Bilkey & Co Guide to Buying a Diamond

Congratulations on your engagement.
We would love to be a part of your special occasion, and we realise that buying a diamond can be quite technical, the most important thing to remember is that all diamonds are one of natures most incredible creations. The details about the colour, cut, clarity help us to calculate the value of the stone depending on its rarity. Please ask to view our grading equipment so that we can explain your stone to you in detail.

Most of all – enjoy the process!

Clarity

The clarity of a diamond is how clear the diamond is, or how many ‘inclusions’ the diamond has.

Fl – Flawless
IF – Internally Flawless
VVS1 – Very very slight inclusions (1st)
VVS2 – Very very slight inclusions (2nd)
VS1 – Very Slight inclusions (1st)
VS2 – Very slight inclusions (2nd)
Si1 – Slight inclusions (1st)
Si2 – Slight inclusions (2nd)
Si3 – Slight Inclusions (3rd)
I1/P1 – Included (1st)
I2/P2 – Included (2nd)
I3/P3 – Included (3rd)

All of the grades from Si3 above,are only visible under 10x magnification.

Shapes and Cut

There are many different diamond shapes available, the most common is the Modern Round Brilliant Cut, but also available are ovals, square (Princess), trilliants, Emerald cuts and baguettes.

How the diamond is cut is also a factor to how the diamond sparkles. A stone needs to reflect all the light to maximise sparkle. The symmetry and polish of a stone is also crucial. All our stones that we have in our store are very good cut, symmetry and polish.

Carat

Carat is the measure of the weight of a stone,or a collection of diamonds.

100 points = 1 carat. So a 50 point stone is also referred to as ½ carat. There is not set ‘perfect size’, it is more what suits your hand, and probably a matter of trying on a series of rings to see what suits. One carat is equivalent to 0.2 gram.

250 tonnes of earth needs to be mined to get one carats worth of diamond. Diamonds form at around 100 miles below the earths surface, so this is what makes diamonds so rare and also explains why they have always been highly sought after and increasing in value.

Colour

The colour of a diamond is how close to white the diamond is. The most sought after diamonds have no colour. Ask to view our master stones to see the difference of colour.