Members of the British Watch & Clockmakers Guild		Members of the National Association of Goldsmiths

A diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known to man. In ancient times Man was so enraptured by the beauty of this gem stone it was thought that they were tears of the Gods.
A diamond in its natural state is a fairly unimpressive thing to look at, it is only after the stone has been mined, cut and graded is it turned into the wonderful gemstone that is used in the desirable pieces of jewellery that we see in jeweller’s window displays.

To grade a diamond we must acknowledge what is known as The Four Cs.
These are Colour, Clarity, Cut and Carat weight.

Colour: When we talk of colour we are referring to how “white” a stone is, diamonds do occur in other colours but these are known as “fancy” stones.

Clarity: This is relating to the presence (if any) of inclusions in the stone.

Cut: This means how well the stone has been cut, not shape of stone.

Carat Weight: This is how big the stone is, a carat is made up of 100 “points”, incidentally a carat is derived from the relatively uniform weight of the Carob seed.

Nowadays we also talk about a fifth C this is the certificate, a certificate is usually obtained for larger stones typically 33 points upwards. A certificate is issued by an independent gem laboratory and states what grade the diamond falls into.

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