The third of the Four C’s is clarity, the measure of the imperfections found in a diamond.
Now ladies, we’re going to be real for a second. Chances are you’re not going to find a completely flawless diamond. Lest we forget, it’s a rock that came out of the ground. The probability of a diamond making it through the crystallization period, mining and processing without a single imperfection is extremely low.
The good news is that internal and external imperfections, known as “inclusions” and “blemishes” respectively, won’t necessarily mean the ruin of your ring.
To determine clarity, diamonds are scrutinized under 10x magnification to rank each imperfection’s characteristics, like size, color and position.
The GIA has an eleven grade scale: Flawless; Internally Flawless; Very, Very Slightly Included (levels 1 and 2); Very Slightly Included (1 and 2); Slightly Included (1 and 2) and Included (1, 2 and 3).
Wow. Don’t really roll off the tongue, do they? All you really need to know is that the closer a diamond is to flawless, the more rare and valuable (and costly) it is.
So take a minute and process that alphabet soup of abbreviations we threw at you and you’ll be all the wiser.
Is this all sinking in? Only one C left! Stay with us, we’re almost there!
