subject: Getting Your Hands On The Perfect Engagement Rings At Affordable Prices [print this page] Shopping for an engagement ring for their loved ones is a major expense which most people are more than happy to bear. However, an engagement involves various other expenses as well and buying an engagement ring encrusted with diamonds can be an expensive proposition for many. It is, however, possible to find an impressive engagement ring if youre armed with a few basic facts about diamond engagement rings.
Everyone has heard about the 4Cs of diamonds: the holy grail of the diamond world. For the uninitiated, the 4 Cs refer to color, carat, clarity and cut. These factors can be quite perplexing for most people but a brief understanding of them is necessary to make an informed purchase. The following sections will explain these terms in laymans terms to give you a general idea about them and help you find the perfect engagement rings.
Color: Loose Diamonds are normally available in a host of colors ranging around pale yellow. This range of colors is referred to as the normal color range of diamonds. Diamonds are also available in other colors such as brown or dark yellow, but diamonds with these colors are very rare and hence extremely expensive. There are also diamonds that appear to be completely devoid of any colors and appear as bright white in color to an observer. Such diamonds are of the highest purity. The complete range of colors found in diamonds is specified on a scale of D to Z with D being colorless and Z referring to diamonds with pale yellow color. Diamonds in the color range of F to I are most common while there are a few diamonds that are rated above Z in the color range. Such diamonds are very rare and expensive and are called fancy colored diamonds.
Carat: The carat rating of a diamond refers to its weight with one carat being equal to 200 milligrams. This method of representing the weight of a diamond is quite old and originally was intended to measure the weight of a diamond vis a vis that of the seed of a carob.
Clarity: Loose Diamonds occur naturally in nature and therefore are not always free of deformities or flaws. In fact it is very rare to come across a diamond that is completely free of any flaws. The clarity rating of a diamond is used to rate the stone on the basis of its inherent flaws. The scale used for such a rating starts with FL, which refers to a completely flawless stone, and terminates in I3 which means that the diamond is seriously flawed. The commonly found diamonds that are easily available in the market are likely to have a clarity rating of SI1 or SI2, which means slightly included. There are diamonds available which have such clarity ratings such as IF, which means internally flawless, but these stones are unlikely to fit into the budget of the average buyer
Cut: An uncut and unpolished diamond is quite ordinary in its appearance. That is why the cut of a diamond is of such importance since it essentially brings out the brilliance of an otherwise ordinary looking stone
