Tips To Buy Your First Diamond And What To Look For

The solitaire ring a woman receives from her man never fades in decades, as an authentic symbol of harmony stays in her hands forever. A piece of traditional heirloom jewelry is passed down through generations and withstands hundreds of years of history.

Solitaire diamonds are crafted to preserve special occasions. A stone of eternity is something you should definitely acquire for your loved one. An investment is there, so is the prosperity this crystalline jewel brings in your family.

Solitaire is a single, larger diamond meant for the centered placement in a ring, necklace or pendant etc. Before you buy any solitaire jewelry, we would describe some checks below to help establish the genuineness.

Diamonds are generally pre-certified for their quality by various gemological institutes and diamond certification labs across the world. Every unit should have an accreditation certificate issued by any diamond grading company of good standings. The documents of authenticity are available with the retailers who readily assist customers for a satisfactory purchase. To know more about the diamond certificates, please read Buying A Diamond: Look For The Certificate

Here are the tips to buy your first diamond:

Cut

The main element to decide the worthiness of a diamond, ‘cut’ refers to the symmetry, polish, brilliance, luster and scintillating properties in the night. From a rough stone, a diamond has to be carved with a great balance – a form of art itself.

diamond cut

A Well Cut diamond retains the light inside and radiates in the dark with an eye-catching illumination. Shallow Cut and Deep Cut diamonds are somewhat humble when placed next to their ultimate counterpart. You may find the type of ‘cut’ clearly displayed on the certification document.

Color

Natural diamonds have many shades like pink, blue, green, yellow etc. and they are highly prized due to their scarcity. The colorless, or white diamonds as we know, often reflect a slight tint of shade due to impurities. A perfectly colorless solitaire is considered of the highest quality with no reflection due to flawed composition.

Colorless diamonds are classified with an impurity-based color rating and most gemologists follow the GIA color scheme from D to Z, where a D rating means a totally colorless diamond of best quality. The Z-grade is the lowest rating and it means that a diamond has color imperfections.

By now, you may be well-acquainted with the phrase ‘colorless diamonds’, the ones we are writing about. On the other hand, the naturally occurring colored diamonds are extremely rare, distinctive, come in different shades and therefore, are rated separately according to their unique characteristics.

Clarity

If there are no impurities, inclusions and blemishes in a diamond upon careful observation, then a diamond is considered of high clarity. Lesser the particles you can see through a diamond under 10x magnification, more clearer it is. Look out for the classification of a diamond on its certificate, for example:

  • FL (Flawless): No inclusions or impurities, a diamond with highest clarity.
  • IF (Internally Flawless): Negligible impurities.
  • VVS (Very Very Slight): Just like you thought, very very small inclusions.
  • VS (Very Small): Very small obstructions through the path of solitaire.
  • SI (Slightly Included): Slight inclusions can be seen under 10x zoom vision.

This rating goes down beyond ‘SI’ and of course, the price of a solitaire drops with it.

Carat Weight

The weight measurement of a diamond is called its carat weight. For two solitaires, if all other parameters are same, the heavier one would be expensive because bigger pieces are rarer to obtain. Nevertheless, other factors are also considered to decide the price of a solitaire.

Hence, the above four C’s are the universally accepted factors to determine the true value of solitaires. The method to assess just a stone’s value is called ‘Naked Evaluation’, which is different from ‘In-setting Evaluation’.

In-setting Evaluation: As the name suggests, if a stone is already fixed in the jewelry, its evaluation may or may not be precise. In fact, it is a way of hiding a stone’s flawed characteristics.

A Solitaire is considered as the most luxurious stone of all crystals and gems. Its mesmerizing features take no time to build a bond between souls for a prolonged commitment of attachment.

Moreover, a real diamond can be quickly segregated from the fake ones with the help of portable devices found at almost all the outlets.