How Diamond Imperfections Affect Their Value
Diamonds are one of the hardest and sparkling natural gemstones. Since ancient times, diamond has been one of the most fascinating natural substance on earth. The gemstone’s ability to captivate people’s heats has made it an ideal symbol for love occasions throughout the years. Today, sparkling stones are used in special celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, and other celebrations. However, flawless diamonds are rare to find. Almost all types of diamonds have inclusions. But the number of flaws present in a diamond determines its clarity and price. Therefore, your primary need an extra eye when choosing your perfect diamond. Here are some of the things to consider to ensure you get the value of your amount.
Quality
If you’ve bought a diamond before, you know they greatly vary in prices. At many times the price of this magical gemstone is determined by its clarity, carat, cut, and clarity. Therefore, before you can initiate any purchase, ensure you carefully check on its quality. You can use a loupe, which is a magnifying glass popularly used in checking diamond quality. It also examines the amount of imperfections and inclusions in the precious gem. As we mentioned early, a perfect diamond is rare to find, and when you find them, they are damn expensive. So, you should expect some inclusions in terms of feathers, laser lines, pinpoint, bearding, cleavage, and growth lines. In fact, a reputable and genuine jeweler will let you examine your favorite gem with his/her loupe.
Clarity
Checking on diamond clarity helps you examine how clear or cloudy the substance is. Some gems have more clarity than others, meaning a diamond full of imperfections will not hold the same value as another that has relatively fewer inclusions. Therefore, clarity check is a vital part of grading diamonds. The absence of inclusions measures diamond clarity. You may need a keen or trained eye to identify the flaws on the gem. Basically, the nature of imperfections, location, and the visibility level are the primary determinants in grading diamond clarity.
For that matter, there are different clarity ratings to determine your ideal gem. The categories include the I1-I2-I3, which have imperfections that you can identify with your naked eye. Also, the SI1-SI2-SI3 rates diamond with a few flaws. Similarly, the VS1 and VS2 rate diamonds with very few imperfections while the VVS1 and VVS2 categorize diamond with almost unnoticeable inclusions. Additionally, the internal flawless diamonds may contain minor external defects. The last category is the flawless diamond is considered perfect.
Carat
The carat of a diamond refers to its size. You can determine the diamond carat by weighing or measuring its size. Its mass determines its weight. It’s also important to note that carats have a hundred points each. Usually, diamonds with more massive carats will have a higher value than those with smaller carats. However, it would help if you still considered other factors such as clarity, quality, cut, and color to determine its standard value.
Cut and Color
A well-cut diamond can be noticed from a distance. How it reflects light and send sparkling radiations tells it all. Its proportioned facets can define a well-cut diamond. The shapes of an excellent cut give the gem exclusive sparks. The diamond can be shaped to either oval, pear, round, or emerald, which should be adequately defined. Lastly, you may need to consider the color of your ideal diamond. Usually, the color is rated using the letters D to Z. letter D represents colorless gems. While letter Z represents diamonds with yellow or brown tints. The colorless diamonds are considered more valuable than those with yellowish or brownish colors.