Understanding a diamond's characteristics is simple. Its define by four C's:

 

CUT

It’s the diamond's most important characteristic. It’s all about the symmetry of its tiny mirror-like facets. A diamond that is cut to the right proportions, not too shallow or not too deep will have more brilliance. The better cut the more sparkle. The diamond’s sparkle catches the eye first. The cut affects the diamond’s beauty and price.

Cut quality grades are:  poor, fair, good, very good, and Ideal. An ideal cut is very expensive. To the naked eye, the difference between a very good and ideal cut is not noticeable.

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COLOR

A diamond’s color grade is based on its lack of color. The less color, the higher grade.

A diamond’s color grade catch the eye second

Color Grades are divided into groups:

• Colorless  D-F, D is the highest color grade, actually is colorless. E and F are almost colorless and still have the Ice look.
• Near colorless  G-H – No noticeable color, still great value and white. I-j – Very faint color, looks great on yellow gold.

• Faint color  K – slightly colored. When set on yellow gold, hardly noticeable.

• Color diamonds L-Z – Noticeable yellow color, as the grade goes lower, the color is more intensive. 

• Fancy color  - Color diamonds are extremely rare, especially with intense color. Hence it is very valuable, more than colorless diamonds. Those diamonds are graded on a separate color grade.

Diamond’s color has a great influence on the final price. Finally, the decision is based on the budget.

The color is more noticeable in big diamonds. Above 0.5ct it is recommended to buy at least H color.

  

CLARITY

Diamonds have tiny imperfections called inclusions. This influences a diamond’s clarity grade. Flawless diamonds are very rare. Most inclusions are invisible to the naked eye and do not influence the diamond’s sparkle.​

There are 11 clarity grades:

• Flawless (FL) No inclusions or blemishes are visible to a skilled  grader using 10× magnification
• Internally Flawless (IF)  No inclusions and only blemishes are visible to a skilled grader using 10× magnification
• Very, Very Slightly Included (VVS1 and VVS2) - Inclusions are difficult for a skilled grader to see under 10× magnification
• Very Slightly Included (VS1 and VS2) - Inclusions are minor and range from difficult to somewhat easy for a skilled grader to see under 10x magnification
• Slightly Included (SI1 and SI2) - Inclusions are noticeable to a skilled grader under 10x magnification
• Included (I1, I2, and I3) - Inclusions are obvious under 10× magnification and may affect transparency and brilliance

 

CARAT

Carat is a unit of weight. A well-cut diamond can actually appear larger than a poorly cut diamond of equal carat weight. Bigger is not necessarily better.

One carat is equal to 0.2 grams.

One cart is divided into 100 points. 1ct = 100 points.