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).
2.48 Carat Diamonds
If the diamond is described as being 2.48 carats in weight, it can also be described as being a 248 point diamond. Each point in a diamond's weight is worth 2 mg, so a 248 points diamond weighs 496 mg.
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What many people don't realise is that a 8.87 mm wide diamond can be a range of weights, not just exactly 5 carats, because the diamond can vary in depth.
Discerning purchasers of diamonds consider other characteristics of the diamond apart from carat size such as girdle thickness - how big the girdle is can impact on the diameter of a diamond of a certain carat weight. The apparent size of a diamond does not increase at the same rate as the diamond's carat size, leading to confusion quite often in stores.
Diamonds with a size of 2.48 carats are aplenty, but diamonds with a size of 2.48 carats and all the other desirable properties of the diamond are not so common - so don't forget to think about these other properties. You shouldn't really worry about this, but the average size of a diamond in a diamond engagement ring, at least within the united states, is about half a carat.
It's interesting to note that while the small carat diamond (by small i mean one or two carats) may have only been discovered relatively recently, many of the spectacular large diamonds were found many hundreds of years ago, such as the regent diamond of france which was used by two of the king louis's, with a mighty size of 140 carats.
Let us not be too particular; it is better to have old secondhand diamonds than none at all. Mark Twain .
Carat size is only one that property out of a number that you should be considering. You should also consider a diamond other properties such as cut, because this will have a drastic effect on how well the diamond sparkles.