Diamond prices can be a bit confusing for the uninitiated. How does one price a diamond? How do you know what the value of a diamond is? Here is some information about diamond prices.

Diamonds are judged, valued or graded on the quality of certain characteristics they have.

Firstly the Cut. All diamonds are originally rough and somewhat awkward in shape. They need to be cut to a certain shape to produce the best possible effect of sparkle and brilliance. The master cutter can take from a few moments to anywhere up to weeks and months for a big diamond. The wrong cut can reduce the value of a diamond considerably.

Then there is the color. Apart from specifically colored diamonds such as the Rose or Blue diamonds (and even black, very rare I might add), most diamonds are transparent. HOW transparent is the issue. The more transparent the better as they let more light in and through the diamond. Not always visible to the naked eye, some diamonds have coloring in them such as yellow or brown, caused by mineral deposits in the diamonds when it was first made. These reduce the diamond value as they also reduce the brilliance and can actually make for a very dull diamond.

The Clarity plays an important part in the grading of a diamond. Virtually all diamonds have imperfections, also called inclusions, and these are like small blimps, mostly invisible to the naked eye, and they also affect the light entering the stone. They can inhibit or deflect the light through the sides and reduce the sparkle of the diamond. They can sometimes be seen as black spots in the diamond. The number and size determines the grading of clarity a diamond might have. Obviously the less inclusions there are the better and more valuable the stone.

The carat weight is the other determining characteristic. All things being equal with the other three characteristics, the value of a diamond increases almost exponentially with the weight. A 2 carat diamond is going to be worth about 4 times the value of a one carat diamond. This explains why a 30 carat diamond can be priced in the millions even though it is only 30 times heavier than a one carat diamond. Simply put the heavier the diamond is, the more rare it is and this affects the value of a diamond also.

Each of the above characteristics can be graded on a chart and diamond appraisers check these qualities against existing diamonds they hold for this purpose and grade a diamond accordingly. This then gives an ideas of the value and therefore the price of the diamond.