If you were going to buy a car you would not purchase it just because it looked good and was cheap, and that is not what you should do if you are buying a diamond either.



With a car you would look under the hood and determine if it is mechanically sound. With a diamond you want to use a jeweler's loupe and look inside closely to see what flaws you can find.

They can have little deposits or spots of darkness in them that is carbon. Sometimes it in visible to the naked eye and sometimes it is not. In diamond talk, this is called an inclusion. The more inclusions a diamond may have, the lesser its value.

Inclusions such as this in a diamond can affect its clarity and in turn detract from the brilliance of light emitted from the stone. Near perfect diamonds are rare, so you probably will not get one that flawless.

When picking a car, you usually purchase one in the color you like. You might think that diamonds come in only one color, clear white. While that is the ideal color for a diamond, they can vary greatly shade.

Diamonds can have a yellow or even brownish tint to them, and looking at a diamond by itself you may not notice it much. If you have picked out a diamond, compare it with others in the display case and ask the jeweler where your diamond is on the color chart. They are graded from D to Z. D being the best, Z being the worst. The whiter a diamonds color, the greater is its value.

The cut of your diamond is not its shape alone. The cut is the perfection with which the artisan shapes the stone. The facets of a diamond need to be symmetrically correct to produce as much light reflection as possible. The cut, clarity and color all contribute to how much sparkling brilliance you will get from your diamond.

Of coarse the caret weight of the diamond you pick will also determine how much you pay for it. The bigger it is, the more you will pay. Just keep the other factors of a diamond in mind when your shopping and you will get one of good quality as well as one with good looks.