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).
2.52 Carat Diamonds
When someone describes a diamond as being 2.52 carats, they mean it is a 252 point diamond. Each point in a diamond's weight is worth 2 mg, so a 252 points diamond weighs 504 mg.
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This average width of 8.92 mm for a 2.52 carat diamond only tells some of the story, because this width is variable depending on how deep or shallow the diamond shape is.
Pressure makes diamonds. George S. Patton .
Be careful of assigning too much importance to the carat weight of the diamond while neglecting other properties such as the girdle thickness, which is to wide can make the diamond appear smaller than other diamonds of the same carat weight. Something that can catch out men searching for a diamond for an engagement ring is forgetting to take into account where the diamond will eventually be displayed - on a woman's hand, which is usually quite a bit smaller than a man's hand.
You can trade carat size for diamond rarity by doing something like choosing a pink diamond. If you do this, perhaps you'd like to consider putting in a bid for the darya-ye noor diamond which is the largest pink diamond the world, or 182 carats of it. To get it, you'd have to go to iran however.. Don't forget to think about other diamond characteristics such as diamond cut, which plays a critical role in determining the amount of light that gets into the diamond and the degree to which the diamond sparkles in light.