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).
0.29 Carat Diamonds
If you like playing with numbers, one analysis method you can use for examining diamonds is to divide the cost of the diamond by the number of carats to get the cost per carat metric.
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Girdle thickness is a diamond property which many people never even think about, but which can critically affect how big the diamond appears to be.
How big a diamond appears does not scale linearly with the carat weight of the diamond, which catches many people out.
Savvy diamond buyers have learnt to search for diamonds that do not have round numbers in their carat weight - for example, these buyers will search for a diamond with the carat weight just below one or two carats. If you're considering a number of gemstones, not just diamonds, bear in mind that different types of stone have different densities, so a one carat diamond may appear quite different in size to a one carat emerald.
Whether we fall by ambition, blood, or lust, like diamonds we are cut with our own dust. John Webster .
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.
In the quest for finding the largest diamond possible within a budget, it can be fun to consider famous large diamonds like ashberg diamond, which had a huge weight of 102 carats - about 200 times the mass of a diamond used in a typical engagement ring. First-time diamond buyers who are in a hurry often just focus on the diamond carat size, which is a big mistake - other properties such as the clarity of the diamond are important in getting a diamond which is attractive not just in terms of its size, but also its appearance.