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1846 E. Camelback Road
Phoenix, AZ 85016
Phone # 602-635-3063
Fax # 602-956-0717
mary@jewelsbygdo.com

Diamond Guide

Diamond Buying Guide

The staff at Jewels By G. Darrell Olson feels that educating our clients is the best way to ensure you are getting exactly what you want and your loved one deserves.

Rare and fascinating, mysterious and magical diamonds have ignited passion throughout history. Once believed to be splinters from falling stars or tears from gods, we have come to cherish the colorless beauty and inner fire of this symbolic stone.

Here are the basic 4 factors regarding diamonds and their value.

Color:
This is the amount of body color within a diamond. Diamonds that display enough of a desirable color are called fancy-colored diamonds. The rarest colors are red, pink, green and blue. The absence of color in diamonds is most rare and is highly prized.

Cut:
In its uncut form a diamond's beauty is well concealed. A diamond loses approximately 50% of its size from its natural form. The angles and proportions relating to the cut are of the utmost importance and without good cutting the diamonds spectacular brilliance is sacrificed.

Clarity:
The amount of inclusions within a stone or blemishes on the surface determines the clarity grading the stone receives. Since very few diamonds are "perfect", one might expect to have some inclusions which add to the uniqueness of each stone.

Carat:
This measurement is used to determine the actual weight of a diamond. this factor has the greatest effect on value, based on rarity. Most fancy-shaped diamonds are elongated in shape and appear larger than round diamonds of the same size. Many couples chose a fancy-shaped diamond for this reason.

SHAPES
Deciding on a shape is a very important setup in the selection process of your diamond. Following are some examples of the classic shapes of diamonds:

Round

The Round brilliant diamond is the most popular diamond shape, the most brilliant of all the cuts, and is the most expensive.

Round diamonds are most often found in engagement rings and are popular as stud earrings and in pendants.

Princess

Most people like the Princess because it is rectangular and yet has some of the sparkle of the Round brilliant cut.

The Princess cut may have either 50 facets (21 crown, 4 girdle, 25 pavilion) or 58 facets (21 crown, 4 girdle, 33 pavilion) depending on how the pavilion is cut. This cut is most frequently a square shape where the length to width ration is 1.0 to 1.1.

The Princess cut tends to be the smallest of the shapes for the same carat weight since the cut is basically an upside-down pyramid with most of the carat weight in the pavilion. Princess cuts require great care when setting and needs to be protected to avoid chipping or cracking.

Oval

Ovals provide a bigger surface area than a round with the same carat weight and therefore are an excellent option for shoppers looking for a brilliance of the round but a bigger size for their dollar.

Usually oval cuts have the standard 58 facet pattern. Look for even, well rounded ends with a full body having an optimal length-to-width ratio of 1.33-1.66

Emerald

The Emerald cut is not a brilliant cut, but is called a step cut. Step cuts are comprised of larger facets which act like mirrors. Because of the angle, size and shape of the facets, the emerald cut shows less brilliance than the other brilliant cut diamonds.

However, the Emerald cut stone reveals a classic beauty and elegance not seen in other cuts. Because of the open and large facets, we recommend a higher color and clarity than you might consider for a brilliant cut stone because they are more likely to become visible at lower grades.

Pear

The Pear Shaped Brilliant is a combination of a Round brilliant and a Marquise cut.

The Pear shape usually has the 58 facet brilliant pattern, but can be cut with different numbers of pavilions mains of 8, 7, 6, or 4 facets. In a pear, look for a well shaped point and an even shaped opposite end with a length-to-width ration of 1.50-1.75.

Pear shaped diamonds work great for pendants and drop earrings

Heart

The Heart shape is a brilliant cut and bears some similarity to the pear shape, except that there is a cleft at eh top.

It is important to look for a perfectly symmetrical appearance where the loves (top arches) are of even height and breadth, and the overall shape is pleasing to the eye.

Marquise

The name "Marquise" came from a legend of the Marquise of Pompadour that the Sun King wanted a diamond to be polished into the shape of the mouth of the Marquise.

The Marquise is typically cut into 58 facet standard brilliant (33 crown, 25 pavilion), the same as the round brilliant. The crown cut is sometimes modified in the marquise to form what is called a "French Tip" where the bezel facet at the point of the stone is eliminated. Marquise diamonds frequently display a bow tie, so try to find a stone in which this is minimal or absent. The marquise has a very big surface area for the carat weight so its an excellent option if you want a big look for less dollars.

Trillion

The Trillion cut was developed in the late seventies.

The Trillion is a triangle that has equilateral sides. It is a combination cut of the step and the brilliant cut diamond and when cut correctly has a wonderful brilliance. It is often cut shallow and often looks large for its carat weight.

Trillion diamonds are beautiful when flanking a center diamond, or in a more avant-garde piece as a center diamond. A matched pair also create beautiful earrings.

Baguette

The Baguette is a step cut style used frequently as a side stone.

Baguettes have un beveled corners, usually only two rows of facets, and may be rectangular or tapered. Like the emerald cut, the Baguette does not have the sparkle of the brilliant cut but has a classic beauty.

Higher color and clarity are important because there are not facets to hide inclusions or body color.

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