For those looking to purchase a diamond in the near future, it’s necessary to understand diamond classification so that you can make the right choice for your purchase. As far as classifications are concerned, there is The 4C’s that have emerged as the most important diamond characteristic to look at to determine quality.

As for the classifications themselves, they consist of clarity, cut, carat weight, and color.

To help you better understand, we will now explain each of The 4C’s in greater detail below:

Clarity

Best Diamond clarity is specifically determined by the location and the amount of its blemishes and flaws, also known as inclusions.

But even more important, the true determinant of these inclusions can only truly be discovered when they are viewed under the power of 10 X magnification.

It’s by magnifying the diamond that the skilled grader truly has the ability to discover all of the various flaws and blemishes.

As a matter of fact, the majority of the diamonds that you’ll come across will contain some kind of flaws in inclusions. It’s very rare to find a diamond without any inclusions at all.

And as you can imagine, if a diamond has very few inclusions, it is considered more valuable and more beautiful. So the less inclusions the better.

Cut

When we talk about the cut of a diamond, we are specifically focused on the diamond proportions and not at all talking about the shape of the diamond, examples being Princess, Pear, Marquise, Round Brilliant, etc.

No matter what the shape of the diamond happens to be, the brilliance of every diamond is derived from the polishing and cutting of the diamond facets. This allows the maximum amount of light to be reflected through the top.

When a diamond is cut correctly, all the angles are perfect and light will be dispersed through the cut of a diamond.

If there is a cut made too shallow or too deep, the light will escape from the bottom of the diamond without being able to see its full beauty and clarity.

Carat Weight

In regard to carat weight, this should be very self-explanatory. It’s the amount that a diamond will weigh once it is measured in carats.

It’s important to know that as the weight of the diamond increases, so does the rarity of that particular gemstone. And since it is rarer than others, you can expect it to also be more expensive.

Lastly, two diamonds can have the same carat weight, but their clarity, color, and cut can make them vastly differ in value.

Color

Finally, diamonds actually come in a wide variety of colors. As a matter of fact, they come in every color of the rainbow.

As far as color is concerned, the best color to have is a diamond that has no color at all. Because when a diamond is completely colorless, light will be able to pass through it the easiest and you’ll see the full color of the rainbow once that light is dispersed.  However, there are some blue and pink diamond earrings fetching $68 million, so sometimes you have to throw the rule book out the window.