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).
2.58 Carat Diamonds
Searching for 2.58 carat diamonds? Well, make sure you also use the term "258" point diamonds when you look on the internet using google or other search engines. Diamond carats, points and normal units of milligrams can all be converted between - this 2.58 carat diamond for example weighs 516 mg.
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One trick for saving money when buying a diamond is to choose a diamond which has a carat weight just below a popular number, such as buying a 0.98 carat diamond instead of a one carat diamond. Remember while the diamond may disappear into insignificance compared to a man's hand, women generally have significantly smaller hands with thinner fingers - the diamond will appear a lot larger when placed on their hand.
Rough diamonds may sometimes be mistaken for worthless pebbles. Thomas Browne .
For prospective buyers who are really focused on the size of a stone but not the material or quality, consider changing to a different gemstone apart from diamond. Some other gemstones are significantly less dense than diamond, which means for a certain carat weight they will have a larger volume and hence will look bigger to the naked eye.
Looking around the internet at online diamond stores, you may be tempted to think that a four or five carat diamond is large. You couldn't be more wrong - the golden jubilee diamond is an example of how big diamonds can really be - it is 545 carats, or a weight of more than 100 g, which is about a quarter of the weight of a can of coke.
People say the four cs for a reason - diamond carat size is just one of the four cs and the others are arguably just as important in determining how 'attractive' and 'good' a diamond is.