An Explanation of Diamond Carat and Its Significance
When Shopping for an Engagement Ring
A carat is a unit of
weight used to measure the mass of a diamond. It is not to be confused with the word karat which is a
measurement of the fineness or purity of gold. The term carat is derived from the carob
tree.
A carob tree drops seeds
that are exactly equal in weight and these seeds were once used as the standard of weights and for diamonds.
Over time, the word carob became carat.
A carat is equal to 1/5
of 1 gram. It is further divided into 100 points for an accurate description when discussing a diamond's
weight. People always seem concerned with how many carats a diamond is.
Of the 4 C's of
diamonds, cut, color, clarity, and carat weight, the cut is considered the
most important by many experts because it gives a diamond its brilliance but most people always want to talk
about how many carats a diamond is.
The average engagement
ring is approximately 1.5 carats to 2 carats in weight. The more carats a diamond has, the more expensive it
will be but the good news is that this gives you some wiggle room. If you want to choose a diamond with an
excellent cut for maximum brilliance you can get a diamond with a slightly smaller carat weight to help keep
the price down.
Because the carat weight
is a significant contributing factor to the price of a diamond, a stone that is slightly under a carat might
be considerably less expensive than a stone that is one carat or more. If you want a large diamond but you
want to keep it under a certain carat weight to help keep the price down, you may be more interested in
millimeter dimensions.
You may be able to find
a stone that has a good distance across the top giving it the appearance of a large stone even at a lower
carat weight.
When trying to determine
how much you should spend, the tradition is for a man to spend approximately 2 to 3 months salary on an
engagement ring. You should spend whatever you feel comfortable spending and what fits comfortably in your
budget.
Cick here to learn how I bought a near perfect diamond for $1500.00 below
retail
| 
Digg
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
Stumbleupon
Twitter