Making decisions about diamond choices can be confusing for consumers new to jewelry shopping. A helpful way to learn is this guide to the basics of diamond quality.

Crucial information makes these pages worth a look for more experienced shoppers as well. Most retailers will have a good quality page of this type, and it’s a good idea to check it out to learn all about the 4 Cs, just to brush up on the differences between diamond clarity grades, and see what diamond-related knowledge they bring to the table.

In addition to their unusual beauty, diamonds are the hardest naturally-occurring material on Earth. Diamonds have many particular characteristics that make them special, and how well these naturally occur or are carried out my the artisans in charge of them are grouped into a list generally called the 4 Cs.

Diamond cut is the most important factor of all. A poorly planned or executed cutting technique can permanently ruin a top-quality diamond, and conversely a lower quality diamond can be exponentially improved by cutting the stone very well. Cut is often confused with shape, the form into which the diamond is cut.

Color is the next step, and this one can be easy to see. Diamond color grades range from D-Z but you won’t find much fine jewelry set with anything beyond K color. Diamonds beyond this color grade steadily decline in rarity and value as they have noticeable yellow or brownish tints. Of course, diamonds with very pronounced natural colors including bright yellows, pinks, and blues are the rarest of all and actually more valuable many types of white diamond.

Clarity is the evaluation of a diamond’s internal and external flaws. Generally speaking, flaws inside a stone are called inclusions while flaws on the surface are known as blemishes. However, for the purposes of grading, gemological labs refer to all diamond flaws as inclusions. It takes several clarity grades to reach diamonds that have inclusions the naked eye can detect, so diamonds with good cut and color and these more or less undetectable moderate inclusions can be a good buy.

Carat weight is the trait most people can see and understand easily– it’s the unit of measure for the weight of a precious stone, and differences are visually detected simply by the size and/or number of diamonds. Diamonds of larger carat weights don’t get proportionally expensive with increased carat weight– they jump a lot in price from one carat to the next because finding large, good quality diamonds is less likely than finding small diamonds.

What is a diamond? Discover this and more by visiting the diamond and fine jewelry experts atEternity Rings and Bands! Their thorough jewelry site offers a number of wonderful rings & an education section offering a diamond clarity chart & many other useful resources.