This article will answer several popular questions about diamond certificates:

• Why is buying a certified diamond better than buying a stone without a cert?
• What are the most reputable certification systems in the United States and around the world, and how are they different from each other?
• Are there different types of certificates and what are the key differences?
• How can you be sure that a certificate corresponds to a specific diamond?
• What’s the difference between certification and appraisal?

Why is buying a certified diamond better than buying a stone without a cert?

A diamond certificate is the evaluation of a third-party, neither the diamond buyer nor seller. Unfortunately, an outsider’s certification is necessary, as it would be easy for an unscrupulous jeweler to take advantage of an uninformed buyer. There are a number of ways unsuspecting buyers might land a bad deal and never be the wiser.

If the diamond is not certified, there is a good chance you may be buying a stone that is one or more grades below stated values in terms of carat weight, color, clarity, or cut. Without a certificate, issued by a reputable agency, such as GIA, AGS, or HRD, a buyer relies on a jeweler’s integrity that the diamond’s 4C parameters are accurate and not overstated.

A lack of a certificate may be a clue that the diamond has been “enhanced” and the jeweler knows an inspection would reveal the diamond’s true status, as well as indicate how the compromised diamond might erode. Internal fractures, inclusions, and excessively yellowish color, can be treated to visually improve the appearance of the stone. Such treatment deteriorates the overall quality and value of the stone. For example, diamond fractures can be filled with molten glass (a process known as Yehuda, from the inventor’s name) to improve clarity by one or two grades. Or it can be worse: Instead of molten glass, some jewelers use cheaper materials containing bromine to fill the fractures, which inevitably make the diamond darker over time, due to ultraviolet exposure. Some diamonds can be laser-treated to visually eliminate some of the “inclusions.” Laser treatment involves drilling tiny holes in the diamond to get to the inclusions. Needless to say, diamonds with drilled holes are worth less than comparable grade diamonds that have no holes. Diamonds that are yellowish in color (color grades S through Z) can sometimes be pressure- and heat-treated to make them whiter (a process often referred to as HPHT, high-pressure and high-temperature). Such treatment also makes diamonds more fragile and brittle and, therefore, more prone to damage.

It is important to note that enhancement processes such as Yehuda, laser clarity enhancement, and HPHT can be useful for those who are looking to buy bigger diamonds for less money. If a diamond is inexpensive for its size due to yellowish color or if it contains a visible fracture, you can still buy such a diamond inexpensively (perhaps at a 30-50% discount compared to a naturally colorless or fractureless stone) and have it enhanced to improve its appearance. This enhancement would be significantly cheaper than buying a naturally higher grade diamond.

The problem, however, is that some jewelers make such enhancements and try to sell those diamonds without disclosing to buyers anything about the treatment.

To avoid buying a diamond “lemon” it is better to buy diamonds that are certified by reputable grading agencies.

What are the most reputable certification systems in the United States and around the world, and how are they different from each other?

Several well-known grading agencies in the United States and Europe have high reputations:

• Gemological Institute of America (GIA)
• American Gemological Society (AGS)
• International Confederation of Jewelry, Silverware, Diamonds, Pearls, and Stones (CIBJO)
• Diamond High Council (HRD, which is an abbreviation of the Dutch “Hoge Raad voor Diamant”)
• International Gemological Institute (IGI)
• European Gemological Laboratory (EGL)

GIA, based in the United States, is considered to be the industry standard and is the most widely used and trusted name in the diamond trade. AGS is well-known for its in-depth scientific research into diamond color grades. AGS’s color grading is considered to be somewhat superior to GIA’s by some jewelers. HRD, EGL, and especially CIBJO are not as well known in the United States as their American brethren, but certificate from any of these agencies is a solid guarantee that you are not going to end up with a diamond “lemon.”

