix of the two.
Above information can be found from www.diamond.info
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