Diamonds are a woman's best friend. That being said, they can be a real stressful subject for many men. Understanding what to look for and what to avoid can be a real challenge. There is a method to the madness when it comes to diamond shopping.
Diamonds form of thousands of years deep within the Earth. They are essentially globs of carbon that are compressed under huge pressures and heated up over and over. Eventually, this results in the incredibly dense gem we see today.
The diamonds you see in the jewelry store have nothing in common with what comes out of the ground. Diamonds found in nature are random shapes and much larger. A jeweler will then cut them to shape and buff them out so they can be used as jewelry.
It is also important to note that most diamonds do not end up as jewels. They are simply of poor quality or the wrong shape. These diamonds usually end up in an industrial capacity. Since diamonds are so hard, they are used in drill bits and such.
So, what does this have to do with buying diamonds? Well, you need to know how diamonds come about to understand why you should follow the four Cs when buying a diamond. The four Cs are clarity, cut, carat weight and color.
As you can probably guess, clarity refers to the brilliance of the diamonds. Diamonds often have imperfections within their structures. These can impact their funneling of light. The few imperfections, the more clarity there is which is a good thing.
The second C is cut. It refers not to the shape, but the angles cut into a diamond. The angles are cut to create an area within the diamond where light will reflect in a certain way. Light should come in, reflect twice 90 degrees and then come back out.
The cut does not have anything to do with the shape of the overall diamond. It is just the location of the facets compared to the diamond overall. A rectangular, circular or whatever shape diamond can all have great or bad cuts.
When it comes to diamonds, nothing is what it seems. Our fourth C, color, does not refer to the color of the diamond. It refers to how clear the diamond is. If diamonds have a yellowish tint, they are considered to have bad color.
Our final C is carat weight. The name refers to carob seeds that were used in ancient times to measure small weights. Unlike most things, you will be better off buying by the quality of the cut, color and clarity than by mere size alone.
The problem with buying big diamonds is any imperfection is magnified and far easier to see than with smaller diamonds. In general, buy as large a G grade diamond with a good cut as you can afford. You should get something really nice.
Diamonds form of thousands of years deep within the Earth. They are essentially globs of carbon that are compressed under huge pressures and heated up over and over. Eventually, this results in the incredibly dense gem we see today.
The diamonds you see in the jewelry store have nothing in common with what comes out of the ground. Diamonds found in nature are random shapes and much larger. A jeweler will then cut them to shape and buff them out so they can be used as jewelry.
It is also important to note that most diamonds do not end up as jewels. They are simply of poor quality or the wrong shape. These diamonds usually end up in an industrial capacity. Since diamonds are so hard, they are used in drill bits and such.
So, what does this have to do with buying diamonds? Well, you need to know how diamonds come about to understand why you should follow the four Cs when buying a diamond. The four Cs are clarity, cut, carat weight and color.
As you can probably guess, clarity refers to the brilliance of the diamonds. Diamonds often have imperfections within their structures. These can impact their funneling of light. The few imperfections, the more clarity there is which is a good thing.
The second C is cut. It refers not to the shape, but the angles cut into a diamond. The angles are cut to create an area within the diamond where light will reflect in a certain way. Light should come in, reflect twice 90 degrees and then come back out.
The cut does not have anything to do with the shape of the overall diamond. It is just the location of the facets compared to the diamond overall. A rectangular, circular or whatever shape diamond can all have great or bad cuts.
When it comes to diamonds, nothing is what it seems. Our fourth C, color, does not refer to the color of the diamond. It refers to how clear the diamond is. If diamonds have a yellowish tint, they are considered to have bad color.
Our final C is carat weight. The name refers to carob seeds that were used in ancient times to measure small weights. Unlike most things, you will be better off buying by the quality of the cut, color and clarity than by mere size alone.
The problem with buying big diamonds is any imperfection is magnified and far easier to see than with smaller diamonds. In general, buy as large a G grade diamond with a good cut as you can afford. You should get something really nice.
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