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Renowned diamond expert and gemologist Punit Srimal shares
his views on the aspects that one should look into before buying
a diamond. Speaking to Chennaibest.com, he said, "Diamond
has replaced gold largely as an investment. This is because, while
the value of gold has depreciated in the last few years, the value
of diamond has appreciated". Punit Srimal is from the Sindhar
Institute of Gemology, which is setting up the first diamond
certifying lab in Kolkata. The Sindhar Institute of Gemology trains
people to grade and price gems.
The four main C's that one has to look for in a diamond are Cut,
Clarity, Carat and Colour and the fifth being, a little common sense.
These five C's should be taken into account when buying a diamond.
Cut
 It
is the most important of all the C's. This affects both appearance
as well as lustre. For a diamond, it's all about light optics and
the ideal angles to produce the maximum effect, therefore the cut
is critical to the beauty of the diamond. A badly cut diamond may
make it dark and ruin the only job of a diamond, which is to be
beautiful.
Clarity
"Flawless" is the highest grade of gem stone,
where no internal inclusions or surface imperfections are visible
under ten power magnification. "Internally Flawless"
describes stones with no visible interior imperfection but having
minor surface blemishes, which do show under magnification. One
can check for flawlessness under 10x magnification at the dealer's
place.
Carat Weight
Carats are the traditional measuring unit of a diamond's weight,
one carat equalling 200 milligrams. A carat is divided into 100
"points," so the same diamond can be represented as weighing
a carat and a half, 150 points or 1.50 carats. While the depth of
the stone will affect its size, the carat measurement indicates
its true mass and weight. With each weight category increase (quarter,
third, half), the value per carat of a diamond will increase significantly.
Colour
 Check
for the colour of the diamond, what colour tone it has. Generally,
the less colour a diamond shows, the better diamond it is. Diamond
colour is graded across a scale, from a perfect colourless D to
a markedly coloured Z.
...and a little bit of common sense, do not always depend
on the dealer's judgement of a diamond's grading and pricing, get
it certified at a lab or buy a certified diamond. Though there are
no labs at present in India, the Sindhar Institute of Gemology will
be starting its lab to certify diamonds in Kolkata. A lab certificate
by a diamond is honoured worldwide while the local dealer's valuation
is almost always subjective.
Think of the four C's as sliding scales, which in harmony determine
the grading, and indirectly, the pricing. Lowering one grade in
clarity can greatly reduce the cost of the stone
Website: www.sindhar.com
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