Buying a Diamond? Here are the Seven Sacred Rules to Selecting the Right One
If you are thinking about buying a diamond, it’s important to choose a company whose gemologists and experts will personally and honestly help to evaluate the right gemstone for you. At Green Lake Jewelry Works, we hand select each diamond and negotiate hard for the absolute best value. Ours is a tedious process, where we examine each gemstone with care, accepting only the most beautiful diamonds at the best value, and return the rest.
Here are 7 quick tips on how to know which diamond is truly perfect for you:
Inspecting a loose diamond allows one to see the entire gemstone, from top to bottom. You can check for its overall symmetry, and chips or other defects that prongs in a setting may conceal. What’s more, viewing multiple diamonds side by side offers a genuine comparison between similarly graded gemstones that might appear to be the same on paper, but are very different in person.
A diamond’s color is graded by a range of letters, from ‘D’ which represents a complete lack of color, to ‘Z’ which refers to stones with more yellow to brown body color. While colorless diamonds are far rarer in nature (and therefore more expensive), the overall color and beauty of a diamond is really in the eye of the beholder. This is an area in diamond buying where it comes down to what is personally most appealing.
To assess the color of a diamond as accurately as possible, it’s best to view them under bright, colorless fluorescent lighting as well as daylight to get an accurate read. Your gemologist can also present the diamond you’re interested in alongside a verified and pre-graded set of gems ranging from ‘D’ all the way to ‘M’ color grades – this is just another step to understanding what you’re really buying.
In addition to confirming a diamonds tiny, laser inscribed serial number from the cutter, you can use a professional microscope to see the gemstone’s naturally occurring imperfections – or ‘inclusions.’ These fragments of dark carbon or deviations in the crystal’s structure are really the fingerprint of your diamond. Knowing where your inclusions are is an easy way to distinguish your diamond from any other on earth.
A carat is the unit of measure for weighing the mass of a gemstone. As diamonds are relatively small, they vary greatly in value based on size, weighing them in a controlled environment is key. By seeing your diamond weighed on a professional scale, you can be assured that not even the room’s airflow or dust particles will affect the true carat weight of your diamond.
Realize that selecting a diamond based on its certification alone may not get you the gem you really want. After all, these gemstones are graded by humans and no two gemstones can be exactly alike. There are many suggested steps to selecting the perfect diamond listed here – use them all.
Of course a jeweler will tell you the diamond you’re interested in is perfect – but we of course have an interest in selling it to you. Seek out an unbiased look at the gemstone. Laboratories like the American Gem Society or the Gemological Institute of America provide independent reports on diamonds and these reports can verify the quality of the gem.
No, diamonds don’t make sounds – the point is, how does the diamond look to you? That’s what ultimately matters. Everything a gemologist or independent report says about your diamond will not follow you around through life, verifying its credentials wherever you go. No – it’s you who will see it every day, and wear it to signify the biggest moments in your life. So, how does it look to you? That’s really the most sacred rule in selecting a diamond.
About the author:
Eric Robertson is a writer, illustrator and creative lead for Green Lake Jewelry Works.