Diamonds are undoubtedly the most popular and well-known precious stones in the world. They are generally associated with wealth and luxury, and the diamond industry is one of the biggest jewelry industries in the world. Diamonds are so treasured that giving a diamond piece is usually paired with a special occasion, such as a marriage proposal or a significant anniversary.
However, not all diamonds are created equally, and diamonds can be valued depending on their color, cut, clarity, and carat.
How to Grade a Diamond
The process of determining the value of a diamond is called grading and jewelers use four metrics established by the Gemological Institute of America to determine the grade of a diamond. The higher the grade, the more value a diamond has. Here are those four metrics:
Carat
The carat is a major factor that determines a diamond’s value. It’s a term of measurement used to measure the weight of the diamond and it is derived from “carob,” which was a type of seed so uniform in weight that it was used for measurement. One carat is equivalent to 200 milligrams.
Clarity
A diamond’s purity is another factor that determines the value. A jeweler would look for internal flaws (inclusions) or external flaws (blemishes). The fewer flaws a diamond has, the higher the value. The clarity grading system can range from FL (flawless, even to the naked eye) to I (included, flawed even to the naked eye).
Cut
The cut can increase or decrease the value of a diamond, depending on the skill of the craftsman who does the cutting. The main goal of cutting a diamond is to allow the optimum amount of light to enter the diamond so that every angle and facet reflects the light back, making it glimmer when the light hits.
Color
Diamonds can come in a wide variety of colors, from colorless/clear diamonds to diamonds that have such a deep hue that you might mistake it for other precious stones. For clear diamonds, the more colorless they are, the higher the value. It is the opposite for colored diamonds: the darker and more striking the hue, the more valuable the colored diamond.
Colored Diamonds – are they Real?
Colored diamonds do occur naturally, and the colors are the result of either structural defects or interstitial impurities. Diamonds can come in a variety of colors and even in different shades of the same color – gray, blue, white, red, green, brown, yellow, and pink.
Some of the most famous and expensive diamonds in the world are colored diamonds, such as the legendary Hope Diamond. The Hope Diamond has a striking and distinctive deep blue color and it has been measured at 45.52 carats. The price of the Hope Diamond today is a staggering $350 million.
The Argyle Diamond
Natural pink diamonds are beautiful, and there is only one notable source in the world that produces around 90% of the world’s pink diamonds: the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia. This is the only place in the world where you will find Argyle diamonds.
While there might be other pink-hued diamonds, it is the unique chemical composition and the formation process that really makes Argyle diamonds one-of-a-kind. Due to the presence of a volcanic pipe composed of olivine lamproite that interacted with other minerals such as micas, zeolite, and kaolinite, the world-famous Argyle diamond was created.
Grading an Argyle Diamond
Due to the rarity of Argyle diamonds, they actually have their own grading system based on the color of the stones. First, the stones are separated according to four categories: PP (Purplish Pink), P (Pink), PR (Pink Rose), and PC (Pink Champagne). Afterward, the diamonds are graded according to the intensity of the color on a scale of 1 (the highest and deepest hues) to 9 (the lowest and lightest hue).
Why are Argyle Diamonds so Expensive?
There are two reasons why Argyle diamonds are already more expensive compared to other pink-colored diamonds, and why the price will probably just climb higher in the future. First, the amount of Argyle diamonds that have been produced by the Argyle Diamond mine has been steadily declining over the years, and the mine is already set to be closed by 2020. This impending closure date has increased the already rare status of Argyle diamonds due to high demand and lowering supply.
Second, pure Argyle diamonds are thought to have only one color throughout the whole diamond. Most colored diamonds have at least one secondary color, so the purity and completeness of Argyle diamonds really set it apart from other colored diamonds
Read more about diamonds and gemstones at https://www.jewellerymonthly.com/category/jewellery-diamonds-and-gemstones/
