| > | | | | temperature treatment and irradiation all affect the |
| The carat weight of a diamond is the standard unit | | | | colour of the diamond. Treated diamonds are |
| of weight for diamonds. A lot of the time people | | | | coloured by irradiation in a laboratory. |
| mistake 'carat' to mean the size of the diamond, but | | | | There are many different cuts and shapes of |
| this is not the case. When discussing the size of a | | | | diamond to chose from when buying a ring, and it is |
| diamond you are referring to the dimensions of the | | | | just down to personal taste. However each cut is |
| diamond — the length, width and height. | | | | affected by the light differently, so different cuts |
| Therefore two diamonds both weighing one carat | | | | have differing amounts of sparkle! Longer diamonds |
| could be different sizes, and a diamond that has been | | | | like oval, marquise, pear and heart cut diamonds tend |
| cut well could appear larger than a diamond of a | | | | to leak light out of the bottom of the stone, which is |
| heavier carat weight. | | | | called the 'bow tie' effect. The most popular |
| The cut of a diamond refers to two separate | | | | diamonds at the moment are round cut, closely |
| factors, the first of which relates to the shape and | | | | followed by princess and emerald cut. |
| style of the cut - for example, Pear, Round, | | | | Marquise cut is an elongated shape, and is therefore |
| Marquise, Princess, Brilliant Heart shaped and so on. | | | | good for women with short fingers. The pointed |
| The clarity of the diamond describes how clear the | | | | ends do tend to make it quite fragile. |
| diamond is, whether it has any inclusions (flaws) | | | | Oval cut is a symmetrical shape with very good |
| within it or on its surface. Inclusions on or in a | | | | dispersal of light. The shape gives the illusion of length |
| diamond mean that some of the light reflected will be | | | | to the hand, and is so considered to be rather |
| lost as the flow of light through the diamond will be | | | | elegant. |
| disrupted. The colour, number, size, location and | | | | Pear cut is shaped like a teardrop, and is a |
| visibility of inclusions all affect the clarity of a diamond | | | | combination of the oval and the marquise. Its design |
| and its quality. However, having said all that the | | | | tends to make it appear larger than a round diamond, |
| majority of inclusions cannot actually be seen by the | | | | and most complements small to average-length |
| human eye, but can be graded through the use of a | | | | fingers. |
| Diamond Clarity Chart. | | | | The heart cut diamond is probably the most romantic |
| The colour of the diamond relates to rarity, value and | | | | of cuts, and is basically a pear-shaped diamond with a |
| quality of the diamond. There are natural coloured | | | | cleft at the top. |
| diamonds and treated colour diamonds, the latter of | | | | Emerald cut diamonds are rectangular with cut |
| which are more affordable by far! Natural colour | | | | corners and is also known as the step-cut due to its |
| stones are unique, and like it says on the tin, | | | | stepped planes. The negatives about this cut is that |
| completely natural. Fluorescence, high pressure, high | | | | inclusions can be a lot more obvious in this cut. |