Which of the 4 Cs are Most Important?
The most important rules of buying a diamond have been expressed as the 4 Cs – cut, clarity, colour and carat weight. While most people can rattle off the 4 Cs, few people understand what they’re actually looking for when they go to buy a diamond. Finding themselves faced with a wide variety of choices, they usually do not know which is the most important of these to focus on.
To help clear this up, it’s important to understand just what is involved in the Cs.
How many carats is it? While many people focus on this exclusively, this is not the most important factor when purchasing a diamond. Sure, that might be the first question people ask when they see a diamond, but the weight of a ring hardly matters when determining whether one will be satisfied with a diamond!
Colour is also largely a matter of taste. While white diamonds remain the most popular purchase, there are brilliant yellow diamonds, chocolate diamonds, blue diamonds and even stunning black diamonds.
Coloured diamonds are usually enhanced through a procedure using irradiation and intense heat in order to bring out the colour. This doesn’t make them any less real; science has managed to replicate what used to take Mother Nature eons to perform.
Clarity refers to the number of inner flaws within the diamond. Most diamonds have flaws, and many people find those flaws interesting. But the “cleaner” the diamond, the more brilliant it appears. This is important, to be sure, but not as important as cut.
A diamond’s brilliance cannot fully be appreciated without a carefully crafted cut. This does not refer to the shape of the ring. It means the diamond’s reflective qualities, which bring out the brilliance and clarity in the stone. When people are amazed by a diamond ring, you can be sure it’s because of the quality of the cut.