Diamond Education

Thank you for visiting Amcor Designs for all of your jewelry needs. If you are shopping for an engagement ring, or just a beautiful piece of jewelry, we welcome you to read the diamond education.
Remember, we are always available to help you with any questions. We look forward to serving you and helping chose that perfect piece or diamond for a life time of enjoyment.
Please feel free to call us at 1.800.715.6380 or email sales@amcordesign.com for additional information.

Here is a bit of education about diamonds and the 4’cs that will help you purchase the perfect diamond for you!

Diamond weight and points

In discussing diamond weight, you often hear the term points used. For example, you might hear that a diamond is 83 points. This has the same meaning as .83 carats, because there are 100 points to a carat. Thus, .50 carats would be the same as 1/2 carat or 50 points, 1.50 carats would be the same as 1 carat and 50 points or one and one half carats.

In making your purchasing decision, it is important to realize that a 2 carat diamond will not look twice the size of a 1 carat diamond. Because a diamond is three dimensional, the carat weight is dependent on both the diameter and depth. A 1 carat ideally cut diamond averages about 6.45 millimeters in diameter. A 2 carat ideally cut diamond averages about 8.15 millimeters in diameter. This is about 26% more in diameter than the 1 carat. The price, however, can be about 4 1/2 times greater. As diamonds get larger, they also get rarer; thus, the price per carat increases accordingly.

How big of a diamond should I buy?

Carat weight is a personal decision. Some of our customers choose a smaller diamond in order to have very high color and clarity. Others will sacrifice on the color or clarity to get a larger diamond. Regardless of the choices made, we suggest purchasing a diamond that will show off beautifully in appearance. At Amcor Design, we will only sell diamonds that meet our standards for color, cut, and clarity.

Information about the 4 C’s to Diamonds - The Clarity

The Clarity, another important category in the 4 c’s, relates to exactly how clear a diamond is and describes the presence, or absence, its quality. The majority of diamond inclusions cannot be seen by the human eye so systems have been developed to grade diamond clarity as detailed in a Diamond Clarity Chart.

The clarity scale is broken down into the following grades:

Information about the 4 C 's to Diamonds - The Color
The Color, another important category in the 4C 's, relates to rarity, value and quality of a diamond. What is the difference between natural and treated colored diamonds? Natural colored diamonds are a unique natural product created over thousands of years by the process of crystallization. Factors affecting diamond color include fluorescence and color enhancements such as high pressure, high temperature treatment and irradiation. The process called Irradiation is used to change the color of the diamond, these are called the treated color diamonds.

The rarity of "fancy" color diamonds is what makes the price go up. If you are looking for one of the "fancy" colored diamonds don't except to pay less, in fact the cost is more than a diamond in the D or F range, all things being equal.

Information about the 4 C’s to Diamonds - The Cut
The Cut of a diamond, an important category in the 4C’s, refers to two separate factors. The first factor relates to the shape and style of the cut e.g. Pear, Round, Marquise, Princess, Brilliant Heart shaped etc. The second factor is the way the rough diamond is cut to produce a polished diamond. The effects of a good diamond cut result in the heightened levels of brilliance, fire, sparkle and luster of a diamond. A diamond cuts with good proportions reflect more light and appear to look better than other diamonds of higher clarity and appear to look 2 or 3 grades higher than the actual color. The quality is also dependent upon the cut of the diamond facets.
Diamonds are cut into a number of different shapes;

Most diamonds have one of three basic facet arrangements brilliant, step, or mixed. Brilliant cut diamonds have facet pattern that radiates from the center of the stone toward the edge with triangle or kite shaped facets, ex. Round Brilliant. Step cut diamonds have concentric rows of trapezoidal facets running parallel to the girdle, ex. Emerald cut. A mixed cut diamond combines both brilliant and cut facets and set cut facets; often this style is seen as a diamond with a step cut crown and a brilliant cut pavilion. Mixed cuts are not common.

Whatever the shape, a well-cut diamond is the work of a master diamond cutter. It is the cut that enables a diamond to make the best use of light. Light reflected from one facet to another is then dispersed through the top of the stone. If the cut is too deep, light escapes through the opposite site of the pavilion. If the cut is too shallow, light escapes out the pavilion walls before it can be reflected

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The proportions displayed by the stone are very significant. Two of the key factors in the grading of cut quality -- table percentage and depth percentage -- are usually expressed on grading reports. Measurement of three different parameters allows for easy calculation of these percentages by using the formulas expressed below.
For example, for a round brilliant cut diamond, table percentage is calculated as follows:
Table (%) = longest table measurement (in mm)
average girdle diameter (in mm)
And for depth percentage:
Depth (%) = depth (in mm)
average girdle diameter (in mm)
Without attention to quality cutting, light is lost and not returned to the eye.
Proportions Criteria are as shown below:

How to Care for your Diamonds

Diamond is the hardest natural substance on Earth. It can cut any kind of rock or metal, but only another diamond can cut a diamond. In fact, a diamond must be heated to a temperature of 1292 degrees Fahrenheit before it will burn. Yet the oil deposited from the mere touch of a human finger can cause dirt to collect and make this nearly indestructible gemstone quickly lose its sparkling appeal.
Handle your diamond sparingly. Because diamonds are natural magnets for grease, they’re not easy to keep clean. Handling a diamond with your fingers provides enough oils from your skin (the type of “grease” that most affects diamonds) to alter the way your diamond looks.
Clean your diamond regularly. A simple plan to keep your diamond jewelry always looking beautiful is to soak the diamond in an ammonia-based household cleaner (such as window cleaner) overnight, once or twice weekly. In the morning, remove the diamond from the cleaner and brush it with a soft, clean toothbrush (one that has not previously been used in any way, and that you reserve exclusively for cleaning your diamond) to remove any leftover dirt. Take extra care to brush the back of the diamond as this will be the area that has collected the most oil and dirt.
Be aware that fragile settings and antique jewelry won’t take kindly to being scrubbed with a toothbrush, so use a soft touch. Then, just rinse the diamond with water and wipe with a soft, lint-free cloth.
Don’t use harmful solutions. Chlorine (as in household bleach) or abrasives (such as household cleansers or toothpaste) should never be used when cleaning diamonds, especially those set in jewelry. These erode some of the metals often used in diamond settings, and may loosen prongs, or even dissolve the metal completely.
Sometimes an ultrasonic cleaner is necessary to remove encrusted dirt on diamonds. By sending high frequency sound waves through a detergent solution, ultrasonic cleaners cause vibrating fluid to remove accumulated dirt and grime. However, they can also shake loose stones from their mounting, so this method shouldn’t be used on fragile settings (or estate jewelry), and is best undertaken by a professional jeweler.
Regular cleaning will keep your diamond jewelry in gleaming condition and ready to sparkle on that special occasion.