July 12, 2010
Diamond Rings – Choosing The Right One
When deciding on a diamond ring the primary consideration should be the cut. The rating of a diamond’s cut will determine the best bargain, when you are looking at two comparatively priced diamonds. The ability of a diamond to reflect and refract light, making it sparkle, is determined by the precision of every cut in the diamond. Failure to reflect light back to the surface of a diamond is caused but cuts which are too shallow or too deep, thus allowing light to escape the opposite side or the bottom. These are marks of a poorly cut diamond. A diamond that is well-cut, which is one with the correct number of facets and precision angles in good proportions, will allow light to bounce off all if its sides without losing any of it, before finally reflecting it back through its top.
When people say that diamond rings have ‘good’ color, it is not the same as the bright, bold, colors that you might think of. With diamond rings, it is the colorless stones that are the most valuable and the least common. The opposite end of the spectrum is home to the more ordinary and inexpensive known as yellow diamonds. A diamond’s inner characteristics are referred to as its clarity, and a jeweler’s microscope is necessary to make a proper inspection of them. Within diamonds there are minute specks, ripples and indentations, and these imperfections are known as inclusions. The fewer inner imperfections a diamond has the higher its value, but you can buy a diamond with slight imperfections that can appear as beautiful as a flawless diamond, if the cut and color are of a high quality.
Diamond weight is calculated in points and carats, with 100 points making up a carat. Diamond prices for a bunch of smaller diamonds equaling one carat, will be much less than the price of a single stone weighing one carat. Knowing the “per carat cost” of a diamond will give you the true diamond price and a high carat weight diamond may appear impressive. The clarity, cut, and color of a diamond will have to be analyzed in order to determine a diamond’s actual value, with a large carat weight being of secondary concern.