Women's Interests

Diamonds are truly beautiful stones, but they can also be a bit intimidating, particularly if you’re thinking of spending serious money on them. If you’re having special jewellery like custom diamond rings made, you need to do your thinking and plan your ring very clearly in your own mind, to get the right ring.

Photo: Lawrence OP

Diamonds- basics

The cut of a diamond is the way it’s cut, not the shape. The cut is divided into particular segments:

• The table: The flat top of the stone.
• The bevel facet: Angular flat surfaces on the sides of the table.
• The girdle: The centre cut of the diamond.
• Lower girdle facet: The flat surfaces just below the girdle.
• Pavilion: Lower face cuts, usually long and angular flat surfaces, the lower equivalent of the bevel facet.
• Pavilion facet: Stylized lower facets.
• The cutlet: The lower point of the diamond, where the angles form a point.

The shapes

There are many shapes, but there are several typical basic styles:

• Brilliant: The famous round diamond with a flat central table and symmetrical facets around it.
• Marquise: A tapered elliptical shape
• Pear: A thicker, teardrop shape.
• Emerald: An easily recognizable, rectangular cut without facets but straight edged layers. This is in fact the typical cut for fine emeralds.
• Oval: Literally an oval, with symmetrical facets around its sides.
• Heart: The heart shape, with a central table and surrounding facets.

 

Diamond quality- light and clarity

The light and colour are the defining quality features of a cut diamond. Rare pink, yellow, blue, green and black diamonds are called “fancies”. The archetypal high quality diamond, however, has no colour, and is a perfect medium for light.

Nothing sparkles like a diamond, as you’ll soon see when you start looking at the top quality stones. You actually need a magnifying glass, like the famous single eyepiece, which is a 10x magnifying glass, to see any flaws, or imperfections which affect the clarity of the diamond. Microscopic impurities are called inclusions, and the grading of diamonds is done on the basis of the lack of these features.

Carats- Weight, but not necessarily value

Carats are rated on a 100-point scale, which is the unit of weight of the stone. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean a great stone, just a big one. Clarity is the defining quality evaluation, relative to carat weight.

Choosing your diamonds

At the shopping stage, there are some things you need to know:

Real jewellers don’t deal in fakes. Ever. Many good diamonds now come with certificates of authenticity. Diamond traders and jewellers have a lot to lose if they get lumbered with poor quality stones, let alone fakes. The industry doesn’t like fakes at all, and is trying to stamp them out. (If you do somehow get stuck with a fake, make a noise, and you’ll get plenty of sympathy and support.)

Shopping around is a very good idea. You can get excellent deals for diamond rings, necklaces and other jewellery. It’s worth doing some research online, and getting a good idea of prices in your budget range.

Be picky, be fussy, and get the diamonds you want.