Obviously, if you’re shopping for an engagement ring or another special gift for someone in your life, perhaps even on Valentines Day, you certainly want to choose the best type of diamond that you can afford. Otherwise, you may feel like you’re unintentionally shortchanging this lovely person that you find so special and you obviously want to avoid that.
So, it’s important to learn about the diamond ranking chart. In this case, you’ll know precisely where your gemstone falls on the diamond clarity rank grading scale.
Are you ready to learn the truth? Keep reading to discover the specific categories on this grading scale that will help you learn the diamond clarity difference amongst various stones.
Determining the Highest Grade of Diamond Using the GIA Diamond Clarity Grading Scale
To determine where your diamond falls on the clarity ring chart, you first need to know what each rating on this grading scale stands for. And to kick that off, we’re going to share the names and codes for the various grades along the scale.
They include:
- IF = internally flawless
- VVS1 = very very small inclusions 1
- VVS2 = very very small inclusions 2
- VS1 = very small inclusions 1
- VS2 = very small inclusions 2
- SI1 = small inclusions 1
- SI2 = small inclusions 2
- I1 = inclusions 1
- I2 = inclusions 2
- I3 = inclusions 3
That’s the entirety of the diamond clarity comparison scale. Most definitely, when choosing a diamond for a ring, necklace, or other piece of jewelry, you’ll have to pick one based on a particular rating on this scale.
As you can imagine, an internally flawless diamond is going to be a lot more expensive than a diamond with inclusions. So, the levels of diamond clarity are well represented along this scale and you certainly get what you pay for based on the type of diamond that you purchase according to clarity grade.
What Is Diamond Clarity?
At the end of the day, diamond clarity comes down to being a very specific metric that is designated based on a diamond’s visual appearance. And as we all know the visual appearance is incredibly important when choosing a stone of this nature.
Remember the 4Cs? Well, out of carat, clarity, color, and cut, the clarity ring is what people seem to truly notice the most immediately when they look at a diamond.
Take this as an example…
Pick up a diamond ring and take a look at it. What do you notice immediately? You look inside the diamond to see how clear it actually is. You look for blemishes, cloudiness, and other unfortunate inclusions that ruin the overall appearance and brilliance of this sparkling gemstone.
The next thing you might notice his color, cut, and then carat size. Or then again, you may notice how particularly big the stone is first before you start looking for blemishes and inclusions. I guess this all comes down to the person beholding the diamond.
How Significant Is Diamond Clarity When Choosing a Stone for an Engagement Ring?
I don’t know about you, but I certainly wouldn’t present my better half with a cloudy blemish filled diamond if I were asking them to marry me. As a matter of fact, that almost seems like a guaranteed trip to the doghouse. Or at best, it may give you a very unhappy potential fiancé who may or may not accept your proposal.
So, in the humble estimation of many diamond experts across the world, they will absolutely tell you that the clarity of a particular stone is significantly important and has a major impact on the value of the diamond.
Again, think of the grading scale and understand why it really exists.
A 2-carat IF diamond, which is internally flawless, will cost more than $60,000 in some cases.
On the flipside…
You can buy a 2-carat SI2 diamond on the grading scale for $10,000. I know that sounds expensive, but you have to remember how big a 2-carat diamond really is!
As you can see, the flawed diamond costs six times less than the internally flawless one, which is a humongous discount and for good reason.
Your better half is going to notice these flaws right away. And so will everyone else that happens to take a gander at your diamond ring.
Guess what? They aren’t going to let you off the hook either because you should absolutely know better. Instead of buying such a big flawed diamond, purchase a much smaller one that’s nearly flawless and only has very minor inclusions, if any.
Don’t know where to find diamonds? Here’s a list of the best online shops.
5 Factors Used to Determine Diamond Clarity Grades
As you’re about to see, diamond experts use 5 specific factors to determine the overall grade of a diamond based on clarity. Those factors play a big role in shaping the overall grade.
The factors include:
- Inclusion size – the inclusion size is very important when it comes to determining the overall grade of a diamond as far as clarity is concerned. If it’s a really huge inclusion, the diamond is going to receive a lesser grade because it’s so much more noticeable. If the inclusion is tiny, the diamond will receive a much better grade since the small inclusion will be a lot less noticeable.
- The nature of the inclusion – by nature, I specifically mean the type of the inclusion and how it’s present within the diamond. Is it on the surface and very noticeable? Or is the inclusion buried deep within the depth of the diamond and you can only see it under magnification? Knowing where the inclusion is situated will have an impact on the diamond clarity grade.
- The number of inclusions – are several inclusions present? Or is just one inclusion present? Or maybe the diamond is internally flawless. No matter what, the number of inclusions definitely has an impact on the grade as well.
- Inclusion location – this is similar to the nature of the inclusion. If a diamond has an inclusion located right in the center, this is a very undesirable location. On the other hand, if the inclusion is on the side, it might be hardly noticeable or even possible to keep hidden in the ring setting.
- Inclusion relief – this refers to how obvious the inclusion is compared to the host diamond. If the relief is higher, as an example, it will have an impact on the overall diamond grade.
