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Friday, June 17, 2011

Diamonds Are Forever

For centuries people have been fascinated by diamonds. There are so many mythological references to treasures of diamonds like the valley of diamonds in the story Sindbad the Sailor from the Arabian Nights. Some cultures revered diamonds as the symbols of the Gods. There are even documented cases in history when rich people committed suicide using ground up diamonds. The fascination with diamonds isn’t recent, as it has been that way for ages. Every girl fantasizes about diamond jewellery.

Diamonds are the hardest known minerals formed at a high temperatures in molten lava. The value of a diamond depends on its clarity and carat weight. Used not only in the jewellery industry but also for industrial purposes. The cost of diamonds is high because of their hard extraction and cutting, although if we consider that they are made only of carbon it seems such a high price to pay. There is a huge market for diamonds depending on shapes, sizes, weight and color.

The price of a diamond is based on four things, color, clarity, carat and cut. Also called the 4 C’s.  There are many colors of diamonds found in the market nowadays such as pink, black, blue, green, red and yellow. These colors are due to impurities. But it is the colorless diamonds that are more expensive. The quality of a diamond is graded from D onwards to Z. The highest quality being in the categories of D-E-F.  Clarity is an important factor, the clearer the crystal of a diamond the higher its value.

The cost of diamonds is also based on grading of their color and intensity. The intense the color the higher the price. In short the purer and more intense the color, the more expensive the diamond is. A diamond loses its value if it has streaks of impurities, and would be considered cheap. Colored diamonds are graded in terms of hue, tone and saturation.

The cost of diamonds depends also on its cuts. There are many cuts for diamonds such as princess, oval, round, heart etc. The more complex the cut, the higher the price. Usually, the price of the cut also depends on what is in fashion at the moment. If for example the princess cut is the present trend, the cost for a diamond with a princess cut naturally rises.

Diamonds are weighed in terms of carats. Different diamonds have different values according to color and clarity, and then they are measured in carats.

Synthetic diamonds are also available in markets. These look just like real diamonds but are made in labs over a period of weeks. Their resale value isn’t much, and so they are not worth investing in.

Women are usually just interested in the size and color of the diamonds. What looks good to their eyes, appeals to their hearts. Besides, women are so competitive in these matters. After all they have to show their friends how big their diamond is. But there are many factors one has to consider when buying diamonds. It is important to shop for diamonds from reputable dealers. Get an idea of market rates of diamonds, before you go off buying any.

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