The COLOUR of a diamond also affects its value…. The more colorless (white) a diamond is .. the more rare and valuable.  Diamonds are graded using a letter range scale that starts with D and moves down to Z.  At D, diamonds are color-less, very rare and much sought after.  As such the price is very high.  As we move down the scale, the price starts to drop… until you reach the QRSTU range where the price bottoms out.  Moving on, the colors begin to become much more saturated.  Once you move past Z the colors become fancy and once again are much more rare and sought after and as such the price increases significantly once again.   Most diamonds sold in the commercial jewellery market are in the H-L range.  At Aurifex we believe being that color is something you can see in your diamond – so we focus only on the higher colors in the D-G range. 

CUT.  This is by far the most important of the 4Cs as it is the analysis of the beauty of what you see in the stone.  This is not to be confused with the shape of a diamond which is completely different – for example rounds vs squares (princess cuts) oval shapes emerald heart shapes etc.  Here we are dealing with the scientific angles that create the life and scintillation in a diamond… the fire.

Diamonds are sold by weight so some cutters may cheat on the cut to maximize yield and save weight from the rough.  Some diamonds are cut very shallow and spready to make a lighter diamond look big.  Light enters the stone through the table, hits the pavilion and leaks out the bottom of the stone.  This tends to result in a grey or watery looking diamond.  Conversely, some diamonds are cut very deep where they can have extra weight added in the stone. Light enters the stone and is reflected out the bottom of the opposite side of the pavilion .  This effect results in a dark looking stone that has a much smaller diameter than it should.

  

 A well cut diamond has the light enter the top of the stone, reflects across the bottom of the stone and then back up into the stone where the light gets dispersed and creates the fire and scintillation you want to see in a lively diamond.  This is the most sought after result and creates the most waste of rough when cutting so it tends to command a better price over poorly cut stones… 

CLARITY specifically refers to the amount of inclusions or impurities in the diamond.  Of the 4C’s, clarity is completely subjective so examination of the stones under 10x magnification is necessary to understand what is really present inside the stone.  The less inclusions inside or closer to flawless a stone is, the more rare and valuable it is.  Conversely, stones with more inclusions are less valuable.  The key to understanding clarity is seeing the size, nature and location of any inclusions present in the stone.  It should be noted that no inclusions should be visible to the naked eye ; and there should be no discernable difference in look without the use of magnification in diamonds graded SI2 and higher.