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).

Princess Shape, 1.08 Carat Diamond Size on Hand

Size doesn't mean a lot until you witness it in context - this page provides a human hand as "context" for the apparent size of a 1.08 carat weight diamond of princess shape. A princess shape stone with a carat weight of 1.08 is usually about 5.6 mm long on the side; this can of course vary depending on cut.

To give you more of an idea of what the picture is showing, the ring shown is a US size 6, which is equivalent to an L 1/2 ring size in Britain or Australia.

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Pictures can sometimes be notoriously deceptive - this one is pretty clear cut, but remember seeing the diamond in the flesh may give you a very different impression of size to viewing it on the web.

Some of my readers are men - if this is you and you're trying to calculate the right size of diamond to get your other half, remember that the diamond will invariably look much larger on her smaller, more petite hands.