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Finding Diamond Quality with the 4 C’s
 When shopping for diamonds you should know that in this precious stone size doesn’t matter as much as quality. Diamonds are valued for their hardness and ability to reflect light. They often appear as if they are twinkling with a million lights when properly cut. You’ll want to purchase a diamond no matter how small with the best sparkle and therefore best cut for the stone.
Diamonds are judged on the four “C”s, which are; color, cut, clarity and caret. Diamonds do come in a variety of colors. However, colored stones tend to be less expensive than the clear, with the exception of red and pink which have been the most expensive. You’ll find there are diamonds in shades of, red, yellow, green, blue, and even gray. Yellowed diamonds are fairly common and so are less expensive than the other colors with various prices for stones in different shades of yellow. The most valuable yellow is a bright canary shade.
In diamonds, clarity is also essential. Diamonds should be as flawless as a possible in order to reflect the light. Those stones without flaws are the most valuable of all.
Of course, caret or weight is also important in a diamond. Some dealers will try to get a diamond that is as large as possible with the cut. This is not the best thing to do to a diamond. Yes, you want a large stone for the money. However, cutting for size does not necessarily mean cutting for clarity. The better the cut and clarity of a stone the more it will reflect light and the more beautiful it will be. It is better to choose a smaller stone with a nice cut then a large stone with poor cut.
The cut of a stone can be varying however, the most common style you’ll see is the round brilliant cut. This cut features 58 facets on the stone’s surface with 33 facets on the crown of the stone. This allows the greatest amount of light reflecting back out of the stone. 
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