The Fifth C

Fine diamonds are expensive. They always have been and always will be. If you have come to this website looking for a cheap diamond you will be disappointed, but not as disappointed as you would be if you actually bought one, because there are some quite horrible specimens being offered by certain unscrupulous online dealers. Sadly, there are many, many inferior diamonds on the market, being sold for what seems like a "bargain" price to unsuspecting customers. The people who sell them have a cynical disregard for the disappointment which will inevitably be felt by the victims of their dishonesty.

Some companies buy up large parcels of rough diamonds which are little better than industrial grade, and have them cut so as to best preserve carat weight. These diamonds are usually so full of inclusions they have a shattered appearance, or are so full of clouds that they are opaque. We have seen such diamonds described by unscrupulous sellers as SI3/I1, which is obviously not true, but they consider that this is a sufficiently vague description to hoodwink the average customer. The fact is that these diamonds are invariably I3 (or worse, because most of them should never have been cut as gemstones in the first place!).

Always be suspicious when a seller describes a diamond as G/H colour, or SI1/SI2 clarity. There are considerable price differences between adjacent colour and clarity grades, especially with larger stones, and certified diamonds are always assigned specific grades. When diamonds are so described, the likelihood is that they are K, L or M colour and I1 or I2 clarity. Unscrupulous dealers know that to the average buyer will only notice a tinted diamond when it's N to Z colour will only notice inclusions in an I3 stone.

There are also sellers who knowingly sell colour-enhanced and clarity enhanced diamonds without disclosing the fact that they have been heat-treated or fracture-filled. Good gem laboratories such as GIA, AGS and AnchorCert routinely examine all stones for such treatments and refuse to certify treated diamonds - another reason for insisting on a lab report when buying a diamond!

There is little point in learning about the four Cs of cut, colour, clarity and carat weight, and then buying an uncertified stone on the strength of some dodgy dealer's description, but sadly that is what many people in search of a bargain seem to do on a daily basis. There are bargains to be had on websites like eBay (such as the certified diamonds we sell ourselves), and there are many excellent, honest sellers on that forum, but it's difficult for them to compete with the purveyors of "bargain" junk. One unfortunate buyer, for example, recently "won" the bid for a 2 carat "sparkling" I1/G colour princess-cut solitaire for £799, only to be bitterly disappointed with the "object" she received. Little wonder, when you consider that a certificated diamond of that description would cost at least £5,000!

So, to recap, diamonds are desirable, beautiful, expensive objects. If a diamond seems too cheap, then there is probably something wrong with it. Buy the best diamond you can afford, and buy from a seller you can trust. And make sure that if it costs more than a few hundred pounds, it has that all-important certificate.

To learn about the four Cs of diamond quality, have a look at this GIA tutorial.

And remember, the most important C of all is the fifth C:

CAVEAT EMPTOR!