Carats and the Diamond Carat Size Chart

Using a diamond carat size chart and the following information is a good way to start educating yourself before shopping for your diamond ring.



When you go shopping for a diamond ring, you will hear a few different phrases a great deal. It is a good idea to understand what some of them mean before shopping.

One phrase you will hear a lot of times is "carat". A carat actually refers to a measure of weight when talking about diamonds.

To further better understand what that means it is a good thing to consult with a diamond carat size chart and the following education on carat weights.



To be exact, one carat is equal to 200 milligrams; 5 carat weight is equal to 1 gram.

The word carat actually comes from the word carob, which is a bean that can be found in the Mediterranean.

It used to be that if a diamond weighed the same as one of these carob beans, it was considered to be one carob, or one carat.

You might also hear the references of how many "points" a diamond has. There are 100 points to a carat, so a diamond described as having 83 points would be .83 carats and .50 carats would be the same as saying the diamond is 1/2 a carat or has 50 points.

The total weight of all the stones in the setting would be the number and it does not actually tell you the carat weight of each stone in the piece.

In order to find this information out, you must ask your jeweler for the total carat weight of the largest diamond in the piece so that you understand what value the ring has that you are interested in buying.

As you can see by the following diamond carat size chart, the differences in the size of the diamonds of different carat size of the same cut.

The diamonds in the above diamond carat size chart all sport the same cut, thereby making it easier for you to see the size differences.

A shallow cut diamond naturally has more surface area on the top and will look larger than one that is cut deep with more of its weight below the surface.

Although you would think most people would want the larger looking diamond, it is actually a combination of factors (carat, color, clarity and cut) that give a diamond the most brilliance.

It's important not to focus on the diamond's carat weight and not give the other Cs (color, clarity, and cut) enough consideration. It is important to have proper balance and weigh this with what is important to you.

One thing is important to note is that a 2 carat will not look twice the size of a 1 carat diamond even though it is double the weight.

This is because the diamond is three dimensional and dependent on both the diameter and the depth.

Although, the 2 carat diamond is only about 26% more in diameter than the 1 carat diamond, its price can be up to 4 1/2 times greater.

This is due to the fact that as diamonds get larger, they also get more rare to find and therefore the price per carat increases.

Carat weight is a personal decision; some choose a smaller diamond that has very high color and clarity while others will sacrifice on the color or clarity to get a larger diamond.

When you set your budget prior to selecting your diamond, it allows you to explore various combinations of color, clarity, and size that works with your needs and budget.

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