The key differences between the grading agencies are their diamond color and clarity grading systems, which might be somewhat difficult to compare against each other due to differences in scale. Over the years, however, some agencies made an effort to standardize their grading scales with that of GIA. Hence, be careful with older certificates, as the grades may not match current ones. For example, AGS modified its grading system in 1995. On this note, however, it is not advisable to buy diamonds with certs that are more than three years old since diamonds, like everything else, are prone to wear and tear and over time can chip, scratch, or crack, and a certificate more than three years old is not going to reflect the accumulated everyday damage.
The table below shows side-by-side four of the world’s most popular color grading systems: GIA, AGS, CIBJO, and HRD.

Similar to color grading, clarity grading scales have also been gradually standardized across the different systems. GIA grading scale is increasingly used as an industry standard. Below are the clarity grading scales for the same four grading agencies as above: GIA, AGS, CIBJO, and HRD.

Are there different types of certificates and what are the key differences?

The short answer is yes, there are a few types of certificates issued by the grading agencies’ laboratories. All grading laboratories have different names for their certificates, which helps differentiate the brands in the diamond market. GIA calls its certificates either a GIA Diamond Dossier or a GIA Diamond Report. AGS calls its certificates Diamond Quality Documents, Diamond Quality Reports, or Diamond Quality Analyses. All these certs are different in that they provide varying level of detail about a diamond.
For instance a GIA Diamond Dossier comes in two types—with and without diamond cut details. All GIA Diamond Dossiers provide basic information on the diamonds’ 4Cs (carat weight, color, clarity, and two elements of the cut quality: polish and symmetry). Dossiers also specify the stone’s fluorescence and measurements. If the report comes with the “cut” information, it also provides detailed dimensions of the stone, such as table size, crown and pavilion angles, girdle thickness, etc.

GIA Diamond Reports, however, are slightly more detailed. They contain all the information included in the GIA Diamond Dossier plus a schematic of the stones’ inclusions (blemishes, inclusions, chips, feathers, etc.). This information may be useful for two reasons:

1. It allows the owner (and the jeweler) to link the diamond cert to the diamond itself by comparing internal inclusions in the diamond, seen under the 10x loupe with those specified in the GIA Diamond Report, without having to use a microscope to read the laser registry inscriptions, and
2. It indicates whether the diamond may need to be recertified when a 10x loupe examination indicates that some additional chips and scratches may have appeared on the stone that were not captured when the diamond certificate was created.
   Below are examples of a GIA Diamond Report and a GIA Diamond Certificate (pictures are courtesy of GIA).

How can you be sure that a certificate corresponds to a specific diamond?

Some diamonds are laser engraved with a serial number on the girdle, to match the serial number on the certificate. However, professional jewelry thieves know that a repolish of the girdle can eliminate the engraved number. And, of course, the same option is available to an unscrupulous jeweler.

A better method to compare certification with a stone is to ask for a third-party’s professional evaluation. No matter how similar two diamonds may be, they are likely to vary in weight, measurements, angles, and proportions. Some certificates do not carry this level of detail, which is one of the reasons diamond stones with certain certifications are a little more expensive than others with less detailed certs.

If your certification offers this information, seek out an independent appraiser, a GG (graduate gemologist). An appraiser who does not sell or buy diamonds has no vested interest in your purchase and is likely to give you the most honest and accurate appraisal.

If you cannot find an independent appraiser, go to a local jeweler and ask to make an appointment with an appraiser. Your odds of receiving a thorough, unhurried inspection improve with your method of approach—do not rush the jeweler, do not take the jeweler’s time away from potential other customers, expect to pay a fee, and be polite. If it improves your sense of accuracy, ask if you can have the evaluation without the GG viewing the certification. Then you at least know the GG did not simply copy what your cert says.

Many things can be manipulated, but each diamond’s inclusions are unique. A certification that plots the diamond’s inclusions is like checking the fingerprints on identical twins—you’ll find the one you want.

What’s the difference between certification and appraisal?

A diamond’s certification is a scientific review of the rock’s qualities: color, cut, clarity, carats. It pertains to a loose diamond but will accompany the diamond even after a setting has been added. Certifications are conducted by several reputable groups. Certification does not assign a monetary value to a stone; it assigns grades on the diamond’s key qualities.

