The Gemological Institute of America, popularly known as the GIA, made a great impact on the diamond industry. When they established the 4 C's grading system for diamonds in 1931, the future success of the diamond price list became a possibility, and the 4 C's eventually became the standard for describing diamonds worldwide. This grading system is more accepted globally than the several different grading systems used in other countries.
The 4 C's refer to the Cut, Carat weight, Color, and Clarity of the diamond. Here's a brief description of each:
Cut
Cut is the term that generally refers to the shape of a diamond. Today, cut no longer just refers to the shape of the diamond but also to how well the precious stone is actually cut. For example, a round shaped diamond is further critically examined as either perfectly round or somewhat off-round. Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair or Poor are the grading rates for the overall cutting workmanship of a diamond based on the cut grading scale developed by the GIA.
Carat Weight
The actual weight of a diamond is measured in carats. The term is derived from a kind of dry fruit that contains seeds known as a "carob". These seeds were considered to be of common knowledge and largely understood universally. The equivalent weight of the carob seeds was then used to define the actual weight of diamonds and other precious gems. The equivalent of one carat is about .20 grams, so a 5-carat diamond weighs one gram.
Color
The color characteristic of diamonds refers to their perceived color or, more precisely, lack of color. The most common diamonds display a more apparent tint of yellow. These commonly found diamonds are consequently less expensive in value. The fancy color diamonds, on the other hand, are extremely rare. They are those with a very obvious yellow tint and have very expensive price tags. Other rare colors in the fancy range can be pink, blue or green to name a few.
Clarity
Clarity is the measurement of the lack of, or presence of, internal and external imperfections in diamonds. Also called "impurities", a diamond's imperfections can be visible only when using 10 power magnification. The more rare diamonds have less imperfections while the very rare diamonds are those that are flawless.
It is very rare to find flawless diamonds in today's market where diamonds with imperfections visible to the naked eye are commonly found. Scientists, however, have found a way to make those imperfections become invisible to the naked eye through the process known as clarity enhancing. Using a material closely resembling a diamond, a high tech system is employed to fill the imperfections. The material also possesses the characteristics of diamond, thus, the end result is a natural diamond with the same brilliance and appeal. At almost half the price of non-enhanced diamonds, these modified diamonds are still considered 100% natural diamonds.
In the next article we will explore clarity enhanced diamonds in more depth as well as some of the other treatment and enhancement process on the market today.
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