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DEMYSTIFYING THE FOUR Cs

World-wide the diamond industry uses the four Cs: cut, colour, clarity and carat – as their guide when evaluating a stone.

Cut

If a diamond is cut too deep the centre will appear too dark, whereas a shallow cut results in the diamond looking glassy, watery and dull. A correctly cut diamond, such as the South African Ideal Cut (read more), reflects light in a spectrum of dazzling colours.

Cut

Colour

Diamonds range from a pale yellow to brown, to a rare and colourless white. They are graded according to their inner hue. Essentially, the whiter the diamond, the higher the value.

Clarity

Diamonds contain minute traces of non-crystallised carbon that are known as inclusions. These are nature’s fingerprints that make each diamond unique and are only usually seen under magnification. The finer the clarity the more brilliant the stone.

Clarity

Carat

The weight or mass of a diamond - is divided into 100 points, so a quarter of a carat is equivalent to a 25-point diamond. In ancient times, hand-held scales measured a diamond’s weight. On one side they placed the diamond, and on the other side, carob seeds. A ‘carob’ has since become known as a ‘carat’.

Carat

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