The 4C’s (Colour, Carat, Cut, Clarity) are your best and simplest guide to buying diamonds. They are easy to understand and use. Once you know them, it will be so easy to visit your jeweler, enquire about and choose your piece of diamond jewellery with complete confidence. Any good jeweller can give you the 4C’s of the diamonds you choose. And once you’ve made that choice, you can be certain that it is the right one.

The color of diamonds can vary appreciably, ranging from totally colourless through to a yellow, grey of brown shade. Rare fancy coloured diamonds are also found, and include blues, pinks, greens, yellows and browns.

The weight of a diamond is expressed in carats. The word carat originates from a naturally occurring unit of weight, the seed of the carob tree. Diamonds were traditionally weighed against these seeds until the system was standardised, and one carat was fixed at 0.2 grams (one fifth of a gram).

Of all the 4C’s cut is the factor most directly influenced by man, the other three being dictacted entirely by nature. The cut or make of a diamond will dramatically influence’s its fire, brilliance and sparkle. It is the polisher’s skill that determines how the full beauty is released.

Clarity is the term used to indicate the extent to which the diamond you purchase is free of these natural inclusions under ten times magnification. Almost all diamonds contain extremely small inclusions. Most are not discermible to the naked eye and require magnification to become apparent. They are nature’s fingerprints and make every diamond unique. The fewer there are, the rarer and more valuable the stone.