How Cut, Color, and Clarity Affect the Price of Diamonds

When you are shopping for diamonds, you will notice that there is a wide range of prices even for the same size of stone.

There are many factors that contribute to the cost of a diamond and you will need to be well aware of what they are so that you can get the most bang for your buck.

Additionally, there are diamonds for sale in most Malls that look great, but have been altered internally to the point that what you end up buying has totally lost its value.

No doubt, after you have shopped around to get an idea of the style that you might want, you also heard salespersons speaking a different language.

If it is time for you to invest in a diamond, then it is time for you to learn the language so that you do not make an expensive mistake.

In this blog post, we will discuss how cut, color, and clarity affect the price of diamonds. By understanding these factors, you will be able to make a more informed decision when purchasing a diamond ring or other piece of jewelry.

Let’s get started!

Why Are Diamonds So Expensive

One of the reasons that there are such wide discrepancies in the prices of diamonds is because you can actually see the variations in their appearance regarding how much brilliance they have, how large they appear to be, if they are clear or cloudy, and if the color is like water or if it is a fancy color like a canary yellow or pink.

Marketing is another reason that diamonds are so expensive.

For many years, the De Beers Corporation had a monopoly on the diamond market and they were able to control both the supply and demand of these precious stones.

De Beers ran an advertising campaign with the slogan “A diamond is forever” which helped create an emotional attachment to these rocks and it has become a cultural norm in our society.

Turns out diamonds aren’t really all that rare, but because of the way that they have been marketed, the public believes that they are rare and therefore valuable.

However, there are other factors that contribute to the cost of a diamond such as cut, color, and clarity.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these factors.

The Four Cs of Diamonds – Cut, Color, Carat, and Clarity

Actually, we can think of two more C’s that are not included as factors to look for when choosing a diamond, and there is a reason that they are left out.

One of them would be Cost, and the other would be Certification.

We will touch on those two after we have dealt with the most important of the Four C’s first.

Diamond Cuts

When speaking about the cut of diamonds, the average person is probably envisioning the shape of them.

Round, marquis, princess cut, oval and on and on.

While those are indeed shapes, they are not the “cuts” that diamond brokers and certification experts are referring to when grading the qualities of diamonds.

The cut of a diamond is speaking to the facets, symmetry, dimensions and reflective qualities of a diamond.

These are very important because those individual qualities will have a direct impact on how much your diamond is able to show brilliance and sparkle.

A diamond that cannot sparkle might as well be a stone of another name.

Here are some specifics about diamond cuts for you to ponder:

Facets

A facet consists of the flat surfaces that are cut into a gemstone to produce a geometric pattern.

These are like little windows that are arranged like prisms that are specifically designed to catch, bounce and reflect light as it penetrates the surface of the stone.

Think of them like a kaleidoscope. A diamond has three main facets:

• The crown on top
• the ring around it, called the girdle
• and finally, the pavilion under the girdle that begins the angle that travels downwards towards the bottom tip of the stone.

The crown includes the upper top surface and can account for the first 25% of a diamond’s height, and it stops just at the widest flare of a diamond.

The girdle is the ring part of the diamond that is directly below the widest part of the crown.

Often, the girdle is described as being thick or thin when a diamond is being graded.

This is important to know because this will indicate whether or not the girdle can be inscribed for diamond identification, but it is also an indication of the fragility of a stone since the widest part is likely to come into contact with objects where chips happen the most.

The pavilion begins just under the girdle and takes a sharp angle downward until it stops at the culet or point of the bottom of a diamond.

It accounts for the remainder of the height or depth of a diamond and is also responsible for bouncing light through and back up towards the surface.

The very bottom of the pavilion or culet point that is cut properly will stop a diamond from leaking light and will add to the brilliance of the stone.

Symmetry

This refers to how precisely the various facets of a diamond meet, align and intersect with each other.

While this does not affect the overall appearance of a diamond, it is responsible for how well the facet cuts can catch and release light back and forth to each other.

A diamond that has good or excellent symmetry is a diamond that plays catch very well with their other facet friends, and can reveal the sloppiness of workmanship.

Dimensions

This simply refers to the measurements of the various parts and sizes of each shape of diamonds.

A round diamond dimension will naturally have different measurements than an emerald shape or pear shape will.

Dimensions will be one factor that will determine the size that you can expect a diamond to be.

Reflective Qualities

Diamonds get their brilliance from three things:

• reflection
• refraction
• and dispersion.

Reflection is the light that hits the diamond to create the fire, brilliance, and ability to scintillate or play with the light that hits each facet.

Refraction is what happens when light passes through the diamond to reveal different colors within the stone.

Dispersion is what we often refer to as the “fire” in a diamond, and it refers to the tiny rainbow flashes of color that you can see as light moves across a diamond.

Color of Diamonds

The color quality of your diamond will have a big impact on its value, especially if you are also buying with the idea of investment.

The perfect diamond is considered to be colorless, and any color detected in a diamond will reflect in its value.

