Gemstone selection guide

Are you unsure about selecting the right gemstone? Whether it's a ring, diamond earrings, or a luxurious necklace, we'll show you what to focus on before the actual purchase.

Not all gemstones are the same. The quality of each is assessed by experts using four important criteria – weight (carat), color (color), clarity (clarity), and cut (cut).

CARAT

The weight of gemstones, measured in carats (1 carat = 0.2 grams), is one of the most important characteristics that determine their price. However, it's far from the only one. For example two diamonds of the same size can differ significantly in price if they have different qualities in terms of clarity, color, and cut. A smaller but higher quality stone can be more beautiful than a larger diamond with noticeable flaws.

COLOR

Color is evaluated by comparing gemstones to reference stones under standardized artificial lighting that replicates daylight in the northern hemisphere. For example for white diamonds, a perfectly colorless diamond is considered ideal. Such a diamond is capable of best dispersing incoming light and creating rainbow-like flashes called "fire." However, most natural diamonds contain some degree of coloration due to minor impurities within the stone.

D - colorless .... Z - yellow

CLARITY

Only very rarely does a flawless gemstone occur. Nearly all of them contain minor blemishes and imperfections, such as microscopic scratches or trace amounts of other minerals. For example a diamond is referred to as "flawless" if, upon examination by a skilled expert under tenfold magnification, it shows no internal "impurities," known as inclusions. Additional levels of clarity are determined by the size, position, brightness, and number of internal elements. Grades of quality on the scale (designated by the letter "p" for pique) indicate flaws that might be visible to the naked eye of a knowledgeable observer.

CUT

Why is the cut so crucial? It's precisely because the cut determines how the gemstone will reflect light. The better the cut, the more it will sparkle. A perfectly cut diamond sparkles throughout and, additionally, we can observe rainbow-like flashes called fire, which are created by the light bouncing off the individual facets. On the other hand, a poorly cut stone appears cloudy, glassy, and it may have areas that appear darker because they don't reflect light properly.

In the QA certificate, the description of the cut is divided into a separate section for proportion analysis (side angles and proportional relationships between different parts of the stone) and surface modifications. The cut description primarily addresses deviations in symmetry and the placement of the cut facets.

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