What Should You Know Prior To Purchasing A Diamond?
Going ahead with buying a diamond before you get answers to significant questions about diamond would be a wrong thing because there is a high chance that you end up getting fooled if you are naïve about diamonds. After all, regretting the diamond choice you already made is the last thing you want. Below listed are some of the important things that you need to know before buying a diamond.
How To Choose A Diamond Budget?
The initial task of diamond purchase is choosing a budget and it is one of the toughest ones too. You often hear rumors that diamonds cost a lot and they often discourage us, but the truth is that you do not have to make financial sacrifices to buy a diamond.
The average retail price of a diamond ring in the US is $5000 and you can buy rings at price rates less than this too, without compromising on the aesthetic appeal.
Which Cut Should You Choose?
There is a wide selection of options in diamond cuts with each cut having its characteristic properties. In terms of popularity, round brilliant cut comes first as their sparkle and brilliance remains unbeaten. The round cut can hide inclusions and color in the diamonds so well and its low depth percentage makes the cut look larger than its actual size.
Round cut is a traditional one and if you want a diamond that has a modern charm about it, you could go for cuts like cushion or oval.
What Are The 4c’s?
4C’s of the diamond stand for cut, clarity, color and carat and each of these decides the size, quality and sparkle of the diamond. Cut indicates the quality of the symmetrical facets, angles, proportions, finishing details and scintillation of the diamond and all of these factors influence its sparkling ability. Ideal, excellent, very good, good, fair and poor are the cut grades of GIA and each grade will differs in terms of quality and prices.
Color refers to the whiteness of diamonds and GIA color grades range from D to Z with the diamond being more colored on moving from D to Z. Even when the color differences between two adjacent grades is not that visible to naked eye, the grade differences will reflect in the price.
Clarity evaluates how free a diamond is from blemishes and inclusions, and GIA clarity scale range from FL to I2 with the number of inclusions increasing on moving from FL to I2. The inclusions interfere with the reflection of light by the diamond and compromise its brilliance. If you plan to buy a diamond , you have to select one that is not at the bottom of clarity ranking.
Carat weight refers to the size of the diamond and plays a major role in deciding the price. 1 carat is equal to 0.2 grams.
What Is The Importance Of Diamond Certification?
Certification is a must for diamonds because you can’t be confident about the quality of the stone that you purchased unless you know it is certified. The reputation of the certifying agency is equally important as diamond grading because you cannot trust every agency with their credibility and many labs that lack a strong reputation often have misaligned incentives.
Some of the reputed certifying agencies are GIA, AGS, IGI etc and top diamond dealers sell diamonds certified by credible grading agencies.
What Are The Ways To Maximize The Value Of Your Diamond?
A perfect balance between the attributes, the 4C’s enhances the value of the diamond. You have to consider all of these attributes equally and make sure that you do not go down too much on one while you let another one go up. If you want things to be within your budget and get an appreciable quality diamond, you could go for 0.7 to 1 carat diamond with a G to H color grade, VS2 or SI1 clarity and excellent cut grade.
What If You Don’t Like The Diamond?
You cannot always ignore the possibility that you might not like the diamond after you purchase it, and keeping that in mind, you should buy diamonds from a jeweler that offers a fair return policy. Reputed jewelers often offer a period of free return that includes free shipping and zero restocking fees but some jewelers do not offer a return policy or charge fees for returns, which is an indicative of their lacking confidence in product quality.
How Important Is Diamond Insurance?
Underestimating the relevance of insuring diamonds is the biggest mistake that you can make because diamonds falling out and being stolen are possible events. Specialized jewelry insurers or companies that offer renters or home insurances can provide you diamond insurance. Replacing the diamond once you have lost it is a financial setback and diamond insurance saves you from the possible financial loss.
Before you go diamond shopping, make sure you have the required knowledge in the basic diamond details and if needed, get an expert help to find out who are the best diamond retailers.