How Professionals Use the 4 C’s
 

1. Carat : Size is one of the easiest things for professionals and non-professionals to judge. All you need is a standard metric balance to measure how many milligrams are in the diamond. For an exact official figure, electronic scales are used.
 

2. Cutting : The standard cut is easy and obvious for trained professionals to judge. We check the symmetry, the depth, and the polishing. It takes some training to develop this judgment, but it is not especially hard. Any experienced gemologist should have no trouble evaluating this quality.

There is a trade-off between size and cutting in terms of price. A lower-quality cut may actually produce a heavier stone, but it will be less brilliant and worth less per carat.

3. Clarity : Diamonds range from completely opaque in all kinds of colors (usually brown/yellow) to completely colorless, like fine crystal. Below a certain limit, diamonds are rated as “industrial quality”- suitable for machines or laboratory work, but not attractive enough to be gemstones. At a minimum transparency, diamonds are still charming, though slightly impure, and these are the lowest grade of gem-quality stones (typically a deep yellow). As the diamond becomes more transparent, it increases in grade and value, until the highest, completely transparent grade is reached.
Diamonds which retain their transparency but have an even stronger hue of yellow or another color belong to a separate category of gemstones, which can be extremely valuable but are not standardized in quality for investment.

4. Color : Ideally, standard diamonds have no color- they are transparent. These stones are more rare, so they are also more valuable. The process to grade a stone’s color is quite complicated, involving machinery such as a colorimeter and comparisons with master diamonds (standardized gems for investment grading). This evaluation requires well-trained experts, who may sometimes even disagree slightly on the same stone. This rating, more than the others, cannot be judged by a casual buyer.

Obviously, this is the most uncertain of the 4 C’s for investment rating. It’s hard to know who is being honest and professional with you without independent verification. That is why at D-Plus we issue our certificates of authenticity for the quality of the diamond and give a guarantee of buyback at that same quality based on market values, with a reasonable margin for our services. If you sell elsewhere to professionals, you should receive similar value if they are honest; however, remember that businesses everywhere are trying to make a profit, and many do not actually employ trained professionals on their sales staff. At D-Plus we guarantee our work, our staff, and our diamonds. Don’t risk your money! Follow these guidelines:


 

4C's

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