THE 4CS OF DIAMONDS
You know our love for diamonds, we wanted to revisit their caratage with you! All of our natural diamonds are sourced to order and certified by independent laboratories that provide us with GIA certificates (Gemological Institute of America) or HRD (Diamond High Council). These come from countries that are signatories to the Kimberley Process.
THE CARAT
This is the unit of measurement for a diamond's weight. The term is said to originate from the seed of a carob tree, or "Kuara". This seed had the particularity of maintaining the same weight over time. The carat was integrated into metric systems in 1906 at the Congress of Weights and Measures in Paris, where it was defined that 1 carat would represent 0.20 grams. It is important to note that the largest diamonds are also the rarest, and as you have understood, their price is exponentially linked!
COLOR
Please note that a diamond is also valued according to its color. The white diamond color scale includes 23 shades, graded from D to Z (from most to least white). At Douze Paris, we use G and H colored diamonds.
PURITY (CLARITY)
Purity implies imperfection, and every diamond exhibits some. These "flaws" are called inclusions. It's worth noting that in most cases, these are not visible to the naked eye and will not affect the diamond's brilliance. At Douze Paris, we use diamonds of VS clarity. Richard T. Liddicoat and his collaborators established the diamond grading system and the clarity scale of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in 1953. This table lists the different classification categories and clarity grades for diamonds, the main ones being:
- FL: Flawless: perfectly pure under magnification.
- IF: Internally Flawless: pure under magnification.
- VVS 1-2: Very Very Small inclusions.
- VS 1-2: Very Small inclusions.
- S 1-2: Small inclusions.
- I 1-2-3: Included Inclusions: visible inclusions.
CUT
The quality of the diamond cut is the only one of the 4 criteria to depend on human workmanship. Its cut will reveal the fire and brilliance of the stone. For example, the brilliant (or round) cut has 57 facets that maximize light refraction. Cuts can evolve over time for purely aesthetic reasons or technical improvements. The rose cut is the perfect illustration of this phenomenon! Indeed, this cut, developed in the 16th century, has seen its number of facets increase over time. Long neglected, it is gradually making a comeback!
MATCHING WEDDING RINGS
