Quick and Easy Buying Guide
Carat weight: 1 carat = 200 milligrams = 6.5 mm diameter. Doubling weight doesn't double diameter.
Diamond clarity: FL/IF/VVS/VS = super expensive, near perfect. SI = best value if you can check a photo for obvious inclusions (defects).
Color: D-G = colorless, expensive, only if you have money to burn. H-J = best value. Can go lower in gold metal settings than white metal.
Cut: Better cut ratings let more light into a diamond, making it sparkle more. Very important property, don't skimp here.
Set a budget and minimum cut (Premium). Go J color for gold and I/H for white metals. Go searching for SI1/SI2 clarity diamonds at James Allen. Pick a diamond with small/no inclusions. Choose a ring setting and buy it risk-free (60-day returns).
2.53 Carat Diamonds
Diamond carats, points and normal units of milligrams can all be converted between - this 2.53 carat diamond for example weighs 506 mg.
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The shallowness of a diamond, which depends on how the diamond has been cut, will affect the relationship between carat weight and diameter of the diamond - because of this reason, 2.53 carat diamonds will only average a width of 8.93 mm, but will not always be precisely this width.
Savvy diamond buyers have learnt to search for diamonds that do not have round numbers in their carat weight - for example, these buyers will search for a diamond with the carat weight just below one or two carats. God forbid that this should be a problem for anyone, but it may be that the diamond, once it actually put on the fiance's hand, may appear to be too big and unwieldy. Make sure to take this into account when you're shopping around.
Five small diamonds that add up to one carat are generally not as valuable as a single diamond that weighs one carat, so be short not to compare a single diamond of carat weight 2.53 with a ring which has a total diamond weight of 2.53.
Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world. Jean de la Bruyere .
Don't forget to think about other diamond characteristics such as diamond cut, which plays a critical role in determining the amount of light that gets into the diamond and the degree to which the diamond sparkles in light.