An appraisal assigns a monetary value to a stone. Appraisals on loose stones are more accurate than appraisals on mounted diamonds, since flaws are less likely to be hidden. The appraisal of a diamond can vary, depending on who is conducting the appraisal, how, why, and when. An appraisal can be rendered useless by fluctuating market conditions, but a diamond’s certification is more steadfast. If a certified diamond has been mounted on a ring, it may need to be recertified to make sure normal everyday activity did not deteriorate the clarity of the stone by chipping or scratching the surface. Also, certain ring settings involve cutting into the stone or pounding on it, and recertification will provide an up-to-date evaluation.

For the most accurate appraisal, a third-party gemologist should be consulted. For a speculative guess at a particular diamond’s worth, plug its certification information into DiamondPriceGuru.com’s search function to see the prices online retailers charge for similar diamonds. This is a good proxy for the retail value of the diamond, but not for a jeweler’s buying price. Jewelers buy diamonds from the public at wholesale prices, which, according to industry sources, are typically 60% or less of the retail price. So, if on DiamondPriceGuru.com diamonds similar to your stone sell for about $5,000, it is likely a jeweler will offer you no more than $3,000 for it.

Today gold in its pure form is rarely used to produce jewelry. Most 24-karat gold is sold as investments to world governments and central banks as well as private investors. Twenty-four-karat gold is too soft and not durable enough to use for jewelry. Jewelers use different alloys, combining gold with other metals to give it more hardness. For example, the most popular grade of gold purity in the United States is 18-karat, meaning three-quarters of the alloy is gold and one-quarter is a mixture of copper and silver.
Mixing in silver and copper is a bit of science—if too much silver is added, the gold will show a green tinge. On the other hand, mixing in too much copper will give gold a red tinge (so-called “rose gold”). Addition of nickel or palladium overpowers the distinctly bright yellow color of gold, producing what is known as “white gold.” Mixing other metals with gold produces a variety of colored golds, such as green gold , pale yellow gold , yellow gold, red gold, and white gold.

Gold purity is measured in karats (known as “carats” in countries of the British Commonwealth) and refers to the amount of pure gold present in the jewelry. Twenty-four-karat gold is considered to be pure gold, or 99.9% pure to be exact. Dividing the karat unit by 24 will provide the percent of pure gold in the jewelry. Thus, if you are wondering how much gold is in the 18-karat wedding band you are wearing, divide 18 by 24 to get 75%. Your wedding band gold is 75% pure.

In Europe gold purity is expressed using millesimal fineness, parts per thousand of pure metal by mass in the alloy, rounded to three digits. Gold rated 24-karat or 99.9% pure in the United States would be stamped “999” in Europe.

The table below provides translation of the U.S. gold purity system into the European one.

Gold Content and Notation

Stating the obvious, the purer the gold content in a piece of jewelry, the more valuable it is. Thus, with the current price of gold hovering around $900 per troy ounce (equivalent to 31.103 grams) the price difference between 24-karat gold and 18-karat gold would be $225 per troy ounce. One troy ounce of 18-karat gold would cost 75% of $900, or $675.

Jewelers use special X-ray fluorescence instrumentation to test the karat grade of precious metals and jewelry. These machines determine the gold karat measurement without damaging fine jewelry. More sophisticated equipment can also determine proportion of gold, platinum, silver, palladium, rhodium, and other precious and semi-precious metals in the alloy composition of gold jewelry.

The next day, when he arrived, he asked, “Are you ready? He’s waiting.” Brian pulled the curtain away from the kitchen window to reveal a black stretch limo with a driver standing in front of it!

The driver drove us around DC; it was a perfect sunny day. Brian mentioned that we would be going to the waterfront eventually (where we had our first date), but first, we would stop at the cherry blossoms that were in full bloom.

We got out of the limo and walked around the tidal basin, taking pictures. Brian had his jacket with him, and I asked him why since it was so warm; he told me it was for us to sit on. We found a nice tree and camped out underneath it. He took the ring box out of his jacket pocket—sneaky guy—and proposed right there. I of course said, “Yes!”

We walked around the cherry blossoms for a while longer, then went back to the limo where chilled champagne was waiting for us. The next stop was the waterfront—we walked along the water to the spot where we stood during our first date.

