Four C’s

At Mappin & Webb we understand that before you start shopping around for that perfect diamond you need to have an understanding of what you are buying. We have put together this simple guide to assist you when choosing that special diamond purchase. There are four main criteria to consider when buying your diamond these are cut, colour, clarity, and carat weight also referred to as the 4C's – This will enable you to select your diamond based on the same criteria jewellers use to grade them.

Colour

Diamonds come in a range of natural colours and shades, from light yellow to totally colourless (which are the rarest and the most valuable).

Diamonds that have a natural colour, such as pink, blue or green, are also extremely rare and therefore very valuable.

The alphabet is used as the grading scale for colour, starting with grade ‘D’, which denotes colourless, and moving through the alphabet as any colour becomes more and more visible.