Diamond Carat Weight
The Definition of Carat Weight and its History
A carat refers to the unit measurement used to describe the weight of the diamond. Many years ago, because of their size, the seeds of the Carob were used on precision scales as units of weight for small quantities of precious stones. This tradition continued through time, hence we refer to the unit measurement as carat.
Carat Measurement
Diamonds that come with a grading report will indicate the exact weight to the nearest hundredth of a carat weight. Each carat is divided into 100 points, so if a diamond weighs 3/4 of a carat, meaning 75 points, its weight would be recorded as 0.75 ct. In the industry, the price of a diamond is often referred to by the price per carat (price per unit of 1.00) and is written as P/C (per carat) as opposed to the overall cost of the stone.
It is a given that most people would prefer a large diamond. However, there are a few factors that play into how large it appears against how heavy the stones carat weight might be. As one of the basic 4C's of assessing a diamond, it is important to understand exactly what carat weight entails in order to select the perfect stone.
Two beautiful heart shaped fancy blue diamonds
The weight significantly affects the cost of the stone since the cost is increased considerably per carat. For example, a 1.00 carat diamond is not exactly half the price of a 2.00 carat diamond. If the weight drops, even if it is only by a few points down to the lower carat weight, the price of the stone will be significantly lowered.
*HINT * When looking to purchase a new diamond, try to find one that is as close to the next carat weight as possible. For example, a stone that weighs in at 1.91ct will cost significantly less than another diamond that weighs in at 2.00 and higher even though it is only a difference of 9 points. The difference in size can be extremely difficult to see and the cost will be quite noticeable. Only, locating diamonds in these sizes are quite difficult since cutters will often do whatever possible not to drop to a lower carat weight.
Carat Measurement
Diamonds that come with a grading report will indicate the exact weight to the nearest hundredth of a carat weight. Each carat is divided into 100 points, so if a diamond weighs 3/4 of a carat, meaning 75 points, its weight would be recorded as 0.75 ct. In the industry, the price of a diamond is often referred to by the price per carat (price per unit of 1.00) and is written as P/C (per carat) as opposed to the overall cost of the stone.
Fancy color diamonds are already such a rare find. Needless to say, finding a large stone, especially in rarer colors such as Red, Blue, or perhaps even an Argyle Pink diamond is therefore much harder to come by and will be significantly more valuable.
