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).
2.49 Carat Diamonds
Each point in a diamond's weight is worth 2 mg, so a 249 points diamond weighs 498 mg. This average width of 8.88 mm for a 2.49 carat diamond only tells some of the story, because this width is variable depending on how deep or shallow the diamond shape is.
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Ruby and sapphire are two gemstones which are significantly denser than diamond, which is why a one carat ruby or sapphire will generally looks smaller than a one carat diamond, if you've ever been confused in a store. There's a lot of hearsay on the internet about the average size of a diamond used in a typical diamond engagement ring - it's around half carat - but that of course doesn't give you any information about the typical clarity or colour of the diamond, and that in itself should tell you how useless that statistic is in isolation.
A major rookie mistake in buying a diamond ring is to get the total diamond weight (tdw) and the weight of the centre diamond mixed up - make sure you don't make this mistake. 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.
No pressure, no diamonds. Thomas Carlyle .