Shopping for certified loose diamonds can be a great adventure especially, if you are passionate about jewelry like alot of people are.
Things you need to shop for certified loose diamonds:
The one and most important thing that you should not leave home without is a loop! The jeweler’s loops (if you do forget yours then ask for one in the jewelry store from where you are buying your diamonds) usually magnifies x10 times. This helps you to inspect diamonds to ensure their quality and clarity.
Brief diamond knowledge
Diamonds are graded according to their quality. There are four major things you must not miss checking when shopping to get certified loose diamonds they are known as the four ‘C’s. * Clarity – All diamonds have traces of minerals, gasses or other such elements trapped in them during the process of their formation. There are a few rare ones that do not have those traces and they are extremely expensive. These traces are called inclusions and the more they are present in the diamond the lower the grade. Jewelers also refer to these inclusions fondly as birth marks, insisting that they are the very personality of the gem stone making it unique. While one cannot argue with that, you want to look for as less ‘birth marks’ as possible.
* Color – Diamond color grades start with ‘D’ and continue throughout the alphabet. Here too the less color the diamond has the more its value. A single digit change in the color can see a great deal of change in the price.
* Cut – The cut is important because it directly affects the fire and sparkle of the diamond. When a gem stone is cut to excellent proportions, all the light coming through the stone is bounced from one side to the other dispersing into all the colors of the rainbow when the gem stone is viewed from above. If a gem stone is cut shallow much light is lost through the bottom and the diamond will be dull.
* Carat weight – all precious stones measure their weight and therefore the size in carats. One carat is divided into 100 points so that the a diamond of 50 points (.50 carat) is described as a half carat.
Taking into consideration all the above points should help you significantly in shopping for certified loose diamonds. Getting the certification is a very important point since that will be the guarantee of their quality and grade. Certified loose diamonds are a great investment which will always keep their value on the market.
