What is “Carat” when you purchase diamonds?

Understanding one of the 4 Cs: Carat

There is a lot of intricacies involved while buying a diamond. It is not always about the sparkle and shine. So, what one must look for when buying diamond jewelry? What are the factors involved in deciding the value of a diamond?

While talking about diamond, it is made of four factors that are 4 Cs. You use these four parameters to judge the quality of the diamond. Among these four it’s the carat weight that we as customers give more importance to.

Also Read:- Tips To Select the Best Diamond Engagement Ring for Your Loved One

We think that the more carat weight, the costlier the stone will be. But this is not far from the truth. Some of the small stones are also charged high, and that is generally the result of the other three Cs in the equation. So, next when you go to buy a diamond make sure you check the carat weight, clarity, cut, and color grade of the stone to determine the quality of the diamond.

What is the carat weight of a diamond?

Everything weight has measurement, even diamond does. To measure it, carat weight is the standard unit. Which means carat weight is the diamond’s weight. One who doesn’t know much about diamonds would confuse carats with the measurement of the diamond’s size. You can call it a misconception.

Gemstones and diamonds are measured with units known as metric carats. One carat of a diamond equals 0.2g and it is equivalent to the weight of one raindrop. Jewelers often use a point system by splitting carat into 100 points, which is very helpful in weighing smaller parts of the diamond. Like for example, if your ring has a diamond of 50-points that means your diamond weighs 0.50 carats.

One has to be careful about this as even a small difference can bring about a big difference in the price of the diamond. This point system gives precision to the weight that in turn determines the monetary value of the stone. mostly, the stones used for making fine jewelry are lesser than or equal to 1 carat.

Buying diamond bracelets, pendants, or any other jewelry you would hear your jeweler mention the term total carat weight. It is nothing else but the combined weight of all the diamonds used in your jewelry and not just the weight of one stone.

Difference between Karat and carat

Carat is very different from Karat. Not just different spellings but they are different in many ways. Karat is the standard referring to the purity of the gold. Whereas, carat is the standard unit to find the weight of the gemstones or diamond. The purity of the gold is Karat which is scaled in between 1 and 24.

The abbreviation for karat is ‘k’ or ‘kt’ whereas, for carat is ‘ct’. So, these are some of the basic differences between the two measuring units Karat and Carat. Next time when you buy diamond jewelry check for ct and not kt. If the diamond is on a yellow diamond check for carats and karats separately.

Is Carat a Universal Measuring Unit?

The term ‘carat’ was derived from the term ‘carob seeds’. These are small seeds that were used for measuring gems and diamonds as they have fair and uniform weight. The unit of metric carat was adopted in 1907 and is a universal unit for measuring the weights of diamonds and gemstones around the world. So, since a long-time carat is being used as a universal measuring unit for diamonds.

How carat weight affects the cost of a diamond?

There is no doubt that the cost of a diamond is directly proportional to the carat weight of the stone. The diamond jewelry with a stone of higher carat weight will be costlier than the other stone with lesser weight.

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Diamonds of higher carat weight are a rare finding and are more desirable. But its value is based on all 4 Cs and not just the carat weight of the stone. Two diamonds of equal carat weight can differ in their prices if the color, cut, and clarity differs.

Is purchasing a larger diamond mean a better diamond?

Following the policy of bigger the better doesn’t apply in the case of buying diamonds. Yes, the larger the size of the diamond the costlier it will be. But it doesn’t say anything about the quality of the stone. A stone with higher carat weight but if it's not well-cut you may not find it brilliant enough.

A brilliantly sparkling stone can be smaller in size just because it is properly cut. The cost of the stones of two different sizes will differ. The bigger stone will cost you more but if it does not have proper sparkle it would be a waste of your money. So, which one will you buy?