Diamonds Carat Weight
Unlike the seemingly deceptive term "colorless", the word "flawless" is truly the most accurate way of describing a diamond's clarity.
A flawless diamond, classified as FL, has no surface markings or inclusions and allows light to pass through it cleanly. Such diamonds are, in truth, both exceptionally rare and highly expensive.
Many diamonds, however, have inclusions so minute that they are not visible to the naked eye. These are classified as IF diamonds. Other classifications include VVS1VVS2 for stones with very small inclusions, SI1-SI2 for those with small inclusions, and finally I1-I2-I3 for stones bearing inclusions visible to the naked eye. The greater the visibility of a diamond's surface markings and inclusions, the more its value decreases.
In order to grade a diamond's clarity, highly trained experts carefully study it under 10x magnification. This ensures a complete understanding of a stone's quality.
The clarity grade of a diamond is determined by the number, size and location of internal characters called inclusions. Inclusions can be external, as in the case of cavities and chips, or internal such as feathers and smaller crystals trapped within the main diamond crystal. The clarity grade is derived from an 11 grade scale from FL to I3. The fewer the inclusions, the higher the grade and the greater the value.
Click on the links below to learn more about diamond selection.