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Diamond Buying Guide

An insight into the 4 C’s
Diamond being a natural stone is as unique as a snowflake. The 4 important C’s of every diamond are it’s cut, colour, clarity and carat weight. These 4’c essentially define the quality of a natural stone, be it a diamond or any other precious gemstone.
1

The Cut

Have you ever noticed that some diamonds shine and sparkle more than others? The way a diamond is cut directly impacts it's sparkle.

At Temple and Grace, we lay immense importance to the brilliance with which a diamond has been cut. An outstanding gemcutter demonstrates excellence when the light reflects back through the crown of the diamond. This when a diamond creates a scintillating sparkle and shine.

Our advice: A large higher carat weight diamond which is perfect and colour can look dull if it has been poorly cut. This is why we at Temple and Grace hold the highest regard to a gemstone’s cut.

At Temple and Grace, we use our knowledge to advice our customers on selecting and buying diamonds that truly offer brilliance and sparkle. We believe that an investment in diamonds lasts a lifetime and every care should be taken in order to ensure you get a gemstone that offers breathtaking sparkle.
  • Table
    This is the large facet that you see at the very top and in the centre of the diamond. The size of the table varies and depends of the brilliance with which a diamond is cut. The table reflects the maximum light and hence plays an important role in the shine and sparkle of a diamond.
  • Crown
    The crown is upper part of the diamond. Situated between the girdle and the table, the bezels in the crown also play an important role in the sparkle of a diamond. Star facets and bezel facets make up a diamonds crown.
  • Star
    The star facets are located around the table of the diamond. These facets reflect the multitude of light to shine through in different directions in order to create a sparkling effect.
  • Bezel
    The bezel facets are positioned next to the star facets. Here is an interesting fact - a round brilliant diamond has eight ‘kite’ shaped bezel facets that make the crown of the diamond.
  • Upper Girdle
    These are facets that are located above the girdle of a diamond. They play a role in reflecting the brilliance of a diamond and lead to the bezel facets.
  • Girdle
    The stunning narrow perimeter that divides the crown from the pavilion is the diamond’s girdle. Brilliant round cut diamonds have facets on the girdles to allow for increased transparency of the diamond.
  • Lower Girdle
    The lower girdle facets are situated below the girdle of the diamond. Again, just like the star facets, the lower girdle facets help reflect light to create a sparkling effect in different directions.
  • Pavillion
    The beautiful bottom half of the diamond is called the pavillion. The facets within the pavilion of the diamond play two important roles - they help the light enter into different parts of the diamond and then these facets also reflect the light out to create shine and sparkle around them.
  • Culet
    The extreme bottom of the diamond is called the culet. It is the flat face which disseminates into the facets of the pavilion.
At Temple and Grace we lay immense emphasis on the cut of the diamond to ensure it offers the maximum sparkle and shine.
2

The Colour

The colour of a diamond defines how ‘white' or ‘colourless’ a diamond really is. A diamond has certain natural properties and ‘colour’ is one of them. A perfect diamond will be colourless and be more valuable than a diamond that is light yellow or brown in colour. The Gemmological Institute of America (GIA) follows a grading system on a scale of D to Z, where D (colourless) is the highest or the best and Z (light yellow or brown) is the lowest colour.

At Temple and Grace, we carefully handpick our diamonds. All our jewellery you see here comes in the colourless or 'near white’ (D to G) range. This is why a masterpiece from Temple and Grace is considered to be an investment for generations to come.
  • T - Temple & Grace Diamonds
  • T - Temple & Grace Diamonds

  • D-E

  • F-G

  • H

  • I-J

3

Clarity

Being a gemstone means that every diamond has certain natural blemishes and inclusions. Diamonds are formed deep under the surface of the earth and this exposes to immense forces of pressure and heat. These forces react to form unique internal characteristics called inclusions and external characteristics which are known as blemishes on a diamond.

Diamond Clarity Chart
VVS1 - VVS2 Very, very small inclusions
VS1 - VS2 Very small inclusions
SI1 Small inclusions not visible to the naked eye
I1 Visible inclusions
I2 Notable inclusions
I3 Prounounced inclusions
4

Carat

The unit of weight of a diamond is defined as ‘carat’. 100 points go into the making of every single carat. For example, a 50 points diamond is described as half a carat.

  • 0.5ct

  • 1ct

  • 1.5ct

  • 2ct

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We stock diamonds graded by the GIA.

Visit Temple and Grace jewellers at:

AUCKLAND

Ground floor
26 Hobson Street
Auckland 1010

Phone: (09) 802 2109

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