Diamonds girls best friend! Why do girls love diamonds? Why are they so precious? Is it because of their beauty and exquisiteness? Talk about buying. Purchasing a diamond can test the nerves of even the most astute buyer – what do you look for? What do the terms mean? What makes one diamond worth more than another?
When you get in the diamond shop and attempt to buy one, but do not know what the different between this one and that one. Even though those two have the same size and carat, the price can be completely different. Why? Here is a simple guide to the essentials of diamond grading.
Understanding these terms will help you discuss with the dealer the features most important to you, ensuring you get the very best diamond for your money. Diamond appraisers look for four qualities in a diamond when discerning its value. Commonly called the ‘4 Cs’ they are: Cut, Clarity, Carat and Color.
CUT
There are 2 big aspects of CUT.
1. Quality of cut – affecting the brilliance of the diamond – the other refers to the actual shape of the diamond.
2. Shape – Diamonds are available in many shapes. Some of the more common are; round, oval, pear (teardrop shaped), heart, princess (square shaped), Emerald (rectangular shaped), marquise (football shaped) and round. Of all the shapes available, round diamonds are the shape most capable of being cut to exude the greatest brilliance. The brilliance is determined by the ability of the diamond to reflect light. A quality cut diamond will have facets angled to reflect the greatest amount of light. Beware of diamonds cut to maintain a higher carat weight while sacrificing the cutting of a good angle as this will dramatically reduce the brilliance.
CLARITY
Diamonds from natural sources are subject to individual flaws including trace minerals and scratches. A diamond without such characteristics is called flawless and is the rarest kind. While these flaws are often not visible to the naked eye, they affect the light reflecting qualities of the diamond which affects the overall brilliance.
Diamond clarity is classified as follows: Flawless, IF, VVS1, VVS2, VS1, VS2, SI1, SI2, SI3, I1, I2 and I3.
CARAT
Carat is the measurement of the weight of a diamond. One carat may also be referred to as ‘100 points’. This means that a half carat would be listed as ‘50 points’ and so on.
The larger a diamond is the more costly it becomes. Since the larger diamonds are much rarer the cost will go up significantly with each increase in size. A one carat diamond will be more than just double the cost of a half carat, however, a ring with multiple diamonds that have a combined weight of one carat will be cheaper than a single stone of that weight.
COLOR
There are many diamond colors which called fancy diamonds. But the mostly found diamonds will be rated on an alphabetical scale from D to Z. A typical ‘white’ diamond should be as colorless as possible – a rating of ‘D’ being the rarest and most desirable. When choosing a colorless diamond it is best to stay within the D-J range or the diamond will have a yellow cast which lessens the value. The less natural color the diamond has the more colors will appear in the flashes reflected in the prism.
‘Fancy’ diamonds (diamonds with a rating over Z) come in a variety of shades and include some famous diamonds such as the Blue Hope diamond.
When decide to buy a diamond, please keep in mind of these 4 Cs as a factor of buying consideration. It takes years to gain a specialty in this area. Therefore, at least you should point out whether which features are of greatest importance to you and with a little knowledge select the diamond that will hold the greatest value and sentiment for your budget.
You may wonder what is the amazing thing behind Pearls? Well, Pearls are a complex object, to start the iridescence that pearls display is caused by the overlapping of successive layers, which breaks up light falling on the surface. In addition, pearls (especially freshwater pearls) can be dyed yellow, green, blue, brown, pink, purple, or black. I love Black Pearls, they are amazing.
This was the main reason why pearls fetched such extraordinary prices in the past. Imitation or fake pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of the iridescence is usually very poor, and generally speaking, fake pearls are usually quite easy to distinguish from the real thing.
You need to understand what sort of pearls you are buying, if you buy Pearls that come from Pearls farms you need to understand how they are picked up, these sort of pearls are carefully selected from long-established pearl farms. And then range in size from under 1mm to 20mm giants. Usually this farm pearls are harvested in the cooler winter months, after about two years of cultivation.
Like natural pearls, cultured pearls grow inside of a mollusk, but with human intervention. Cultured pearls are sold by their size in millimeters. Saltwater pearls originate within a saltwater mollusk. Saltwater pearls can be either natural or cultured.
Obviously it is not a surprise for anyone to understand that natural pearls are more expensive and if you are really interested in getting the best pearls in the world, well, you need to Travel all the way to Japan.
When you buy a Pearl you need to ask about the origins and their shapes. This is the way they get classified.
So where do Pearls come from ? Well [earls are formed inside the shell of certain bivalve mollusks: as a response to an irritant inside its shell, the mollusk creates a pearl to seal off the irritation. Pearls come in eight basic shapes: round, semi-round, button, drop, pear, oval, baroque, and circled.
Pearls where before only for fashion, but now you can find pearls have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines, or in paint formulations. Pearls with the smoothest surfaces are the highest-quality, most sought-after pearls.
Regarding buying Pearls as part of Jewelry, you need to know the following: almost all pearls used for jewelry are cultured by planting a core or nucleus into pearl oysters. Abalone from along the Pacific Coast, primarily California, produce both blister and free pearls and their shells are used for inlay in jewelry and other items.
Try to find a company or design that offers these same finer-quality of any Japanese cultured Pearls at a fraction of traditional-store prices. It is not easy but for sure it is possible. Pearls are a great present for many people out there, you will never look out of fashion with a nice Pearl Jewelry necklace, and for sure always buying some high quality pearls is a wise investment. Pearls are perfect for gifts and for that special and romantic occasions