The 4 C's of a Diamond 

 Clarity, Color, Carat and Cut 

 
When buying a Diamond there are four important factors for you to consider Clarity, Color, Carat and Cut. The table below looks at  Clarity and Color. This information is based on  the GIA Diamond  Grading Systems (note there are other grading systems  that you will see referenced by other sellers). Please review the information below and if you have any questions please contact:-  Derek  Parnell G.G. (GIA) at Jewels by Truros (dparnell@truros.ca)

  Diamond  Grading

CLARITY


Some diamonds are more perfect than others. Clarity refers to the amount and size of imperfections in the diamond. These may be internal flaws (called inclusions) and external flaws (called blemishes). Depending on how a diamond is mounted, some minor flaws can be hidden. The following table is a standard clarity chart, starting from the highest clarity rating and working downwards.

F Flawless Free from all inclusions or blemishes - No inclusions visible at 10x magnification.
VVS1 Very Very Slightly Included #1 Inclusions that are extremely difficult to locate at 10x.
VVS2 Very Very Slightly Included #2 Inclusions that are very difficult to locate at 10x.
VS1 Very Slightly Included #1 Minor inclusions that are difficult to locate at 10x.
VS2 Very Slightly Included #2 Minor inclusions that are somewhat difficult to locate at 10x.
Sll Slightly Included #1 Noticeable inclusions that are easy to locate at 10x.
Sl2 Slightly Included #2 Noticeable inclusion that are very easy to locate at 10x.
Sl3 Slightly Included #3 Some inclusions may be seen with the unaided eye.
I1 Included #1 Obvious inclusions. Somewhat easy to locate with the unaided eye.
I2 Included #2 Obvious inclusions. Easy to locate with the unaided eye.
I3 Included #3 Obvious inclusions. Very easy to locate with the unaided eye.

COLOR

The color grade of a diamond refers to how closely its body color approaches colorlessness. Most diamonds have at least a trace of yellow, brown, or grey body color. With the exception of some natural fancy colors, such as blue, pink, purple, or red, the colorless grade is the most rare. All things being equal, other than the fancy colors, the closer a diamond is to colorless, the more valuable it is.

The color grading scale ranges from totally colorless to fancy yellow. The differences between one grade and another are very subtle, as can be seen by the number of grades within any one category.

Color refers to the color of the diamond (how easy was that?). Diamond color is denoted by a color scale used the letters of the alphabet (from D - "colorless" to Z -"light yellow color"). For a ring, you are most likely to be looking at diamonds in the first two groups:

D-E-F Colorless The colorless diamond group is the most expensive. D and E show virtually no color. F starts to show the very slightest of color and is the transitional color to the Near Colorless group
G-H-I Near Colorless The Near Colorless group is a very popular color group because of its relatively low price, yet still high color. These colors are hard to detect in mounted diamonds, showing a very light shade of color.
J-K-L Faint Yellow many buyers don't mind a faint yellow appearance (K,L,M ) because when these diamonds were set into yellow gold, they appeared very nearly colorless and since this grade was is expensive the customer could opt for a larger diamond without increasing their budget.