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The
Four C's
The price of a diamond varies depending on the four C's:
cut, color, clarity and carat weight.
Cut:
When a diamond is a cut to good promotions, light will reflect from
one mirror like facet to another and disperse through the top of
the stone, resulting in brilliant display. Diamonds that are cut
too shallow or deep will lose light through the sides and bottom
of the stone and may have dark center.
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IDEAL
/ VERY FINE
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RANGE
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| TABLE |
51.4%
- 62% |
| CROWN
ANGLE |
32.2
- 36.8 DEGREES |
| CROWN
HEIGHT |
13.1
- 16.2% |
| GIRDLE |
VERY
THIN TO THICK |
| DEPTH
PERCENTAGE |
59
- 63% |
| PAVILLION
% |
41.7
- 44.8% |
| CULET |
NONE
TO MEDIUM |
| FINISH |
VERY
GOOD - EXCELLENT |
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Color:
Diamond color is graded on a scale from D to Z. Truly colorless
stones are rated D and are extremely rare. Value starts to drop
significantly at grades L, M and N, and then increases again at
the very end of the spectrum, which includes fancy diamonds that
can be yellow, blue, pink or other color.
Clarity: Virtually
all diamonds have some type of inclusions, or flaws. The difference
in the clarity of stones depends on the naked eye or only when magnified
10 times under a microscope .The location of the flaws also are
important. Clarity is a graded on a scale with flawless (F) or internal
flawless (IF) at the top, followed by VVS1 and VVS2 (very slight
inclusions), SI1 and SI2 (very slight inclusions), and I1, I2 and
I3, which means inclusions are visible to the naked eye. The smaller
the number, the fewer the inclusions. Diamonds any lower on the
clarity scale are not considered gemstones and used mainly for industrial
purposes.
Carat weight: The carat is a unit of weight derived
thousands of years ago from the relatively constant weight of the
carob seed. Carats are divided into 100 points. The carat weight
is the size of the stone and has no bearing on the color and clarity
of a diamond.
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