Diamond Buyers Guide

Diamonds have long been a symbol of compassion and commitment.

They are made of pure carbon and crystallised deep in the earth due to intense pressure and heat, and they are also the most brilliant gemstones.

Shiels offers you a wide variety of diamonds, depending on your preferred style, your budget, and the diamond size you're after.

When buying your diamond jewellery, the first step should be to determine your budget. The good news is that even if you're on a tight budget, Shiels still has plenty of beautiful jewellery that you can choose from.

After this, it is time for you to pick the style or shape you like. The most common shapes are round, princess cut, oval and cushion-cut diamonds.

Lastly, if you're buying a diamond ring, it's vital to make sure you get the size of a ring. This is simple if you just follow our ring size guidelines.

At the end of the day, we understand that there's a lot to think about when picking the right diamond jewellery, which is why we've created this guide to help you through the process.

Buyer's Guide (Diamonds)

Buying diamond jewellery is a great choice, but for those who are new to this experience, all the industry terms can become a bit overwhelming. So, we've put together this guide to the Four Cs that affect a diamond's value and quality to help you pick the diamond that's perfect for you.

The Four Cs of Diamonds

Colour

A diamond's colour is one of the important factors in determining its value.

The nearer a normal white diamond is to being absolutely colourless, the more valuable it will be.

Most diamonds used in jewellery will appear to be white or colourless but very few are totally colourless, the majority of stones possess some form of colour. The graduations in colour are so subtle that the only way to pinpoint a diamond's true colour is to place it next to another diamond that has been previously graded.

While white diamonds are valued for their lack of colour, other diamonds are valued for their depth of colour. These diamonds will have a strong distinct colour such as yellow, brown, green, blue or pink. Coloured diamonds are known as fancies'.

Shiels is proud to stock white diamonds but also yellow diamonds our Sunshine Diamond Collection set with white and yellow diamonds. Shiels was also the first jeweller to release an Australian Diamond range including Cognac and Champagne diamonds.

Carat

The size of a diamond can dramatically affect the value of the stone and the diamond jewellery in which it's used. Generally, the larger the stone the greater value, however other important factors also affect value too.

The weight of a diamond is measured in carats' (sometimes referred to as ct'). It is an ancient measuring unit derived from the seeds of the carob tree. One carat is divided into 100 points. Diamonds of less than one carat in weight are sometimes known as pointers'.

A diamond is usually priced on a per carat basis, according to its size and quality.

Cut

A diamond cut is a style or design guide used when shaping a diamond for polishing and doesn't actually refer to the shape.

Normally most consider the actual shape and appearance of the stone itself, rather than its ability to shine, but the Cut refers to the symmetry, proportioning and polish of a diamond and impacts its brilliance. This means if it is cut poorly, it will be less luminous.

Diamond Cut Diagram

Clarity

Imperfections of crystallisation which occur in diamonds are known as inclusions'.

The presence of imperfections, or a stone's clarity, is a large component of assessing the value of diamonds. While diamond jewellery buyers can see imperfections that appear as small cracks or miniscule flecks of black carbon with an eye scope, these blemishes often can't be seen with the naked eye.

There are many types of inclusions that can occur within a diamond. A Feather' is an inclusion that gives the impression that part of the internal gem is chipped'. This is also known as a Beauty Spot'. There may also be black dots and lines throughout the diamond, which is simply uncrystallised carbon. These are known as Specks' and Hair Lines'.

The type, number, size and position of the inclusions determine the clarity of a diamond and as long as they do not affect the passage of light through the diamond inclusions often will not detract from its beauty. Often the subtle location of an inclusion can mean that it will have no effect on the look of a diamond at all.

A flawless' diamond is not necessarily a perfect diamond. It only means that no imperfections are visible to a trained eye using 10x magnifications in good light. The chart below is used to grade a diamond based on its imperfection.

Diamond Clarity

Diamond Buyers Guide