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Diamonds > Diamonds 101
The diamond is the most famous gemstone available. Known for its extreme hardiness, the diamond symbolizes courage and purity, as well as love and fidelity.
A diamond is a mineral composed of carbon crystallized at extremely high temperatures and pressures; in nature, diamonds form 93 to 124 miles or more below the earth's surface. Diamonds are the hardest of all known natural substances. Its color ranges from colorless to yellow, brown, gray, orange, green, blue, white, black, purple, pink, and, extremely rare, red. Transparent and near-colorless in a desirable color diamond is a highly valued gemstone; poorly colored or heavily included single crystals are used for a wide variety of industrial purposes. There are seven diamond shapes for jewelry: Round, Marquise, Emerald, Princess, Pear, Oval and Heart. Side stone options include these seven shapes, as well as Baguette and Trillion.
Diamond Anatomy
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Diameter: The width of the diamond as measured through the girdle.
Table: This is the large, flat top facet of a diamond.
Crown: The upper portion of a cut gemstone, above the girdle.
Girdle: The narrow rim of a diamond that separates the crown from the pavilion. It is the largest diameter to any part of the stone.
Pavilion: The lower portion of the diamond, below the girdle. It is sometimes referred to as the base.
Culet: The tiny facet on the pointed bottom of the pavilion, which is the portion of a cut gem below the girdle.
Depth: The height of a gemstone, from the culet to the table.
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The Five C's
A diamond is typically measured using the "Four C's": cut, color, clarity and carat weight. Each of these categories, however, relate to an important fifth C -- cost.
Cut
The cut, which refers to proportions or the relationships between the sizes and angles of various parts of the stone, is most important. Many cuts are too deep or shallow and do not reflect the light properly. Only a well cut diamond with a good make, or proportions, will show the most brilliance and breakup of light into dazzling colors.
Clarity
Most diamonds contain clarity characteristics commonly referred to as inclusions (internal) and blemishes (external). Diamonds with fewer clarity characteristics are rare and more expensive. Using the internationally recognized GIA (Gemological Institute of America) Diamond Grading System, diamonds are given a clarity grade ranging from flawless (F) to diamonds with prominent inclusions (I3).
F-IF
Flawless or Internally Flawless. No internal inclusions. Very rare.
VVS1-VVS2
Very Very Slightly Included. Minute inclusions are very difficult to detect under 10x magnification.
VS1-VS2
Very Slightly Included. Minute inclusions are invisible to the naked eye and can be seen only with difficulty under 10x magnification.
SI1-SI2
Slightly Included. Minute inclusions very difficult to detect under 10x magnification.
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Color
Colorless diamonds are rare and highly valued. Most diamonds are nearly colorless with yellow or brown tints. The GIA Diamond Grading System uses letters to represent colors, beginning with D (colorless) and ending at Z (light yellow or brown). After Z, diamonds are categorized as fancy color: yellow, brown, pink, blue, green and even red; all of which can be beautiful, but very expensive.
Carat
Diamonds are weighed using metric carats. A carat is the size of a green pea and weighs about the same as a small paper clip. Just as a dollar is divided into 100 pennies, a carat is divided into 100 "points." This means that a diamond of 50 points weighs 0.50 carats. But two diamonds of equal weight can have very different values depending on their clarity, color and cut. Note: diagram is not to scale.
Cost
The first four factors: cut, clarity, color and carat weight, all relate to the cost of a diamond. Using these criteria, a small diamond of exceptional quality can be more valuable than a larger diamond of lower quality.
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