The Key to Purchasing a Diamond

If I had to buy a diamond a million times on a budget, I would sacrifice clarity for cut, color and carat weight any time. A diamond ultimately symbolizes what a person’s eyes sees. Any layman can determine a 1 carat diamond from a 4 carat diamond. In addition, any layman can also distinguish a yellow diamond from a clear diamond. With just a bit of training, you can also determine which diamond has a better cut if there is a significant difference in the cut grades. However, very few layman can determine an SI-2 from a VS-2 without training and a 10X magnifying loupe. In fact, neither can trained professionals.

You see, clarity measurements that are close on the grading scale just exist for pricing but in the end, clarity measurements that are close on the scale do very little to distinguish the brilliance of a diamond.

I would much rather buy an SI2 round diamond, that’s clear (E), 2 carats, with an excellent good than a diamond that rates as a VS1 with good cut, H color and 2.2 carats.  The SI2 is the better diamond. In summary, if you are on a budget, sacrifice clarity in exchange for color and cut if the carat size is equal.