Choosing A Diamond For An Engagement Ring

How to choose the right diamond for that engagement ring

How do you know if the diamond you choose will sparkle? This article show how the grading report will have all the information you need to make the right choice.

The whole exercise of choosing a diamond for an engagement ring catches so many people unprepared. It comes a quite a surprise to many people when they discover that not all diamonds are created equal. It is a fact that every single diamond is unique. This is why it has been the domain of professional jewelers to guide newbies through the basics when choosing their diamond. It takes professional knowledge to determine a diamond's worth. It doesn't take much experience to see the beauty of a diamond. As a matter of fact it's immediately obvious when choosing any diamond whether it sparkles or not.

It is a little difficult, though when you can't see the diamond. And this will be the case when choosing a diamond online for an engagement ring. Without seeing the diamond, how is it even remotely possible to determine what kind of sparkle it has, if it even has any sparkle?

This is where specialist knowledge helps.

I've been using the term "sparkle", but diamond experts will use the terms "fire", "brilliance", and "scintillation". These are all variations on the same theme.

The highest value is placed on the sparkliest diamond, though the bigger the diamonds get the harder they are to come by, therefore according to the law of supply and demand, the bigger diamonds get a bigger price tag.

Here is the secret to choosing a diamond with sparkle

Diamonds can have a Grading Report issued by a Gem Laboratory. The most widely recognised Lab is GIA. Any honest jeweler will include a grading report with each diamond he sells. It costs the jeweler a couple hundred dollars for each grading report, but they are necessary for any online retailer. This makes it possible for you to choose a diamond for your engagement ring which has real sparkle. It is pretty straight forward: The closer to D on the color scale (when looking at a GIA report) the more likely the diamond of your choosing will sparkle.

And the better the cut grade ("Excellent" on a GIA report) the more the sparkle. The less there are any non-clear particles in the diamond the more likely the diamond you choose will sparkle. These three make up the level of sparkle. They are all important, with the cut grade being the most influential of the three. Then depending on how big you want the diamond you get a 1 carat or maybe slightly less, maybe slightly more. The diamonds under one carat usually don't come with as detailed a report, but they are much lower in price.  If you want to choose a diamond which is 5% lower in weight than 1 carat, you will find that it is 20% lower in cost than a 1 carat.

Choosing a ring with a cluster of diamonds

You can of course choose an engagement ring which is made up of a cluster of very small diamonds (called melee). These rings are considerably lower in price than rings with a single medium sized diamond and a couple of side stones, or even a single large diamond. Of course the tiny diamonds (called melee) aren't going to be as easy to secure in a ring setting. It has happened (all too often) that one or two of the melee have come loose after a year or two. This is one of the reasons why most people choose a sizeable diamond for their engagement ring. Anyway, this is something to consider when choosing between a solitaire diamond or a melee cluster for a diamond ring. Then there is the cleaning which gets done every six months or a year. It is easier to clean a ring with a single diamond than one with a cluster.