Diamonds: The Four C’s and More
Diamonds might be a girl’s best friends but how many of us know much about them and their history? In this final instalment of a three-part series, Monica Bortolin-Cossa of MBC Diamonds is going to educate us about the Four C’s and more.
In the 1940s GIA (“Gemmological Institute of America”) created the “GIA International Diamond Grading System” a universal grading system for the diamonds still in use in the diamond industry today.
Being aware of the “4Cs”: Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat Weight to which I like to add Certificate and Conflict-Free-Diamonds, will help you to better understand how a diamond is graded and will enable your next diamond purchase.
The CUT is the most important of the “4Cs.” The cut is the ability of a “Master Cutter” to unlock the beauty of a diamond and, ultimately, enhance its brilliance and fire. The beauty, sparkle and attractiveness of a diamond depends more on the cut than anything else.
There are three distinctive attributes: brilliance (light reflected from a diamond), fire (dispersion of light) and scintillation (sparkle), hence the beauty of a diamond depends on the way it reflects and refracts light.
The cut is the only factor that is controlled by human hands. A good cut gives a diamond its brilliance which is the brightness that seems to come from the very heart of a diamond:
The COLOR is conventionally referring to the presence or absence of color in white diamonds, the whiter a diamond’s color the greater its value. Colorless diamonds are the most popular, but diamonds are also coming in all colors of the rainbow.
To grade “whiteness” or “colorlessness” we refer to GIA’s color scale that begins with the highest rating of “D” for colorless and goes down the alphabet to “Z”, to grade stones with traces of very faint or light yellowish color.
Diamonds contain internal and unique birthmarks, natural fingerprints that are called “Inclusions”
Diamonds are graded for CLARITY under a 10x loupe magnification. The inclusions can be recognised as small clouds, feathers and crystals. They are very small imperfections and do not affect the diamond’s beauty in any way, however, the fewer and smaller the inclusions are the more rare and valuable the diamond is.
Grades range from “Flawless” which are completely free of inclusions to “Included 3” that are diamonds with large, heavy inclusions that are visible to the naked eye.
As with all precious stones, the weight of a diamond is expressed in CARATS. One carat (equivalent to 0.2 grams) can be divided into “100 points.”
The word “carat” is taken from the carob seeds that people in ancient time used to balance scales.
Larger diamonds are discovered less often than smaller ones. Ergo, large diamonds are rare and have a greater value per carat. For that reason, the price of a diamond rises exponentially to its size.
Size does matter! It is not, however, a measure of your love!
A CERTIFICATE is a “blueprint” of a diamond: it tells you the diamond’s exact measurements, weight, as well as the details of its cut and quality. Laboratory certification provides an impartial judgement of the characteristics and quality of each diamond. This certification gives the purchasers added confidence that the diamond received is as described by the seller.
CONFLICT-FREE-DIAMONDS are diamonds mined and produced under ethical human conditions. Profits from these diamonds are not used to fund conflicts and wars around the world.
I hope you enjoyed the diamond series. There is much more to discover about the fabulous world of diamonds… Get in touch with me if you wish to learn more!
Monica Bortolin-Cossa
Managing Director
MBC Diamonds
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