Do you feel like you know about diamonds?  Do you wonder about those who really do?  What type of training and what do you really  have to do to become a diamond expert.  It was a mystery to me at one time but no longer.  I am a diamond expert and it takes work and practice. 

I  love them.  They are truely the most interesting of the "rocks" we adorn our bodies with.  To see the "sparkle" that grabs your eyes from across a room it will make most anyone gaze in wonder. Tradionally it was a colored stone that was given in marriage, but diamonds have been the main choice for quite a few decades.  But how in the world do you pick the right one?

As you think about what you have learned from differnt jewelry salespeople, forget all of it.  We are going to start fresh with a clean slate.  Proabably 99% of all people have heard the talk about the Four C's and have a pretty good understanding about what these mean.  After all, it is rather easy to explain Clarity, Color, and Caret weight.  Here is how you remember, "do you see it with a naked eye, is it lacking color and how much does it weigh".  That should keep you safe most of the time, however there is the final C that 95% of customers don't know that can make more difference than any of the other three C's. It truely is 70% of a diamonds beauty.

Many people describe "cut" as the shape.  Here is the basic answer not to drag this out.  Cut is an engineers dream.  Each individual angle works as a whole to return as much light as possible to the surface causing that magical "sparkle" that women and men swoon over. There are many different "cuts" out there to claim that they return more light, but nothing out shines the standard round brilliant, 58 facets. 

Obviously you are starting to see that this can be complicated. There is flourecence to worry about or to embrace.What is a natural and is it ok to have one? Is the culet pointed? What happens when the girdle is too thin or thick? This guide could go on forever. However, make sure you have a person who can answer all these questions, otherwise they are just a salesperson.

Never in a million years that I would have believed that it would take two manuals 4.5 inches thick and a hands on class to really understand our mysterious treasures from the earth.  After all, the brain will only rapidly recal so much.  Trust someone who uses the education guides to refer back to and answer your questions correctly the first time.  If they don't have one of these manuals on the shelf, consider the information second hand at best and may be inaccurate. 

Do I understand them? They talk to me, much like they did with Harry Winston.  In fact, when the diamond is right, it sings softly and ever so sweet.  I have been known to call a pavillion depth (a what?) from across the room, witnessed and verified by several.

So guys, try to understand that your lady is in love with you and the symbol of love is a constant reminder.  If she truley loves you, she will be happy with any token, and if you truely love her, you will do your research as you would for a great car. Less than 5% of the population have over a 1ct solid diamond on their hand and only 2% have a 2ct.  I myself exist in the 5%, but when its an ideal cut diamond, well now I am special.  LOL 

P.S.  Stop already with calling the "dark spots" in diamonds "carbon spots".  There is no such thing, period.  Diamonds are almost pure carbon, so the whole darn thing is a carbon spot.  The dark spots you see are actually dark included crystals. If you light them up, you will see that they are white not dark.  Little twists in the crystal while the diamond is forming stops light and therefor appears to our naked eye as dark.  Sometimes there is actually different kinds of stones inside of a diamond, like garnets for example.  Diamonds can form in diamonds too.

P.S.S. One last little tidbit, there is a difference in cost for different grading companies.  The certification that comes with your diamond is an opinion and with certain grading companies can vary due to different graders eyes.  Grading is usually done in the very early morning for only 3 hours at a time because eyes tire very quickly.  The best light for grading is "north daylight".  There are indoor bulbs that mimic this light. 

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