So what is a Diamond and where does it come from?
Diamond is made up of Carbon that has been subject to extremely high pressure and heat; these natural conditions are to be found deep inside the earth under the continental shelf.
Over millions of years the carbon deposits slowly crystallize into Diamond, the longer the carbon is exposed to such conditions the larger the eventual Diamond will be.
Natural Diamonds are brought to the surface of the Earth by volcanic emissions, when the hot molten lava has cooled down it solidifies into rock within which diamonds can be found.
You would like to buy one of these precious creations, so what do you look for?
Diamonds vary greatly from those you can only dream about to those you can afford on a small budget. Whatever your personal spending power you still want the best your particular money can buy so it helps to have some idea of the many differences that can occur naturally in these most precious of gems.
The 4 C’s one should look out for are Colour, Clarity, Carat and Cut.
- Colour. Diamonds of different quality vary in shade from colourless to yellow. The closer a Diamond resembles being colourless the more valuable and better quality the Diamond.
- Clarity. This refers to the degree to which the diamond is free from naturally occurring inclusions in the stone. The fewer the inclusions, the rarer the Diamond.
- Carat. Size matters!! Carat refers to the weight, measurement or size of a diamond with each Carat being divided into 100 points (pts). Therefore a 50-point Diamond would be half a Carat.
- Cut. This refers to the shape of a Diamond and the way it reflects light and gives off sparkle. Popular shapes include a round brilliant cut, the Emerald cut, the Princess cut and the Oval cut.
Whichever Diamond you choose you will have something of timeless beauty to treasure forever, one of Mother Nature’s greatest wonders.
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