Gentleman’s Guide 
Diamond Buyer’s Guide
The Giorgio's Jewellery Diamond Buyer's Guide
Buying a diamond can be an extremely confusing process. The diamond market is unique in that each individual stone has a price associated with its relative rareness and beauty. To the untrained eye it can be confusing why one diamond with relatively similar qualities can be twice the price of another.
How can one business offer a diamond for substantially cheaper than the same stone at the competition? Well, is it really the same stone? It may have some of the same characteristics, but it is highly doubtful that it is a perfect match to the stone you are comparing.
When you're shopping for a diamond it's important that you compare apples for apples – meaning that you must understand all the aspects of your diamond so that you can accurately compare one to another. When you know specifically what characteristics you are looking for you will be better equipped to make the right purchase.
Before you start your process we recommend that you first set a budget for the engagement ring. This will allow you to better target the stones in your price range and will help you get the best possible diamond for your budget. Now that you have your budget you should inspect some diamonds in your price range in person to get a feel for the different characteristics of a diamond and the roles they play in creating the brilliance, sparkle, and fire that you desire in your engagement ring. This is important because no two diamonds are created equal.
You may have heard of the "Five C's" of diamond buying – they are:
You'll notice that the shape of the diamond is not one of the "Five C's" – that's because the shape of the diamond describes the actual geometrical shape that the diamond is cut into – round, princess, oval, pear, emerald, cushion, heart-shaped and so forth. Because this aspect of your diamond is simply a matter of personal preference it is not considered a standard that you should judge your potential purchase by. Overall, the round, or brilliant-cut, is the most popular shape of diamond because it reflects the most brilliance of all the shapes.
CUT
Return to the top of the Diamond Buyer's Guide
Please note the diamond shape is not the diamond cut. The cut of a diamond describes the precision and quality of the actual cutting of the diamond that occurred when it was cut from a rough stone into a polished diamond. Therefore, the cut essentially translates into how good of a job the stone cutter did when he cut that finished diamond from a rough stone. This is extremely important to the final beauty of your diamond. Of all the "Five C's" of diamond buying, the cut plays the biggest part in the brilliance and sparkle of your diamond.
When a rough diamond crystal arrives at a stone cutter he will examine it and attempt to create the highest yield of finished diamonds out of that crystal. Note that diamonds are sold by carat weight, not by the actual size of the stone. Therefore some cutters prefer to cut the diamond heavy, sacrificing the perfect dimensions of an ideally-proportioned cut in favor of a cut that results in more diamond in the final product. This is why not all diamonds are perfect triple-excellent cuts - because more time, skill, labor, and loss of profit is involved in making them.
It's important to know that the very precise proportions of the stone have a dramatic effect on the sparkle, fire, and brilliance of the finished diamond. When a diamond is cut to just the right proportions and at certain precise angles then its ability to reflect and refract light will be maximized, and the effect we call brilliance and fire will be dramatic because light bounces freely within the diamond and is reflected back out of the top without escaping through the sides or bottom. A good jeweller knows the "golden ratios" of specific diamond proportions that create the most beautiful diamonds.
Polish and Symmetry are also included in the cut's grade. Polish describes the smoothness of the stone's facets and Symmetry refers to the alignment of the facets. When a stone has poor polish the surface of its facets can be dulled or may create blurry or dead sparkle. With poor symmetry the facets are not properly aligned and light is misdirected and not properly reflected out of the top of the stone creating dull sparkle and lost brilliance. When a diamond has excellent proportions, excellent polish and excellent symmetry it is considered a triple-excellent cut and is truly a brilliant and fiery diamond.
CLARITY
Return to the top of the Diamond Buyer's Guide
Almost all diamonds contain very tiny natural birthmarks known as inclusions. Inclusions may be crystals of a foreign material or another diamond crystal, or structural imperfections such as cracks in the stone that appear cloudy. The number, size, colour, location, orientation and visibility of inclusions will affect the clarity of a diamond. The clarity grade is assigned based on the overall appearance of the stone under 10x magnification, and not to the naked eye.
Most inclusions present in gem-quality diamonds do not affect the diamond's performance or structural integrity. However, the fewer and smaller the inclusions are, the less likely they will interfere with the passage of light through the diamond.
Diamonds with higher clarity grades are more valued, with the exceedingly rare "flawless" graded diamond fetching the highest price. Minor inclusions or blemishes can be useful as unique indentifying marks of your diamond. Additionally, as synthetic diamond technology improves inclusions and blemishes can be used as proof of your diamond's natural origin.
COLOUR
Return to the top of the Diamond Buyer's Guide
The majority of diamonds that are mined are in a range of pale yellow or brown colour that is termed the normal colour range. Diamonds that are of intense yellow or brown, or any other colour are called fancy colour diamonds. For the sake of this guide, we assume you are interested in a diamond in the normal colour range – this is what we consider a "white" diamond.
Even though most diamonds appear colourless to the naked eye, the majority of diamonds contain traces of yellow or brown. The closer the stone is to colourless, the more valuable the diamond. A colour grade of D is the best possible colour grade for a diamond, while Z is the lowest. Stones that have more colour than Z are considered to be fancy coloured diamonds and can command high prices due to their rarity.
A diamond's colour is graded by comparing the stone "face down" to a masterstone set of diamonds. Each masterstone exhibits the very least amount of body colour that a diamond in that color grade may exhibit. Thus, a lab grader will compare the diamond side-by-side with each masterstone until the proper colour grade is determined. Stones in the higher colour grades will "face up", or appear to be a grade higher, when they are properly mounted. Without a direct comparison on a purely white background it is nearly impossible to determine the exact colour grade of a diamond with the naked eye.
CARAT WEIGHT
Return to the top of the Diamond Buyer's Guide
The carat weight is the size of the diamond. A carat is divided into 100 points of two milligrams each.
This is the best place to control the price of your stone. Because larger diamonds are more rare than smaller diamonds, the price of a diamond will increase exponentially as the carat weight increases – for example a 1.0 carat diamond is not simply double the price of a .5 carat diamond with the exact same characteristics; it is actually more than double because .5 carat diamonds are much more common than 1.0 carat diamonds.
If you want to have the best value and beauty in a diamond ask for VS1 to VS2 in clarity, F to I in color, get the best cut possible by man and then use the carat weight of the diamond to leverage the price. A 1.5 carat stone that is lifeless because of a poor cut will be much less impressive than a .75 carat stone that has an excellent cut.
CERTIFICATE
Return to the top of the Diamond Buyer's Guide
You should never buy a diamond without a certificate. A diamond certificate is a statement issued by an independent Gemological Laboratory that, at the time of evaluation, the diamond in question was examined by experienced diamond graders, using various gemological instruments, and determined to contain the characteristics as stated in the report.
If you purchase a diamond without a certificate you are essentially taking the seller at his word that the diamond you are purchasing actually has the specifications he presents you with. If you find a diamond that you like but it has no certificate you can always request the seller take it to a gemological lab to have it certified. This is a common and sensible request, and if the seller refuses you should never proceed with the transaction.
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is the foremost gem laboratory in the world, although there are other reputable labs, not all labs are created equal. GIA created the standards for gem grading and all respectable labs follow them. They have the best instruments and the most advanced gem lab in the world, and are the most stringent and consistent in their grading.
