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).
2.23 Carat Diamonds
A diamond that is sized at 2.23 carats is usually roughly 8.56 mm in the width dimension. 2.23 carats doesn't always get you a diamond which is precisely 8.56 mm in width - because the diamond could have been cut in different ways, it may have a different width.
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When we long for life without difficulties, remind us that oaks grow strong in contrary winds and diamonds are made under pressure. Peter Marshall .
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). Walk into a diamond shop and wait around, and sooner or later you'll hear someone getting confused or frustrated about the fact that the carat weight of a diamond and the width of the diamond are very different things - most likely they will be confused or frustrated because a diamond with double the carat weight is only a little bit wider.
Can you tell the difference between a 0.49 and a half carat diamond? Didn't think so. But there can often be quite a significant price difference - so use this fact to your advantage.
2.23 carats specifies a certain size of diamond, but what about all the other properties of the diamond? Seasoned diamond buyers make sure to pay attention to all the properties of the diamond when the searching for that perfect stone, in order to make a balanced purchase which isn't just dominated by size considerations. Although it is of limited usefulness, a lot of people wonder what the average size of a diamond is (about one third of a carat) when they are searching for a diamond themselves.
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. 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.