From time immemorial a diamond has been used to signify purity,
love, and devotion. Usually found beneath the earth's crust,
created as a result of incredibly intense heat and pressure
on natural carbon, diamonds are the hardest mineral known
to man. It takes one diamond to cut another.
Difficult to discover, harder still to prise from the earth, Diamonds have always
been treasured possessions. Only 5% of all the diamonds mined are of sufficient
quality to be used in jewellery. The rest are used in machinery and manufacturing,
ie in diamond cutting blades where a thin coating of minute diamond particles
is spread over the blade to create a unstoppable cutting edge.
What are the 4 Cs?
Commonly
known as the 4C's, each diamond has four qualities that add or
detract from its value.
The first 'C' is for
Carat.
Diamond weight is expressed in carats. Each carat
is the equivalent of 0.2 grams in weight so a 5 carat stone would
weigh exactly 1 gram. The word carat is a derivation of the word
carob. Centuries ago, the arab traders used carob seeds as a measure
because they were incredibly consistent in size and weight, the
term has been used ever since.
The second
'C' is for Colour.
The colour of a diamond is expressed alphabetically
in a range from 'D' down to 'M', with 'D' being blue white and
'M' being an off white. The whiter the stone the more valuable.
There are some rare coloured diamonds called fancy's, and they
can be pink, yellow and blue. Good quality fancy's command extremely
high prices.
The third 'C'
is for Clarity.
During the creation process debris is often caught
up with the carbon and heated and compressed along with it. Some
debris gets burnt off, but other small pieces remain within the
stone. These are natural inclusions. Purity is expressed in a range
IF to P2 where IF is internally flawless with no inclusions thro'
to P2 which means that inclusions can be seen with the naked eye.
The fourth
'C' is for Cut.
The diamond cutters art is to create a finished
stone that is as big as possible, as clear as possible and as finely
cut as possible. Each cut has clearly defined measures of angle
and dimension to allow the stone to give off the very best fire
and sparkle. The cutter has to adhere to these as closely as possible
within the confines of the original shape and properties of the
rough diamond.
The final value of the finished stone is a combination
of all of the four 'C's. A small stone, perfectly formed, with
a very white colour and no inclusions can easily be as valuable
as a bigger stone, poorly cut, with inclusions and low colour.
If you are lucky enough to possess a large, clear white diamond
of perfect proportion and clarity - keep it safe - it is extremely
rare!! > see our insurance services!
Diamond weight is expressed in carats. Each carat
is the equivalent of 0.2 grams in weight so a 5 carat stone would
weigh exactly 1 gram. The word carat is a derivation of the word
carob. Centuries ago, the arab traders used carob seeds as a measure
because they were incredibly consistent in size and weight, the
term has been used ever since.
The colour of a diamond is expressed alphabetically
in a range from 'D' down to 'M', with 'D' being blue white and
'M' being an off white. The whiter the stone the more valuable.
There are some rare coloured diamonds called fancy's, and they
can be pink, yellow and blue. Good quality fancy's command extremely
high prices. 
During the creation process debris is often caught
up with the carbon and heated and compressed along with it. Some
debris gets burnt off, but other small pieces remain within the
stone. These are natural inclusions. Purity is expressed in a range
IF to P2 where IF is internally flawless with no inclusions thro'
to P2 which means that inclusions can be seen with the naked eye.
The diamond cutters art is to create a finished
stone that is as big as possible, as clear as possible and as finely
cut as possible. Each cut has clearly defined measures of angle
and dimension to allow the stone to give off the very best fire
and sparkle. The cutter has to adhere to these as closely as possible
within the confines of the original shape and properties of the
rough diamond.
