RUSSELL ANKERS JEWELLERY
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DIAMONDS
The 4 C's
Every diamond, like a human fingerprint has certain distinguishing characteristics.
Until the middle of the twentieth century there was no agreed-upon standard by which diamonds could be judged.
The GIA created the first, and now globally accepted standard for describing diamonds: colour, clarity, cut and carat weight. Today, the 4Cs of Diamond Quality is the universal method for assessing the quality of any diamond, anywhere in the world.
COLOUR
CLARITY
Colour refers to the natural tint inherent in white diamonds. In nature most white diamonds have a slight tint of yellow. The closer to being “colourless” a diamond is the rarer it is. The industry standard for grading colour is to evaluate each stone against a master set and assign a letter grade from “D” (colourless) to “Z” (light yellow).
CUT
Diamond clarity is a measure of the purity and rarity of the stone, graded by the visibility of these characteristics under 10x magnification. A stone is graded as flawless if under 10x magnification, no inclusions (internal flaws) and no blemishes (external imperfections) are visible.
CARAT
Carat denotes the weight of a diamond, not the size.
A 1 Carat Diamond equals 200 milligrams, or 0.2 grams.
You may also have heard a diamond referred to in points. There are 100 points in a 1.00ct diamond, therefore a quarter carat or 0.25ct diamond has 25 points.
The most important of the 4Cs "cut"refers to how a diamond’s facets interact with light. It is determined by symmetry, proportion and polish. More than any other factor, cut determines the beauty of the stone.