A Bride's Little Book of Diamond Shopping

Any bride who's done her homework knows when shopping for diamonds the four elements to pay particular attention to--like the kind of attention you would give to the Bible if you were a priest, or the Constitution if you were a lawyer. Lucky for you, this post contains the four cornerstones on gemology for brides. Jewelers call them 4 C’s: Color, Clarity, Carat, and Cut.

Interestingly enough, one of the four C's holds more weight than the others. When shopping for your diamond, you can sacrifice a bit on Color and Clarity, even the Carat if you aren't ready for the debt. But what you can't, should not, MUST not sacrifice is the cut. The Cut goes beyond the shape of the diamond. After all, if it was the shape we were concerned about, they’d be called the 3 C’s and an S.

Jernae Kowallis of Bellison Jewelry give a little history to enlighten us--

"In 1919 a mathematician by the name of Marcel Tolkowsky, wrote a Masters thesis on the facet proportions for round brilliant cut diamonds. His findings were the basis for what we now call the “Ideal Cut" diamond," Kowallis said.

Stories passed down from jeweler to jeweler, say Tolkowsky took to the streets of London, asking passersby to select the most appealing diamond from a small group. The layman's opinion, combined with those of the diamond cutters in his family's Belgian business, he "Calculated the proportions of the most appealing diamonds," said Kowallis. "He then had to use his math and physics skills to prove why this was."

His meticulously calculated proportions a masterpiece diamond, but it wasn’t until 1996 when AGS (American Gem Society) began proportion based Cut grading based on Marcel’s proportions. Tolkowsky's Cut demonstrated a trade-off between the maximum brilliance and maximum fire that results from the many varying combinations of crown and pavilion angles possible--a trade-off that can save you thousands.

When looking for your diamond, make sure you place your priorities on Color and Cut. For diamond Color aim for a stone with a rating of D, E, and F which are Colorless. An ideal Clarity would be flawless, but it's not necessary--here is why. The diamond's cut is what determines the reflection of light within the stone, or as some may call it, the "bling." Kowallis explained, "Any-thing cut too deep or too shallow will lose the brilliant fire that it could have.

Your ring doesn't have to come in a Tiffany's box with a Tiffany price tag for you to never want to take it off. Just make sure it has the right Cut."Only one in twenty diamonds are ever cut to ideal proportions," Kowallis said. So make sure you know what you are looking at and what your money is paying for.

Let Clarity and Carat be negotiable in your quest for perfection, and you can wear a ring glamorous enough to snap a few necks and drop a few jaws.