05/10/2010

5 Things You Need to Know About Carats

Along with it’s Cut, the Carat size is usually one of the first things that comes to mind when we think about diamonds. After all, size matters right? For a long time, I never fully understood what the “C’s” were all about, so here it is broken down in simple terms, starting with the Carat.

 

- The “Carat” is a standard unit of weight for a diamond (and other gemstones) which equals .2 grams.

- Carats refer to the stone’s mass, not its quality.

- Carat weight is different than a “karat”, which is the method of determining the purity of gold.

- The value of a diamond increases with its carat size, but not on an even scale because larger (especially unflawed ones) diamonds are much more rare. So, a 2 carat diamond will cost much more than two 1 carat diamonds.

- Heavier diamonds are not necessarily better than less weighty ones. They just have the largest impact on price!