Brian did a great job of making it a day I will never forget.

Mr. & Mrs. Brian P.

How are Diamonds Formed?

Not all diamonds are created the same way.

However, most naturally occurring diamonds were created over 100 miles below the Earth’s surface, in the upper mantel. Billions of carbon atoms joined under extremely high temperature and high pressure. The diamonds reached the Earth’s surface through volcanic eruptions, but not just any eruptions. In order to throw the formed diamonds all the way to the surface fast enough and strong enough to prevent the carbon atoms from reforming into graphite, the spew had to begin below the diamonds and travel 20 to 50 mph. Eruptions like this have not been witnessed in recent times. Without the perfect eruption, the diamond remains hidden at a depth where current technology can’t reach it.

Other conditions must be “perfect,” too. Even a one-carat diamond requires billions of carbon atoms to bond, and all of those atoms must be carbon to create a colorless diamond. The slightest quirk creates a colored diamond: a bit of boron makes a blue diamond; nitrogen makes a yellow diamond; natural radiation form nearby rocks trap electrons to create a green surface color; pink or red shades are thought to be due to changes to the electron structure during the voyage to the surface.

While diamonds can’t be dated, the materials found around them can. The youngest diamonds on Earth appear to be hundreds of millions of years old, and older ones stretch back billions of years. The carbon atoms that composed the diamonds were previously parts of the mantle or sediment from animals, plants, and shells. As tectonic plates shifted, material on the surface was pulled downward, into the diamond producing zone.

Outer Space

The pressure and temperature required to create diamonds is not limited to subterranean Earth. A meteorite’s impact can create diamonds. Meteors colliding with other objects in space create diamonds embedded in the meteors. Scientists look for microscopically small nano-diamonds to indicate where meteorites might have hit Earth.

Even stars create diamonds. Star dust contains tiny bits of diamonds, the oldest diamonds in existence. And when a star uses up all of its energy and dies, it can become a diamond. White dwarf BPM 37093 (nicknamed Lucy after the Beatles’ song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”) is composed of mostly carbon with a thin coating of hydrogen and helium gases. Lucy is 10 billion trillion trillion carats in size—roughly the size of Earth’s moon.
Our own solar system’s sun is believed to be heading in the same direction—five to seven billion years from now it will cool down and become a huge diamond as well.

Laboratories

“Manmade diamonds” are actually more prevalent than natural diamonds. Since 1950, laboratories have manufactured diamonds, either by forcing carbon atoms to juncture under extreme heat and pressure or by reducing methane gas. Depending on the particular company’s formulation, the process can take days to weeks. Though the process is sped up, diamond formation is still a sensitive process where conditions fluctuate, yielding diamonds just as flawed and unique as those found in nature.

Where Do Diamonds Go?

Diamonds are most often associated with jewelry, but their strength is highly sought in a variety of industrial applications: to cut, polish, and grind hard surfaces; to manipulate concrete, metal, ceramic, computer chips, eyeglasses, stones, and other gems; and as parts of surgical blades, heat spreaders, and specialty windows.

Even though 80% of the natural diamonds mined each year go toward industrial purposes, four times as many diamonds are synthetically created to also go toward industrial use. Approximately 25 million carats of natural diamonds go toward jewelry each year, another 100 million carats of natural diamonds go toward industrial use, and an additional 400 million carats of laboratory manufactured diamonds are created for industrial purposes

This does not mean synthetic diamonds should not be considered for jewelry. Prices are much lower than natural diamonds, and the quality can be worse or better than a natural diamond.

Where is My Diamond From?

Natural diamonds are mined in approximately 25 countries across five continents: Africa, Australia, Asia, North America, and South America. Currently, Africa accounts for nearly half of the world’s production of diamonds. Production is highest in Australia, Botswana, Russia, Zaire (Congo Republic), and South Africa.

Thanks to the Kimberly Process, diamonds mined starting in 2003 carry certificates indicating the location where the diamond rock was unearthed. Before 2003, diamond purchasers might have no indicated of their diamonds’ origins, but now they can even name the particular mine.

