Choosing a diamond ring needs prior study and knowledge. It is always advised to take some guidance from people with knowledge and information about diamonds to make you’re a buy a worthy one. If you absolutely have no idea of what to look for before buying a diamond ring, you are at the right place! Read n to know some tips for choosing a diamond ring:
COMPROMISE ON SOME Cs: So now that you know why you are buying an engagement ring made with a diamond, you can familiarise yourself with the “Four Cs” – cut, colour, clarity and carat.
CUT: As the only characteristic of a diamond not influenced by nature, the cut is open to mistakes and bad practices. Cut a diamond incorrectly and the defining sparkle will be compromised. It is how the 57 or 58 facets (the tiny planes cut on the diamond’s surface) are angled and sized that dictate how light reflects and exits the diamond, an effect known as its “fire”. Make the cuts too deep or too shallow and the diamond will be less brilliant.
COLOUR: The most valuable and rare colour is white, that is to say, colourless. Jewellers grade absolutely colourless diamonds with a “D”. The scale moves up to “Z” and between these two extremes, diamonds will display subtle coloured tones. Diamonds with a very strong and distinct colour are extremely rare and are called fancies.
CLARITY: Many people get unnecessarily hung up over the clarity of a diamond. Look into most diamonds with a jeweller’s loupe (magnifying eyeglass) and you will see small “inclusions”, also known as “nature’s fingerprints”. They look like small clouds or feathers but are usually invisible to the naked eye. Inclusions can affect the diamond’s fire, but they also make your diamond unique and shouldn’t always be seen as a fault. Why worry too much about something you can’t see, anyway? As long as the stone is graded SI1 (Slightly Included 1) or better (best and most expensive is IF, or Internally Flawless; worst is I3, or Imperfect 3), you should be all right.
CARAT: The weight, and thus the size, of a diamond is measured by carat. A carat is equal to 0.2gm, or 200mgm. A carat is divided into 100 smaller units called points. For example, three-quarters of a carat is 75 points. The average size of most engagement-ring diamonds is somewhere between one carat and half a carat.
BUYING FROM A JEWELLER? Make sure you run this checklist through your head every time you visit a shop:
- Does the store have a long-standing and solid local reputation?
- Do the staff evidently possess a sound gemmological knowledge? Watch out for gratuitous and unexplained jargon.
- Is the shop willing to sell you diamonds with a well-known gemmological certificate? If so, make sure you keep the original rather than a copy.
- Is the shop a member of a trade association? If so, which one?
- Will the shop present a detailed receipt with your purchase? This is key to any possible insurance claim or future repair.
- Does the shop appear to have a busy repairs service?
- Exactly which warranties and guarantees does the shop offer? Read them closely.
- Will the salesperson let you examine the diamond through a loupe and on a white background? If diamonds are viewed on a black background, the eye’s perception of colour is hindered.