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).
2.03 Carat Diamonds
A diamond with a weight of 2.03 carats is equivalent to a 203 point diamond. 2.03 carats in a diamond gets you around 8.29 mm of diamond, give or take.
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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.
Although it would seem so, the carat weight of a diamond and the diameter of a diamond have an interesting relationship - as the carat weight of the diamond increases, the diameter of the diamond grows at a much slower speed.
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.
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.
Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect. Chinese Proverb .
