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Cut
Clarity
Color
Carat Weight
We all wish for a perfect diamond, but nature isn't so generous
and those diamonds are very, very rare. The extreme pressures and
temperatures under which diamonds are formed will almost always
create a stone with some internal or external flaw.
Such defects may include air bubbles, foreign material, or feathers,
but these are most often microscopic flaws. Gemologists in a laboratory,
using 10X magnification, study each stone, and nearly every diamond
will contain some defect that nature has included when forming the
stone. The location and size of the flaw is important and noted
as well, and make each diamond unique.
When a stone, even when examined under magnification by a trained
gemologist, reveals no internal flaws, the diamond is graded IF,
or internally flawless. Such magnificent stones are so rare that
most of us will go our entire life and never see one. Stones in
the next grade of clarity, VVS, are said to be very, very slightly
included. While these stones do have internal or external imperfections,
the blemishes are very difficult to locate, even under magnification.
If the inclusions or external blemishes are difficult to locate,
the stones are graded VS and these are more common than either of
the higher grades. A VS grade diamond still has no defects that
you can see with your naked eye, and the average person would never
notice them.
If the inclusions are easy to locate under magnification, the stone
is graded SI1, or slightly included. Again, to the untrained eye
it is hard to spot the inclusions in stones of this grade, and they
can still produce plenty of sparkle! SI2 or SI3 graded diamonds
can have some inclusions slightly visible to the naked eye but they
are very slight and don't affect the beauty or brilliance of the
diamond.
A stone that has medium or large blemishes that are normally very
visible to the trained eye under magnification, or even to the naked
eye under the right light, is graded included, or simply I. Some
consider a stone in this grade to have "character," and
while not perfect they can still display a great deal of fire and
brilliance. |
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