Cut is considered the most important factor in ensuring the brilliance of a diamond. Cut is often misunderstood as the shape of a diamond, but actually refers to the proportions and finish of the diamond.

Cut is graded on a scale from excellent to poor and considers the diamond’s brightness, fire, scintillation, weight ratio, polish and symmetry.

Generally, a diamond should not be cut too shallow or too deep in order to ensure the maximum light return or sparkle inherent in each stone. Most importantly, the quality of the cut can mask other diamond characteristics. Remember- color, clarity, even carat weight are mostly determined by mother nature, however, cut is determined and engineered by man to maximize brilliance and sparkle.

Clarity grades describe the purity of the diamond. Most all diamonds contain tiny natural marks called inclusions or flaws. The number, placement, type, and color of these inclusions or flaws affect the diamond’s clarity grade.

Diamond clarity refers to the relative absence of inclusions and blemishes. Clarity grades are based on the size, number, relief and positions of the inclusions and blemishes that can be seen under 10x magnification.

In addition to near colorless, diamonds also occur in any color you can imagine: blue, brown, pink, yellow, and even green. These diamonds are known as fancy color diamonds and are very rare due to the geological conditions required to create them.

Unlike near colorless diamonds, fancy color diamonds are evaluated more for color intensity and less for brilliance. The deeper and more distinct the color, the rarer the diamond. 

From this, the GIA grades fancy color diamonds by these nine categories:

Faint
Very Light
Light
Fancy Light
Fancy
Fancy Dark
Fancy Intense
Fancy Deep
Fancy Vivid

A diamond grading report is a gemological laboratory’s opinion of a diamond grade. These reports include the diamond’s clarity grade, color grade, cut grade, and specific measurements. Typically, but not always; these reports are done by Gemological Laboratories that have no affiliation with retail outlets to give an unbiased opinion of the diamond.

Many laboratories are known to “push the grade” meaning they will grade the diamond better than most industry professionals would consider it to be. Spicer Greene Jewelers and Diamond Bar trust the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) as the authority in diamond grading. They use the most strict grading in the industry. We advise you be wary of any other gemological laboratory.

Remember a diamond grading report is just a piece of paper with a laboratory’s opinion on it, the real test for your diamond should be how it looks. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and each diamond is different. You should never rely on a report alone to select your diamond.