The first thing that you should know about the four Cs is how they effect the cost of your gem. Each C is a scale ranging from excellent to disgraceful. Think of a pyramid with each side representing one of the C’s, as you approach the top of the pyramid the volume goes down.

For instance a 50 carat, D color, Flawless diamond is the top of the pyramid, the rarest and most expensive, while a .25 carat, Z color, I2 clarity diamond is inexpensive and easy to find--the bottom of the pyramid.

Your job as consumer, and our job as distributor is to find the carat, cut, color, and clarity that will give you the best stone for your price range.

Cut | Color | Clarity | Carat

Cut

Cut refers to two different decisions:

The first is the shape of the stone: round brilliant, pear, marquise, princess, oval, emerald, radiant, heart, and trillion are the most common, although custom cuts are available upon request.

The more important definition refers to the proportions of the stone.   A diamond with excellent proportions (cut) will deliver the most brilliance, while a diamond with poor proportions will look dull and lifeless.

Ideal cut is only applied to round brilliant diamonds, fancy shapes are not subject to the exact angles and measurements that have been worked out for these stones.  Each fancy shape, like marquise, does have good and bad cuts, but are not listed with exact measurements. 

Cut is very important, a stone that may lack in other areas can still look beautiful with a good cut.  Top

Color

Color is a word we use in reference to the clearness to each stone. This color is not to be mistaken with actual colored diamonds, which are more rare and expensive than white diamonds. Color in white diamonds is caused by an increase in nitrogen gas in the formation of the crystal.

The color scale that we use is the standard GIA scale ranging from D to Z.  D is considered to be perfectly clear, without color, and Z is an awful yellow color I never wish to see. The scale is broken up into segments D-F is "colorless", G-J is "near colorless" and K-M is faint yellow. Customers that want a color past M should look into Fancy Yellow or Champagne colored diamonds.

Color is important in determining the crystalline appearance of your stone--people like to see nice clear stones.  Top

Clarity

Clarity is defined by the naturally occurring "imperfections" inside the matrix of the stone. These imperfections may be caused by specs of carbon or other minerals inside the gem.  The quantity and placement of these imperfections will determine the clarity.  Clarity is rated using 10X magnification and can range from flawless (FL) to Imperfect 2 (I2). No diamond under 50X magnification is flawless.

The beauty of diamonds is that no two are the same and the imperfections in your diamond will create a finger print.  When you select your gem it is yours and there isn’t another like it in the world.

Don’t worry too much about this one.  When it's on the intended wearer, people viewing it won't pull out their magnifying glasses and rate it.   Top

Carat Weight

This one is entirely up to you.

The carat weight is exactly what it sounds like--it’s how we weigh stones. The larger the carat weight the larger the stone. In the industry we price stones per carat. If a stone weighs 1.06 carats and costs $3,500 per carat the cost of the stone is $3,710.

If you have a fixed price, as the carat weight goes up the other C’s go down.  Top