What is a Blood Diamond?

A “blood diamond” (also known as conflict diamond, war diamond, dirty diamond, hot diamond, or converted diamond) is mined or produced in unethical conditions, including in war zones to finance insurgencies.

In 2003, the UN-backed Kimberley Process began requiring participating countries to certify that their exported diamonds were conflict-free. According to the World Diamond Council, this program has been very successful, with 99% of the world’s diamond supply certified as conflict-free. Some other estimates are not as optimistic, but the Kimberly Process does seem to work—the amount of blood diamonds in the market is estimated to have dropped from 15% before the Kimberly Process was introduced to less than 5% today.

Some retailers also offer “conflict neutral” diamonds. The retailer or the consumer makes a donation to a relevant charity, with the expectation that the good works promoted by that donation help balance against the negative works in the diamond industry.

An alternative to purchasing a new diamond is to “recycle” a diamond—purchase or be gifted someone else’s older diamond. While there is always the chance that the diamond was originally mined as a blood diamond, at least reusing it does not add to the funding of recent conflicts. A reused family stone carries the additional bonus of sentimental value.

Plan A

The proposal was set for Monday, January 21. We both had the day off because of Martin Luther King Jr Day.
Simple enough plan. I would cook dinner and, at some point, the neighbor’s Beagle Petie would burst in with the ring attached to his collar. Petie has a history of bursting in whenever he comes home from a walk because 1) I do not close the front door all the way and 2) he is always hoping to recreate that slice of heaven when he came in to discover my grocery bags on the kitchen floor.

Suz was out of town all day so I had some time to pull everything together. I shopped and prepared a seafood-themed meal (shrimp & artichoke kabobs, a seafood chowder and swordfish steaks with a mustard sauce). Things were arranged with my neighbor for Petie to come over at 8:30 PM. they would follow bring flowers and a camera.

But we never counted on … Target!

Things Fall Apart

Not in on the secret, Suz got distracted on the way home by the siren call of Target. So she did not make it back until after 10:00. So everything got put on hold until the next day. But on the bright side, we had new curtain rods!

Plan B

Same as Plan A but different night. Fortunately, this time she showed up. Suz remarked over dinner that I must have been bored on my day off to spend so much time cooking.

The neighbor texted a few times for the signal of when to come over. I had to cover and pretend that the messages were from work.

Petie burst in. I knelt down to unattach the ring from his collar. I asked her to marry me and got the answer that every man waits for:

“Are you serious?”

Epilogue

Suz eventually said “yes”.

Ted S and Suzan F.

Of course you could draw some conclusions on what shape your future fiancée likes based on her other jewelry. If she prefers to wear traditional styles, a round or oval brilliant, solitaire setting could be the way to go. Round or oval is also a good choice if your loved one is into an active lifestyle or likes to wear dainty clothing, since diamonds with sharp edges (marquise, pear, heart, and square shapes) are more likely to pull threads or scratch her or others during sports.

You could also ask your future fiancée’s best friend to innocuously strike up a conversation on the topic of “gem stone shapes.” If her best friend has been attending acting classes, the level of innocuousness may even be believable enough without raising your girlfriend’s suspicions. However, you run the risk of full disclosure by her best friend (“Even though I swore to him I would never tell you….”) which will ruin any chance of surprising your girlfriend.

If you are into Freud or simply have an Oxford degree in psychoanalysis you can decide on the diamond shape using Saul Spero’s personality traits approach to picking the diamond shape. Saul, a New York diamond appraiser, apparently spent more than 25 years interviewing thousands of people to determine the correlation between personality and women’s preferences for diamond shapes. In his book Diamonds, Love, and Compatibility: So You Think You’ve Got a Gem (Behrman House Publishing, 1977), Spero talks about personality traits most likely to match the six basic diamond shapes:

Women’s Personality Traits and Diamond Shapes

Women’s Personality Traits	Diamond Shape
Home- and family-centered, dependable, relaxed, easy to get along with, and security conscious.		Round
Individualistic, creative, well-organized, dependable, and willing to take chances.		Oval
Sentimental, creative, feminine, sensitive, trusting, dramatic, and a dreamer.		Heart
Disciplined, organized, conservative, efficient, honest, and open.		Rectangle / Square
Conforming, considerate, adaptable, and home- and community-centered.		Pear
Extroverted, aggressive, experimental, exciting, innovative, and career-centered.		Marquise

One word of caution on this psychological approach though—most women like more than one shape. Saul Spero created his matching table based on profiles of women who liked just one and only one diamond shape. However, Saul’s methodology can still help you narrow down the choices to one or two shapes.

