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How to get the best Diamond deal?
Main Index
Tips to help you choose a diamond
Purchasing an engagement ring is a special event for you and your fiancée, but it can throw up many questions.
- Am I better of with a larger diamond or smaller stone of higher quality?
- Do I go for a solitaire diamond, or is a cluster of stones best?
- What color should it be?
- What kind of cut should it be?
Question: How do you suggest n relatively inexperienced person start shopping for a diamond engagement ring?
Answer: Before you setting out for purchasing a diamond engagement ring, it is best you take time to really understand the factors that go into grading a Diamond. They are known as the 4Cs--color, clarity, carat, cut. Knowing how to juggle the 4Cs can enable you to achieve a high-budget look at a reasonable price. First of all don’t plunge into buying immediately, but shop around to cultivate your taste, to learn what kind of designs you like, and to acquaint yourself with current styles.
Question: Which of the 4Cs is the most important?
Answer: Cut is the most crucial factor affecting a diamond's beauty and cost, and can also affect its sturdiness.
Shine and luster is hugely dependant on the cutting, because cutting affects the way light travels through the stone, how much is reflected back to the eye, and how much escapes out the back.
- A well-cut diamond will have lots of glitter, and will dazzle the onlookers
- A stone that is cut too thin will have a most of the light escaping, so it won't sparkle much and will look lifeless.
- A poorly cut diamond will bring down the value by half than that of an exceptionally cut diamond.
- Some cutting faults can make a diamond prone to breaking.
Remember that a high clarity grade is not the only way to have a brilliant, sparkling diamond. And cut does not refer to shape. Make sure you understand exactly what these two C’s are before making a purchase.
Question: Is diamond clarity is just as important as cut?
Answer: It is assumed by some people that clarity is believed to be the factor that affects the amount of shine and brilliance. This is not false. Clarity refers to the purity of the diamond, i.e. lack presence of microscopic features that formed within the diamond as it crystallized. If easily visible to the eye without magnification, the clarity obviously drops and this will greatly reduce value, but otherwise, clarity has little impact on beauty or desirability.
Question: When it comes to diamond carat weight, is bigger always better? Are there ways to make a diamond look larger than it really is?
Answer: A carat is equal to 100 points, but the cost of a diamond spikes up when it reaches the full carat mark, and for each carat thereafter. So it will be very beneficial to try to find a diamond that weighs 10 points less than the full carat. For example, go for a 90-points (9/10ths carat), rather than a full 1-carat, or 1.90 carats rather than a full 2-carats, and so on. When eventually worn, no one can see the difference, but it will result in a huge savings in cost.
If you really want a stone that is big, consider shapes other than round. While the round, brilliant-cut diamond is considered by most to be the cut that exhibits the most radiance; it normally looks smaller than diamonds cut in other shapes.
Try to go for an oval, pear-shape or marquise, all of which will look larger than the round. Buy a set that uses many stones rather than one chunky diamond. A single fine diamond weighing one-carat, set in a regular Tiffany-style setting, might cost $7,000, while the cost of a ring containing three stones totaling one-carat, only $3,000; or a diamond set holding nine diamonds with a total-weight of one-carat could be up to than $1,800.
You can try wider, novel designs that can create a very impressive look for a diamond under 1-carat. This will help if your fiancée's fingers are very large or slender and long and you are concerned that a smaller diamond will look out of balance on her hand.
Question: How to evaluate diamond color? As diamonds in the upper color grades are much more expensive than lower grades.
Answer: Since colorless diamonds (D-F) are the most valued it may be beyond your reach. The top 10 color grades look very beautiful when mounted. Putting it on a white gold or platinum can give the appearance of being whiter than it is. If the stone has a noticeable yellowish tint, it Is advisable to set it in yellow gold, the diamond will look whiter and the shade will be much less noticeable.
Question: Any other hints before we hand over our savings?
Answer: A diamond need not be flawless to be beautiful and precious. Try for diamonds in the slightly included (SI) range. In a brilliant-cut diamond-- marquise, heart-shape, round, oval, pear-shape, it is impossible to see any difference between a stone that is graded flawless and one graded SI, even though the SI is 7 grades lower. There is absolutely no visible difference. It is not that rare as a flawless diamond, but no less beautiful. The flaws are not visible in a well-cut stone, and it will save you heaps of money!
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