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).
2.26 Carat Diamonds
To convert the weight of this diamond in carats to milligrams, you multiply the number of carats by 200, in this case multiplying 2.26 carats by 200 to get 452 mg. A 2.26 carat diamond is about 8.59 mm this in size.
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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.
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).
The width of the diamond grows much more slowly than the carat weight of a diamond. A shop assistant may show you a one carat diamond and a one carat emerald stone next to each other, and point out how much larger the emerald stone is. This is because emerald is a much lighter material, so for a given weight of it, it will appear much bigger than for an equivalent sized diamond.
There are two tricks to avoid when comparing total diamond weight with the weight of an individual diamond - individual smaller diamonds are cheaper even if they add up to the same total weight as the single diamond, and smaller diamonds are often of poorer quality. 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.
Diamonds never leave you... men do! Shirley Bassey .
