You are wondering what does “4 Cs” mean?
It’s because 4Cs is one of the key terms regarding diamonds, and anyone who is interested in diamonds should know the meaning.
In simple words, the 4cs define the quality and cost of a diamond, and is based on 4 properties:
Let’s define these Cs.
Carat
Carat is the weight of a diamond. One carat equals 0.200 grams (200 milligrams).
A diamond of 1 gram weights 5 carats.
If two of more diamonds of same quality weight different, the one with more carats will be most expensive.
It’s important to know that carat do not determine the quality of a diamond by itself, but only the weight.
Learn more about diamond carat.
Clarity
Clarity is the presence of inclusions such as clouds, carbon spots in the diamond.
Inclusions are much easier to find when you are looking from the side of the diamond.
Inclusions can be found near the center of the diamond or sometimes near the side.
If the inclusion is further away from the center, it could be hidden with the prongs of the ring.
For exceptional diamonds, such as one you would give for an engagement ring, we recommend VS2 or higher.
For earrings, bracelets and other jewelry, it would be all right to go with an SI1 clarity.
Read the full article about diamond clarity to find out more about this measure.
Color
Color means is it yellow, white, pink or even black.
You can get colored diamonds but the best are white.
Whiter the better, ideally you will look for a G or H color, it goes from “D” which is the best/whitest, up along the alphabet getting yellower along the way.
See more about diamond color in the following article.
Cut
This is to do if
A: is it round, square, oval, pear, emerald shaped or marquises?
B: how well is it cut, proportions, are they right for the stone style?
Diamond cut is very important these days as the cut can determine the outcome price, if the proportions are all wrong then the light will not shine to its full potential when it enters the stone and bounces back out.
This is the only real factor that man has to deal with in relation to the quality of a diamond.
The rest are all natural unless we consider the treatments that can be done on some stones.
We will go into that in a following article as this really only applies to non certified diamonds.
Here we are detailing certified.