As you move down the color scale, tinges of yellow or brown may appear in the stones, and this color can reduce the value and perceived quality of the diamond.

There are obviously exceptions to this general rule.

Having color will not lower the value of the diamond if the color happens to be a ‘fancy color’, such as for example, a canary yellow or a natural green or pink diamond.

Starting with diamond colors that begin to show obvious yellow tinges, we then call those “Champagne Diamonds” because they are warm and attractive, as long as the color saturation is good.

Natural colored diamonds can actually lead to a significant increase in the price of a diamond.

Below is a scale which you will find as a partial guide to how colors are graded if they do not fall into the category of a fancy colored diamond:

• Colorless (D-F)
• Near Colorless (G-J)
• Faint (K-M), and down the scale it goes until it hits XYZ.

Carat

The carat weight of a diamond is probably the most subjective of the 4 C’s.

This is because carat merely describes the likely size and spread of the stone.

A one carat diamond will typically fall into a table that has a close range into a 6.5 millimeter size vs the actual weight.

To get the true weight of a diamond, it is best that it is weighed on a scale when it is loose rather than inside a mounting where the depth is more difficult to measure due to metal being in the way.

We need to realize that not all carats are created equal. If you say that you want a 2 carat diamond, but that diamond is of poor quality in all other aspects of grading, then the price will reflect those poor qualities in spite of the carat weight.

Diamond Clarity

The clarity rating of your diamond is another element to understand.

A flawless diamond which has no inclusions or surface imperfections carries a dramatically different appearance as well as price point, while a poor clarity diamond grade will have features that can be spotted by the naked eye and will cause a substantial drop in value.

Clarity is considered important in the value of a diamond because the more inclusions (junk) that are found internally inside a diamond, the worse it looks to the naked eye and the worse it will be at reflecting light and brilliance.

Clarity grades begin at Flawless, which of course means perfect, and they end with three different “I” grades, which means that the flaws contained in them can easily be seen without magnification.

Flaws of clarity do not include a poor cut, but rather, the types of inclusions found internally which are:

• clouds
• feathers
• and carbon spots.

The messier the diamond is inside, the worse the clarity rating will be.

What To Look For When Buying a Diamond

When shopping for a diamond, the first thing you will have to consider is your price point, the preferred shape that you’d like to have, and then you can start concerning yourself with the Four C’s.

We like to also consider whether or not the diamond that you fall in love with has an appraisal that is third party verified rather than a store appraisal, which is often biased and does not have certified standards of grading to back up their claims.

If you don’t mind a warm champagne colored diamond that has a good cut and clarity, you can often buy one that is greater in size and weight for the same price.

Flawless diamonds are very difficult to come by, and you will pay the highest prices for those regardless of how small they are, especially if they have a fantastic cut.

What Affects Diamond Price The Most?

You would think that the size or weight would be the determining factor that affects diamond prices the most.

And normally you would be correct if you are simply talking about a carat worth of tiny melee or small diamonds spread out all over a mounting.

But a carat in weight for a single stone is worth exponentially more that a carat in weight for a group of tiny diamonds, simply because tiny diamonds are so plentiful and usually do not have higher qualities in them.

Diamond prices are affected the most by two factors:

• the cut
• and the clarity

Because cut and clarity go hand in hand.

Without the one being good, the other cannot perform.

All other things being factored, those two are the primary features that make any diamond worth buying regardless of color, size or even price point.

What Reduces The Value of a Diamond?

The value of a diamond is quickly reduced when it has anything less than an “Eye clean” clarity.

An eye clean diamond is one where any inclusions or blemishes cannot be seen by the naked human eye when looking at the stone face up on your finger.

Inclusions can be found internally as well as on the surface of the diamond, and both will affect clarity grading.

However, if you can see these inclusions with the naked eye, it will also affect the value and beauty of the diamond in a negative way.

How To Get The Best Value For Your Money When Purchasing a Diamond

First you will need to learn about the reputations of the jewelry stores within your shopping area.

You will need to educate yourself on the qualities of the various components of diamonds and find out how educated the salespersons really are when you ask very specific questions about a diamond that you are considering buying.

You will need to see and read the specifics about a diamond by asking for certification done by a third party Certified Gemologist.

Keep in mind that a Gemologist Lab reports, such as GIA or EGL, will not put a price on their certifications!

They only do the grading, and then you can take those report findings and use them to see if the price of the diamond that you want is relative to the report if any.

Final Thoughts

Make sure that a diamond that dazzles your eyes is real and has not been color enhanced or fracture treated or filled to make inclusions and flaws disappear.

A certification should include this information.

Make sure that there are not prongs and bezels that are hiding flea bite chips under them.

While you should not be intimidated, also remember that old saying that “a fool and his money are soon parted”.

This is usually the result of being in a hurry from pressure by a salesperson and from not properly educating yourself.

Remember that diamonds do not fly out of jewelry stores in the same way or at the same speed that fresh sourdough bread flies off of a store shelf.