If you are simply in a rush to make a decision, can’t count on her best friend’s help, and not really into psychoanalysis, go with the round brilliant. Why? More than three-fourths (in other words more than 75%) of grooms give their loved ones a round brilliant solitaire as an engagement ring. Since round diamonds are the most popular shape sold, the odds are in your favor your lady will like a round diamond, too.

I invited Blanche to pack her suitcase but wouldn’t tell her our destination. Between us we’d visited almost all of the U.S. landmarks you can name, except one: Las Vegas! Unfortunately, I could not convince the flight attendant to keep our destination secret, so, Blanche did find out where were heading once we got into the airplane and settled in our seats.

In Vegas we did all the touristy sightseeing: the little Eiffel Tower at the Paris Las Vegas, gondola rides at the Venetian, Egyptian artifacts at the Luxor, and the fountain-light-music show at the Bellagio. I kept it casual, but parts of that “impromptu” agenda were carefully orchestrated, like I had already made reservations at the Bellagio’s Jasmine months in advance for a romantic, award-winning dinner experience where I would pop the question and offer her an engagement ring. So she wouldn’t guess what was coming, I casually took a look at the restaurant’s menu as we walked through the casino and asked, “What do you think about having dinner here tonight?”

Maybe 99 out of 100 people would have said, “Yes,” but instead she looked at the menu and turned it down—nothing vegetarian on the menu! I felt like an idiot. The rest of the day, I scrambled to find a fancy restaurant that could take us on short notice—and had vegetarian food—without letting Blanche know. We were staying at the Mirage, and our best option was right downstairs, the Moongate—yes, Chinese food, again!

We placed our orders and I was preparing to propose when three large men with Texas drawls started laughing and talking so loudly nobody could ignore them. They were going to ruin our moment! Luckily, they quieted down while they were eating. Our food had just arrived, and Blanche was in the process of picking out her mushrooms and offering them to me when I dropped to one knee and made my own offer, with the ring. She said yes and people clapped and whistled, including the Texans.

Vadim and Blanche K.

Seven months later, we knew each other pretty well. She was a single mother for 14 years; I had been single for five years. We took a little vacation together to Ashville, North Carolina, to tour the Vanderbilt Estate and meet up with my mother and some of my mother’s friends. As we drove back, I asked, “What do you think about marriage?”

It was meant as a casual question, and it led to a two-hour discussion on the benefits and concerns of marriage and married life. As the conversation continued, it became increasingly clear to me that we were going to get married. There was no actual “proposal,” unless you count proposing we go for pizza.

Skip and Jeanne M.

DiamondPriceGuru.com is a web service that was created to make it as easy as possible for future grooms to buy a diamond ring for their loved ones. In this Step by Step User Guide we will describe how easy it is to use this service by following 4 simple steps.

DiamondPriceGuru.com is a web service that helps future grooms (well, actually anyone who is shopping for a diamond) save money by selecting a loose diamond from 400,000 stones carried by 11 online retailers. Why not buy a diamond ring right away, you ask? You can save a boat load of money if you buy a loose diamond separately from a ring setting and then have a retailer you selected mount the diamond on a ring for you—all retailers provide this service for free if you buy both the stone and the ring setting from them.

So, Step 0, I am imagining myself a groom-to-be who is passionately in love and has just stumbled upon DiamondPriceGuru.com web service. I am ready to start looking for a diamond that will be mounted on an engagement ring for my loved one. My budget is $2,000 and I want to find a round-shape diamond with the best parameters (cut, color, and clarity) for the price I can afford. Of course, you may have a different budget or a different objective altogether. This manual will help you use DiamondPriceGuru.com to the fullest extent.

