Now that she's worried about getting ripped off by the Jeweler, she does what anyone would do...
She tells us to go ahead and weigh it.
She wants the truth!
We have the Jewelers in the shop pull back a couple of prongs and out comes the loose Diamond. And as suspected, the Diamond is very thick and deep.
It's then put on our Diamond Scale and is weighed. We do this entire procedure in front of the customer just to make her feel at ease. The Diamond turns out to be 1.01 Carats on the dot! The Appraisal is correct. Her Diamond is just a tad bit over one Full Carat.
Shocker?
Nope, not really.
The valuable lesson to point out here is: All Diamonds are not Cut the same.
You really have to watch out for proportions. It's like 2 people that both weight 150 lbs. One person could be short and squat, while the other could be tall and skinny. Both weight the same, but look entirely different. You can't tell Carat Weight by looks alone.
Her stone was very deep and the Girdle was thick. From the top down, her Diamond looked like a much smaller Diamond. Her MM was only 6.0 MM. Sad, but true. People always forget about this C in the 4C's! The Cut makes a huge difference. Cut, Depth and MM size can effect your Diamond greatly!
You can lose Brilliance and Sparkle
You could get a great Color, you could get an awesome Clarity, but if your Diamond's not Cut right, if it's too shallow or too deep, then that Diamond will not only lose Light and Brilliance and Sparkle, but it will also look either Bigger than it should, or Smaller than it really is!
The customer ended up trading in her 1.01 Carat Mini-Me Diamond and was extremely happy with the upgrade results. Her new 1.25 Carat was simply stunning. (And correctly Cut and G.I.A. Certified too!)
Now I'm not saying that the Jeweler who sold her that Diamond did anything entirely wrong... almost. They sold her the Carat Weight, Color and Clarity that she wanted. They just happened to hold back some crucial Diamond Information!
Lost a Customer
By not explaining to her that her stone was deep, that it lost light and lacked sparkle, they ultimately lost a customer for life. They didn't realize that by explaining to the customer that the reason the Diamond was such a great deal was because of the poor Cut, they actually hurt themselves. They could have talked her into not only a better Diamond, but more than likely a bigger Diamond also.
She learned a valuable lesson and so should you. Don't just concentrate on Clarity and Color like everyone always does.
Look at the Cut!
Keep in mind, the Cut does not mean 'Round', (That's the Shape!) but it means the actual angles and proportions and depth and percentages and millimeter size.
Read about the Cut. Study the Diagrams. Become informed! Cut affects the life, light and beauty of the Diamond more than any of the other 4 C's!
Remember: The correct MM size for a 1.00 Carat Round Diamond is 6.5 MM wide and 3.97 MM Deep. (Give or take a MM. There will always be a little leeway.) Look at the Diamond's Girdle also. The Girdle should be Thin-Medium in thickness and consistent all the way around the Diamond's Edge. These 2 things will help you in looking at Diamonds and buying Diamonds.
Buy Certified
Or you can take the easy way out and just buy a One Carat G.I.A. Certified Diamond instead. Why will this help? Because normally Jewelers will only G.I.A. Certify a Diamond if it's really worth it! Which means, chances are good that the Diamond will have a good Cut, good Color and good Clarity! Now this is not always the case, but Jewelers usually don't Certify crappy Diamonds!
Learning about the Cut and Depth of a Diamond will help you buy better looking Diamonds and stop Jewelers from selling you (Ripping you off!) poorly Cut Diamonds that look small and lose light. Those Diamonds may be cheaper, but you won't be happy with them. Choose a great Cut, or get stuck with a bad Cut... It's your choice!
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