The Four C’s!

Although I vividly remember going through and looking at diamonds with my husband (nearly thirteen years ago), I having seemingly forgotten all that we learned about those little four c’s!  With all of the new ring designs that we have been photographing lately, I thought it was best to ask a pro!  So I partnered up with 77 Diamonds to ask them for a quick refresher and they are kindly guest blogging for us today!

We are so glad to have this to reference back to and to share with all of our KVP readers!

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When you choose an engagement ring, you may have more factors to consider than you’ve ever realized before.  Of course, you’ve heard the word “carat” thrown around, and you may understand that bigger is usually more expensive.  But to someone who hasn’t shopped for a diamond before, this is usually about as far as common knowledge goes.  You will need to know a bit more before heading to http://www.77diamonds.com/ to start shopping.  In fact, there are a number of different factors that play into how valuable and impressive a diamond is.  A good place to start is understanding the “four C’s” of diamonds, which are essentially four of the most important factors in any diamond.  Here are a few brief words on these four C’s.

~  Color: While it seems as if all diamonds are somewhat clear in color, diamonds in their natural forms actually come in various colors.  Technically, the clear diamonds that most engagement rings are adorned with are referred to as white diamonds, but in general diamonds are actually judged on a color scale.  Diamonds that are labeled as falling in the D-F range are actually called “colorless,” which essentially means that they are clear, and thus allow more light to pass through them. This is where a good diamond gets its shine, so to speak.
~  Cut: When people hear about a diamond’s cut, they often jump right to shape in their minds.  In fact, cut and shape are two very different things.  Shape is, literally exactly what it sounds like, whereas cut refers to the overall sculpture of a diamond.  Diamonds for rings are cut in very specific ways, designed to allow maximum reflection of light, which means that better cut means more brilliance, and a nicer looking ring.
~  Clarity: Despite the careful care they endure in preparation of being set in rings, diamonds are still natural stones, and thus can have blemishes and imperfections.  These imperfections are unofficially measured by “clarity,” where a high clarity diamond is “flawless” and a diamond with a lot of surface imperfections is simply “imperfect.”  Often, smaller blemishes aren’t even visible by the naked eye, but a substantial number of such blemishes can affect the way your diamond looks.
~  Carat: Finally, the one that gets the most attention.  A diamond’s carat is actually a direct expression of its weight, and therefore of its rarity. The higher the carat, the heavier and rarer the diamond, and the same is true in reverse.  This is probably the simplest expression of how “nice” a diamond is to many people, but in fact you can still have a flawless, gorgeous diamond of a lower carat – it will simply be smaller.

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Thank you, 77 Diamonds!