Step 1: Select Diamond Parameters

To find a diamond for my brilliant girlfriend I need to pick its shape, set the limit on the price I am ready to pay, and select color and clarity of the stone from the Search page of DiamondPriceGuru.com.

Diamond shape

You can select the shape of the diamond by checking the boxes at the very top of the Search page. You can select one (if you know exactly what diamond shape your loved one would prefer), or you can select as many as you want or even all of them. See the picture below.

Emerald shape is “selected” and the cursor (little hand) is pointing to Round shape

If you think your beloved would prefer a round shape (also called round brilliant) you can select it and click on Emerald one more time to de-select from your search.

Round shape is now selected

By the way, you also do not have to try to point exactly to the “check box” to select the shape, you can click on any part of the shape box area.

Diamond price

I have $2,000 that I can afford to spend on a diamond (remember, though, there will be some expense on the ring setting as well, though typically not as high as the diamond stone itself). So, on the right-hand side (little box) of the Price slider I go ahead and type the number 2000. This automatically sets the slider to the number I typed in. Or I can simply drag the slider to the right until it points to 2000. This sets the maximum price for diamonds in my search results.

I leave the left-hand side of the slider at $200 (minimum price) to cast the net as broadly as possible, at least at the beginning.

Price is set in the range of $200 to $2000

Carat weight (or size) of diamond

I would like to see all sizes of diamonds priced at 2000 or lower. Therefore, I do not change anything on the Carat slider and leave it as is, which means search results will include all diamonds in the range of 0.1 carat to 6 carat.

Numbers in the “boxes” on the right and left of the slider are inserted there automatically.

The Carat weight (size) of the round brilliant is not limited

As demonstrated, prices and carat size of diamonds can be set either by moving the sliders or by putting the exact numbers into the boxes on the right and left of the sliders, whatever is more convenient for you.

However, diamond Cut, Color, and Clarity can only be selected by moving the sliders. Let’s do it.

Diamond cut

Typically, most people would not notice any difference between diamonds whose cut quality is certified as Ideal, Very Good, or even Good. Therefore for my search I select diamonds in the range of Ideal to Very Good. To learn more about the cut and what different grades of cut mean, click here.

The Cut is set for Ideal and Very Good

Thus, our search results will be limited to diamonds with the cut quality rated by GIA (Gemological Institute of America) or AGS (American Gemological Society) certification agencies as Ideal or Very Good.

Diamond color

I thought that all diamonds were colorless. It turns out that diamonds can have different colors—yellow, blue, green, pink, orange, and the rarest red. Web-service DiamondPriceGuru.com searches only for colorless (also known as white) or slightly yellowish diamonds in the range of color grades from D (colorless) to Z (yellowish).

By the way, I learned all this by clicking on a learn more link, which leads to the educational material about each of the four key parameters determining the diamond’s price: carat weight, cut, color, and clarity.

Back to the color, though. Let’s say, I am planning to mount the diamond on a platinum (or white gold) ring setting. A yellowish color diamond will look even more yellow on a white-metal ring. Therefore, I decided to set my search parameters on a Color slider to D and E, colors, that are perfectly white (typically it is impossible to distinguish yellow hue if a diamond is H color grade or above, but I decided to narrow down my search a bit more from the beginning).

Color is set in the range of E to D

Diamond clarity

Diamond clarity can be FL (Flawless), when stone has no blemishes, inclusions, chips, fractures, etc. Or the clarity can be rated as low as I3 (Imperfect), when a lot of blemishes, inclusions and other imperfections can be seen with a naked eye. And there is nine more grades in between as you can see on a Clarity slider below.

To make sure my happiness is not dependent on some spots and fractures in a stone I select the highest grades of clarity—from IF (internally flawless) to FL (flawless).

Clarity grade is set in the range of IF (internally flawless) to FL (flawless)

Ok, so we have decided on the parameters now.

