Selecting the Best Diamond Ring

When shopping for a diamond ring online, you have a much wider variety of choices than just those presented by the jewelers who are physically close to your home or work neighborhood. One difference between shopping in a store, however and shopping online is that you will not be able to actually hold the real diamond rings you are considering before purchasing it. You will, at most sites, be able to view extremely-high quality images of the ring, however, from multiple angles and distances. Shopping this way may take some getting used to, but the rewards that it can yield are plentiful and well-worth the lack of having to drive around town to various jewelers looking for just the right stone to purchase.

Understanding the Four Cs

Diamonds are categorized according to four main characteristics that each one possesses; cut, color clarity and carat (or weight). Understanding each of these is a critical part to shopping for and finding the ideal diamond ring.

• Cut: The cut of a diamond is more than just its basic shape, such as Tiffany, Round or Princess cuts. The refined buyer or seller will be concerned with the quality of the cut as well as certain cuts, if done improperly, will not maximize the diamond's fire or ability to reflect the light.
• Color: Diamonds can have many different colors, ranging from yellow, to blue to black. Diamond color will greatly affect a stone's value since imperfections of a color can greatly damage a diamond's overall appearance. Most diamonds will be clear with a hint of yellow in them that can only be seen if you look very carefully for it. The clearest diamonds with no other colors in them or imperfections are by far the most expensive.
• Clarity: Clarity is a diamond's freedom from scratches or occlusions, which are imperfections deep inside the stone. These imperfections are what make every diamond unique, because they are all formed under unique circumstances though they may have developed right next to each other. Your diamond seller should be able to tell you and show you pictures of any occlusions or scratches in your diamond before you buy it.
• Carat: Carat measure's a diamond's weight and size. The larger a diamond is within the same quality, the more expensive it will be than a lesser carat stone, and the increase in price is an exponential one. In other words, if you find a one carat diamond for $500 of a certain clarity, color and cut, don't expect to find a two carat diamond of the same quality for $1,000 - it will be substantially more than that. Diamond carat weight is one place where novice buyers of real diamond rings make their biggest mistake - focusing on carat weight to the exclusion of all else. If a large diamond seems to be very inexpensive, it is for one of two very good reasons: It is either very poor quality, or it is not a real diamond.