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    How to Buy a Diamond
  With a little help, you may find that buying a diamond can be a simple process!

We will help you to choose by following the quality guidelines of Clarity, Colour, Cut and Carat. (See detailed explanation below)		  
  About the Diamonds:

We supply our customers with a GIA colour brochure to help explain the 4C's of Diamonds. For a quick reference these charts can give you a snap shot of the 4 C's: Clarity, Colour, Cut and Carat. The 5th "C" sometimes used is Cost, but we will not go into the cost detail at this point.		  
  CLARITY
SYMBOL MEANING DEFINITION
F  Flawless  Free from all inclusions or blemishes
IF  Internally Flawless  No inclusions visible at 10x magnification (extremely
 rare)
VVS1  Very Very Slightly Included - 1  Inclusions that are extremely difficult to locate at 10x
VVS2  Very Very Slightly Included - 2  Inclusions that are very difficult to locate at 10x
VS1  Very Slightly Included - 1  Minor inclusions - difficult to locate at 10x
VS2  Very Slightly Included - 2  Minor inclusions - somewhat difficult to locate at 10x
SI1  Slightly Included - 1  Noticeable inclusions that are easy to locate at 10x
SI2  Slightly Included - 2  Noticeable inclusions that are very easy to locate at 10x
I1  Included - 1  Obvious inclusions. Somewhat easy to locate with the
 naked eye
I2  Included - 2  Obvious inclusions. Easy to locate with the naked eye
I3  Included - 3  Obvious inclusions. Very easy to locate with the naked
 eye
 
  COLOR
GIA LETTER COLOR - COMMERCIAL GRADING
D
E
F
G
H
I		  Colorless (white)
J
K
L		  Near Colorless (white)
M  Faint Yellow
N
O
P
Q
R		  Very Light Yellow
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z		  Light Yellow
 
  CUT

This refers to the proportions, symmetry and polish of the diamond.
The range is Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor.

CARAT

This refers to the weight of the diamond 1 carat (ct) = 100 points (pt), similar to how we count dollars in pennies you can count carats in points.

Be careful not to confuse Karat for Carat. Karat is used in reference to gold. 		 
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