Every time I changed one of the parameters, the number of diamonds matching my criteria was narrowed down and displayed in the box on the right side of the page. This function allows users to see how many diamonds will be included in the search results without having to go to the search results first. So, if you want to save time, deciding on a more narrow set of parameters will do the trick—you do not want to browse through 10s of thousands of diamonds before picking a stone to buy, do you?

DiamondPriceGuru.com tells me that it found 522 diamonds matching the selected criteria and priced at or under $2,000.

Found 522 diamonds

Step 2: Looking through search results

Now we are ready to do the search. Click on green “Go to search results” arrow to go to the page listing 522 diamonds that match your selected criteria.

Page with the first 50 found diamonds

To find the largest diamond in these results I need to jump straight to the last page of the search results (by clicking to pages at the bottom of the page). There is an easier way to do that, though—by sorting the results. All you need to do is click on the title box at the top of the table. If you want to sort the results by Carat weight, click on the word Carat—now all diamonds are sorted from largest by Carat weight to smallest.

Search results sorted by Carat weight in the descending order

If you click on the word Carat again, the table will get re-sorted in the opposite direction—from smallest stone to the largest.

In addition to Carat weight, you can also sort by Cut, Color, Clarity, as well as Price.

Step 3: Selecting diamonds (starred diamonds)

Ok, now I would like to pick 7 largest diamonds from my search results list for further comparison (remember, I have 522 diamonds in my results now, which makes it a bit overwhelming to pick from such a large number). DiamondPriceGuru.com offers a function that allows to select diamonds for the “Comparison Box” by clicking on stars next to the stones you want to compare side by side. So, I click on stars next to 7 diamonds that I am interested in and they automatically get included in my Comparison Box.

3 diamonds have already been selected (“starred”), and 1 more is in the process…

When a diamond is in the process of being selected—its star is “blinking” (or “hypnotically” whirl-winding). No worries, there is no hypnosis effect—just trying to attract attention.

So, out of 522 diamonds, matching my quality and price parameters, I have down-selected 7 stones for further comparison.

7 down-selected (“starred”) diamonds

By the way, you can de-star any of the starred diamonds by clicking on the purple color star one more time.

Step 4: Comparing selected diamonds

By clicking on the button “Go to starred diamonds” in the left-hand-side box, I get to the page showing only those 7 diamonds that I have starred.

Page with the 7 starred diamonds

Now I can export the data in the Microsoft Excel—.xls, or in the .csv format for easier comparison. I can send this file to my friends and family to get an opinion or simply print it out and take it with me to the jewelry store (if I decided I’d like to check it out how much more expensive those diamonds are in the brick-and-mortar place nearby).

Saving the starred diamonds data in the .xls format

I can also print the results out to show to a friend of mine to get his advice.

Page for printing

Let’s say, by looking at my list of 7 diamonds, I decided that I would like to narrow down my choice even more by eliminating any D-color diamonds (since they are more expensive), and also all Very Good cut diamonds—hey, my loved one deserves the best!

4 diamonds that will be eliminated from the Comparison Box (see the checked off boxes)

By clicking Remove I remove the selected 3 diamonds from my consideration. Now I have 4 diamonds in the Box.

4 diamonds remain in the Comparison Box

The remaining diamonds are identical in terms of color, clarity, cut, and certification. The only different is carat weight and price. I know, I am ready to spend up to $2,000, so I could pick the largest one—0.47 carats. But I am thinking the white gold ring setting will cost me some money too, so, might as well save some on a stone. So, I pick a 0.44 carat diamond for $1,791 from Adiamor.com.

I click on the name of this online retailer I am re-directed to the last page of the DiamondPriceGuru.com.

After that I am re-directed straight to the page showing the diamond I have selected. My credit card is ready, all I need is go ahead and make the purchase.

Adiamor.com page with the selected diamond

I have selected the diamond for less than $2,000, now I need to pick a ring setting from Adiamor, wait a few days and start thinking about how to make the moment of my proposal as unforgettable as I can. Amazingly, DiamondPriceGuru.com can help here too—click on our Proposals page to read how others have done it.

Peter and Shelby A.