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).
2.22 Carat Diamonds
The girdle thickness of the diamond plays an important role in determining the apparent size of the diamond - a diamond with an unnecessarily thick girdle will appear smaller than a diamond with a thinner girdle.
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If you're willing to try a few things to get a bargain, one thing you can try is searching for a diamond which has a strange carat weight, such as 0.96 carats. Often diamonds with these strange carat weights can be picked up for a bargain because they are not as sought-after even though they are practically the same size as the more popular 1.00 carat diamonds. Something that can catch out men searching for a diamond for an engagement ring is forgetting to take into account where the diamond will eventually be displayed - on a woman's hand, which is usually quite a bit smaller than a man's hand.
A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure. Henry Kissinger .
There are no firm statistics that are universally applicable, but it is generally agreed that the average size of a diamond is around a third of the carat, perhaps a little more.
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.
So how good do you think a 10 carat diamond which looks a horrible uneven black colour would appear on an engagement ring? Exactly - diamond buyers need to also consider other properties such as the colour of the stone, which is not picked correctly can negate any attractiveness of having a very large diamond.