Quick and Easy Buying Guide
Carat weight: 1 carat = 200 milligrams = 6.5 mm diameter. Doubling weight doesn't double diameter.
Diamond clarity: FL/IF/VVS/VS = super expensive, near perfect. SI = best value if you can check a photo for obvious inclusions (defects).
Color: D-G = colorless, expensive, only if you have money to burn. H-J = best value. Can go lower in gold metal settings than white metal.
Cut: Better cut ratings let more light into a diamond, making it sparkle more. Very important property, don't skimp here.
Set a budget and minimum cut (Premium). Go J color for gold and I/H for white metals. Go searching for SI1/SI2 clarity diamonds at James Allen. Pick a diamond with small/no inclusions. Choose a ring setting and buy it risk-free (60-day returns).
1.18 Carat Diamonds
Discerning purchasers of diamonds consider other characteristics of the diamond apart from carat size such as girdle thickness - how big the girdle is can impact on the diameter of a diamond of a certain carat weight.
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Odd carat weights are carat weights which don't form round numbers, for example 1.97. Often diamonds with odd carat weights are quite a bit cheaper than diamonds with round number carat weights.
Diamonds with a size of 1.18 carats are aplenty, but diamonds with a size of 1.18 carats and all the other desirable properties of the diamond are not so common - so don't forget to think about these other properties.
A shop assistant may show you a one carat diamond and a one carat emerald stone next to each other, and point out how much larger the emerald stone is. This is because emerald is a much lighter material, so for a given weight of it, it will appear much bigger than for an equivalent sized diamond.
It's interesting to note that while the small carat diamond (by small i mean one or two carats) may have only been discovered relatively recently, many of the spectacular large diamonds were found many hundreds of years ago, such as the regent diamond of france which was used by two of the king louis's, with a mighty size of 140 carats. A large diamond which has a huge crack down the middle, or alternatively a big yucky looking inclusion, is not a good look - it looks like someone has gone for size and sacrificed all the other desirable properties of the diamond. Clarity, for example, can be just as important in picking a diamond.
Diamonds are a girl's best friend and a man's worst enemy. Unknown Author .
