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The easiest of the four Cs to understand is that of carat weight.
It's simply the weight of the stone itself, without the setting. In
the trade, the prices of diamonds are expressed in price per carat,
and the diamond's size makes the largest difference.
A carat is exactly 0.20 grams, or 200 milligrams, and there are 100
points per carat. The certified weight of the carat is always listed
to two decimal places, but the machine that weighs them is accurate
to one-thousandth of a gram (0.001), or three places.
Not all diamonds have the same price for the same weight. Each individual
diamond, depending on its cut, color, and clarity, will fall into
a particular category of price per carat. More desirable stones cost
more, and while size is the biggest determining factor of price, a
smaller stone of higher quality may cost the same.
A diamond's price, ultimately, depends on the price per carat category
into which it belongs. Even then, the price per carat varies according
to size. As of 2000, a diamond of a particular color and clarity will
be in one price category if it's between 0.50 - 0.69 carats and will
increase per carat if it's increased to the next size range, 0.70
- 0.89 carats. The next range, 0.90 - 0.99 carats increases in price
again, in part because larger stones are simply more rare. Stones
in the 1.00 - 1.49 carat range increase the price per carat significantly
compared to the smaller ranges, and stones in the 1.50 - 1.99 carat
range will show an additional cost per carat. The rest of the sizes,
2.00 to 2.99, 3.00 to 3.99, 4.00 to 4.99 and so on increase in price
per carat respectively.
Cut
Clarity
Color
Carat Weight |
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