Diamond - a woman's best friend. Made entirely of carbon atoms bonded with strong covalent bonds, which give it the highest hardness of 10 on the Mohs scale.<\/p>\n
Despite its hardness, few people know that the gemstone diamond is very fragile. This is due to perfect cleavage - the property of minerals to cleave in certain crystallographic directions. It is this property that helps a lot in faceting stones.<\/p>\n
The quality of a diamond is determined by 4 factors, the so-called 4Cs (Color, Cut, Clarity, Carat), which we will discuss one by one below.<\/p>\n
Color<\/h4>\n
95% of diamonds fall into the Cape group - from colourless to yellow. The remaining 5 percent are colored diamonds, which are the subject of another discussion entirely.<\/p>\n
Color is determined by specialists through comparison with specimen stones (Master stones), under a certain light of 6500 Kelvin, which does not change the shades. It is measured from extremely white (HRD)\/colorless(GIA) to colored\/light yellow, with each step on the scale denoted by a letter beginning with \"D\" through \"Z\". The closer to \"D\"- extremely white (colorless), the stone is graded, the higher its value (I exclude so-called \"fancy yellow\" yellow diamonds).<\/p>\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
![\"\u0421\u043a\u0430\u043b\u0430](\"https:\/\/assets.efirgems.com\/wp\/uploads\/2024\/02\/diamond-color-scale.webp\")
\n\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\tClarity<\/h4>\n
Clarity refers to the clearness of the diamond. All natural diamonds have inclusions or show signs of growth, which can be minor internal characteristics in gem diamonds. The clarity scale reflects the size, number and location of these features. It is examined with a 10x magnifying loupe. The best and rarest clarity of a diamond is called Loop clean or Internally Flawless. This means that no inclusions can be detected when examining the diamond with a magnifying glass. From there the scale goes down to an \"I\" or \"P\" or large inclusions visible to the naked eye and affecting the brilliance of the stone. Of course the more flawless the diamond, the higher its value.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
![\"\u0421\u043a\u0430\u043b\u0430](\"https:\/\/assets.efirgems.com\/wp\/uploads\/2024\/02\/diamond-rings-color-clarity-chart-color-clarity-chart-enderrealtyparkco-768x204.webp\")
\n\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t- \n
- LC (Loupe-clean) - The stone has no visible inclusions with a 10x magnifying loupe.<\/li>\n
- VVS1 (Very, Very Slightly Included 1) - Very, very small inclusions extremely difficult to see with a 10x magnifying loupe.<\/li>\n
- VVVS2 (Very, Very Slightly Included 2) - Very, very small inclusions very difficult to see with 10x magnification.<\/li>\n
- VS1 (Very Slightly Included 1) - Very small inclusions difficult to see with 10x magnification.<\/li>\n
- VS2 (Very Slightly Included 2) - Very small inclusions visible with 10x magnification.<\/li>\n
- SI1 (Slightly Included 1) - Small inclusions visible with 10x magnification.<\/li>\n
- SI2 (Slightly Included 2) - Small inclusions visible with a 10x magnifying loupe and sometimes with the naked eye.<\/li>\n
- P1\/I1 (Piqu\u00e9 (or Included) 1) - Inclusions visible to the naked eye and affecting the whiteness of the stone.<\/li>\n
- P2\/I2 (Piqu\u00e9 (or Included) 2) - Inclusions visible to the naked eye and affecting the whiteness of the stone.<\/li>\n
- P3\/I3 (Piqu\u00e9 (or Included) 3) - Inclusions visible to the naked eye and affecting the stone's whiteness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tCut<\/h4>\n
Besides the shape in which it is cut, this factor incorporates three other more important criteria by which the stone is finally judged: Proportion, Symmetry and Polishing. The scale is measured in 4 parameters (according to HRD): excellent, very good, good and fair. In other labs like GIA there is a fifth category - poor cut(poor).<\/span><\/p>\n
The cut is essential to the beauty of the stone. It determines the degree of brilliance (Brilliance) and \"fire\" (Fire). If a diamond is not cut well, it will not interact with light as it should, as a result it will sparkle much less than another with a better cut. The ideal cut has a balance of light and dark sections and brings out the most of what the diamond is capable of. The more excellent the cut of the stone, the higher its value.<\/span><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n \n![\"\u041a\u0430\u043a](\"https:\/\/assets.efirgems.com\/wp\/uploads\/2024\/02\/hrd-certification-cut-768x674.webp\")
\n\n <\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\tCarat<\/h4>\n
This is the factor that determines the price of diamond on the most drastic scales. 1 carat of diamond weighs exactly 0.20 g. One 0.80-carat diamond is worth more than two 0.40-carat ones of the same quality. In nature, larger diamonds of jewellery quality are much rarer, which is the reason for the difference in value.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n \n![\"\u041a\u0430\u043a](\"https:\/\/assets.efirgems.com\/wp\/uploads\/2024\/02\/carat-size-the-weight-of-a-diamond-total-chart-template-specialization-c-buying-guide-768x230.webp\")
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