So you’ve decided to make a Valentine’s Day proposal. Excellent decision! February 14th is the most romantic day of the year – and with good reason. Before you take the plunge, get to grips with the basics of diamonds. We recently teamed up with Laings of Glasgow to put together some handy tips to help you figure out exactly how to buy an engagement ring. The most important thing to know about diamonds is the all-important 4 C’s. So without further ado, here they are:
CARAT
Arguably the most important of all the 4 C’s. The carat of a diamond is essentially the weight of a diamond – one carat is equal to 0.2 grams. The most common carat weight for a diamond engagement ring is around 0.50ct, but they are available from as little as 0.2ct all the way up to 2.00 or 3.00ct – sometimes even more. The carat weight is the best way to get an indication of the size of your diamond.
CUT
Tied with carat weight for the two most important features of your diamond engagement ring – the cut. The cut is the way your diamond has been shaped from a rough stone into to a polished gem. The most popular cut endures as the round brilliant cut, which to the layman, just looks like a circle. Other popular cuts include the princess cut (resembling a square) and the marquise cut (which looks like an elongated oval with tapered off ends). Make sure to bear in mind the engagement ring she wants might not be a solitaire. It might be a trilogy ring with several different cuts of diamond, or it might have a halo, or a diamond studded band, known as ‘shoulders’.
COLOUR
This diamond characteristic is fairly self-explanatory. The ideal diamond is completely colourless, or a “D” colour diamond. The next grade has a very slight trace of colour, which can only really be seen under magnification. These diamonds are graded “E” or “F”. The scale continues to slide down all the way to “Z”, a completely yellow diamond, which ironically enough is actually very rare and valuable.
CLARITY
The clarity of the diamond translates as how many internal inclusions it has. Inclusions can be tiny cracks inside the stone or other defects inside the diamond. These are usually negligible marks and are often completely invisible to the naked eye. The grade ranges from Flawless ‘FL’, to ‘IF’ Internally Flawless, Very Slight Inclusions ‘VS’, Slight Inclusion ‘SI’ and ‘Included ‘I’.
And with all that in mind I really hope that he or she says YES! Good Luck!
