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).
0.97 Carat Diamonds
A diamond with a size of 0.97 carats weighs in normal everyday weight units exactly 194 mg. Searching for diamonds will often reveal many possible candidates and one way to help differentiate among them is to work out the costs per carat value for each diamond.
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Don't be fooled into considering only the carat size, because other factors such as the size of the diamonds girdle can significantly impact on the apparent size of the diamond, which is more important than the carat weight (apart from for bragging rights). Many people buying a diamond engagement ring for the first time often go overboard with the size of the diamond, not realising how big the diamond will appear when you put it on a small woman's hand.
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. Sometimes diamond searchers will switch to coloured diamonds in a quest to perhaps get a slightly larger stone, although coloured diamonds are not always cheaper than white diamonds. Huge coloured diamonds do exist, such as the red cross diamond, a 205 carat yellow diamond.
No gold-digging for me... I take diamonds! We may be off the gold standard someday. Mae West .
Note when looking at total diamond weight, some of the online stores such as blue nile will give a total diamond weight for a pair of stud earrings, but the actual total diamond weight will only approximately be what is specified - check the fine print to avoid being caught out.
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.