Like fashion for clothes or shoes, certain jewelry preferences also have their own trends. Only the eternal classic does not change: exquisite rings, bracelets, pendants and earrings with diamonds are still mesmerizing with their beauty. Each beauty dreams of becoming the owner of stones at least a few carats. One diamond can reach a weight of several tens of carats, and in order to understand whether it is a lot or a little, it is necessary to take into account several factors.
What are diamonds
Diamond stones themselves are formed in special natural conditions, where there is everything necessary for the formation of a crystal. And basically, their origin is more likely in the highlands. Large diamonds are a rarity, there are much more small stones among them. Therefore, even a copy weighing several carats is a very expensive pleasure.
A cut diamond is called a diamond. Since when grinding every stone becomes unique, but loses several carats in weight, the same diamond before and after processing varies by a factor of hundreds of times.
How are stones evaluated?
Large and small diamonds are evaluated according to different criteria. In the first case, color and purity matter, in the second - weight, and not the individual characteristics of the stone. The unit weight of these gems is considered to be a carat - 1 millet seed.
This is only an approximate measure, and the most unusual factors influence its change. The same weighings carried out at different levels of air humidity gave discrepancies of up to 0.13 grams. With the expansion of the geography of jewelry trade, it became necessary to give this unit of measurement an exact value.
Systematization of measurements
In 1877, French merchants proposed to establish the official figure: 1 carat should be 0.205. The proposal was not supported, but a quarter century later, in 1907, at a conference in Paris, the question of systematizing uniform measures and weights was raised again. Even later, from 1930, the final international measure of weight was established, which makes it possible to determine exactly what 1 carat is. “How many grams does this stone weigh?” - buyers often ask managers of jewelry stores. Today, its measure is 0.2 grams (i.e., 1/5 part) or 200 mg.
In addition, there is another way to determine how much a carat weighs. 1 diamond of this mass is considered equal to 3.086 troy grains used for weighing large gems.
In the professional environment of jewelers, it is customary to differently determine the mass of stones. We can say that a carat is 1 hundred points (a unit often used as an indicator of the weight of small and medium stones).
Features of weighing different stones
How much is it: 1 carat? How many grams does a standard diamond weigh? Usually its weight is measured with the highest accuracy to hundredths of a fraction, and the mass is set using sensitive carat scales. It can be approximately determined by the diameter of the stone. Very large diamonds weighing over 6 carats are sold only at auctions, they are denoted by melange.
Small stones, weighing no more than 0.25 carats, are publicly available, and they are called melee. If their weight does not exceed 0.01 carats, then this is diamond chips, which is also important in jewelry. The abbreviation 1 carat is indicated as 1 ct, this reduction should not be confused with the abbreviation kt, used to denote the purity of gold in America.
What does a 1-carat stone look like? A diamond can have a diameter of up to 6 mm and a height of up to 4 mm: it does not look very impressive. It all depends on the density and inclusions in its composition. When it comes to diamonds exclusively, carats can tell a lot about their size. For example, a carat of a diamond corresponds to its size if it has a round cut with 57 faces.
How to choose diamonds
Jewelers recommend applying the rule of four "si" (English - C): carat - carat; clarity - purity; color - color and cut - cut. The main indicator is weight, the larger it is, the higher the cost. A quality diamond should not have color; when it is perfectly painted, it becomes invisible in water. It is from here that the expression “diamond of pure water” came from.
By color, diamonds are divided into classes. The first class is among Russian stones, although more often they relate to the second or third. If they have no internal defects, then they are "clean." A similar classification allows us to distinguish among them diamonds that do not have cracks, visible to the naked eye or under a magnifier. Cutting is already an element of decor. Basically, round stones are offered for sale, although, if desired, another shape can be ordered.
It is difficult to distinguish a real diamond from a fake one for an ordinary buyer, but you should always pay attention to the mark with the number of faces. The price depends on it. For example, marking on a 1Cr label 57–0.25 1 / 5A means that it is a round stone, one with 57 faces, which weighs 0.25 carats, with a color of class 1 and a purity of 5A. A ring with such a stone will cost about 25,000 rubles. Products with diamonds up to 0.1 carats do not exceed 7500 rubles in value. A half-carat stone will cost 150,000 rubles, but this is not a very expensive diamond. 1 carat price may exceed half a million rubles.