Diamonds - Color & Clarity

Now that we have all the diamond documents and companies laid out as clear as mud, we will go through the best ways to understand a diamond. Remember to keep in mind, these are not standards, the high standards of each Grant Laughter Diamond is not comparable to AGS, GIA, EGL, AGL or any other for profit gem lab.

There are about 6,000 characteristics that make a diamond unique, and most companies will lay only 4 out to "make it easy for you". Its either that or to make their diamonds sound prettier one of the two. You will recognize these 4 as the "Four C's of Diamond Buying" made popular by the GIA laboratory in the early 1940's. These are Color, Clarity, Carat and Cut. We will break down each of these and give you an idea of why these are often used as the main four topics companies use to make their diamonds sound superior. 

When we select a Grant Laughter diamond, we use more than the four c's. A Grant Laughter Diamond uses many more than 4 C's but if we are going to simplify selecting a diamond to four factors this is how we would do it. 40% of a decision goes into Cut, 20% into Clarity, 20% Color, 5% into Carat and 15% into other unique characteristics. Lets break down why.

Color

When you see "Color" that means the presence of color. Color does not tell you what the hue of the diamond is. To put it in another way, color does not tell you whether your diamond is yellow, brown, black, blue, chocolate, silver or white. Color means on a scale of 1-24 how much color is there. Color starts at D, being the abscess of all color and goes to Z being full of color. For example, a silver K color is "brighter" than a E yellow. Some ladies want to see a harsh white "bling" while others want a warm soft twinkle in their diamond. She might want a J color because its more natural looking.

The majority of diamonds sold are in the G-K range. D,E,F color is called "Colorless", this means upside down, unmounted and on a white background, you cant see any color. G,H,I color is called "Near Colorless", this means upside down unmounted its very hard to see color. Starting a J going to Z you can start to see color easily while the diamond is upside down, unmounted, on a white background. G,H,I is what we call the value range. A difference cant be seen when this diamond is mounted between a H and a E diamond. 

We try not to sell "loose" diamonds because they can be deceptive, if you noticed how diamonds were graded upside down, unmounted and on a white background. This is totally opposite of how she will be wearing the diamond. Right side up, mounted, and on the background of her skin color. The "Near Colorless" range is what we call the Value Range. When the diamond is mounted a difference cannot be seen between a E color and a H color. 

When a diamond is set, it will pick up the colors of whats touching it. A diamond turns more yellow when set in yellow gold, and white when it sets in white gold or platinum. We sell our diamond mounted, so you can see how the diamond actually looks while its set. This can remove any surprises after you buy a loose diamond, and it looks totally different after you set the diamond in a ring. This is a common practice in online buying, they will sell you on a "certified" diamond, then set the diamond in a bright rhodium plated head which makes the diamond different than it actually is. You wouldn't know because you could only see a picture of the loose diamond online. 

Color in the Grant Laughter Diamond makes up about 20% of the selection process.

Clarity

When you see "Clarity" they are talking about the internal characteristics of the diamond. Clarity does not tell you where these internal characteristics are, just that they are there. There are lots of different "inclusions" or characteristics that can form while a diamond is growing in the ground. Just to name a few :Blemishes, Scratches, Extra facets, Fracture, Fingerprints, Pits, Nicks, Naturals, Carbons, Chips, Internal flaws, Crystal/mineral inclusions, Pinpoint inclusions, Needles, Cloud, Knots, Grain lines, Feathers, Intergrowths, Cleavage, Etch Channel, Bearding.

Clarity wont tell you where the marks are, or if you can see them, or what color or type the inclusion is. A SI2 with a feather is very very hard to see with the naked eye, but a SI2 with a carbon spot is easy to see. Another example may be an SI2 with only bearding may look better than a VS1 with a carbon spot dead center on the diamond. A certificate or "grade" wont tell you this, it just says "it has something here". It wont say "Can you see it", or "Does this affect the wearability?", or "Does it sparkle less because of this?"

Another point about clarity, it references wearability of a diamond. One of the biggest things about box stores and online sellers are, they will sell a diamond that is dangerous to set into a ring. Its graded an SI1 but has a fracture on the edge of the diamond, so the first time she accidentally hits her ring on the car door, the diamond will break in half. It takes our buyers time to evaluate each diamond to determine not only the grade, but the durability and wearability of each Grant Laughter Diamond.

Clarity is one of those factors to think about. Some people don't want a perfect diamond (FL), they say "I want my diamond to have character like our relationship... Our relationship isn't perfect but its ours, can you make my diamond reflect this". 

When a Grant Laughter Diamond goes through our Clarity Process, we evaluate all the characteristics of the diamond. Sometimes when a diamonds wear-ability isn't affected, going higher in the clarity is an easy way to get a much larger diamond for the same price, while not necessarily affecting what a person can see in the diamond.

Clarity in the Grant Laughter Diamond makes up 20% of the selection process.