What are the main characteristics of diamonds?

Diamonds have always been a talked-about product. Whether in the news or in music, not much is really known about them. So stay on this blog, because we are going to explain its special features and what determines its price.

Before going to the characteristics, we need to know what they are made of: carbon. Diamonds are made of carbon; in other words, their molecular structure is formed by covalent bonds that connect in an octahedral shape.

Depending on their color or clarity, they may exhibit levels lower than 100% carbon, mixing with inclusions (particles that adhered to the diamond during its creation, altering its composition and appearance). It happens that other elements of nature, such as boron and nitrogen, contribute to its color change, from blue to yellow, respectively.

Furthermore, diamond is the hardest material that has ever existed, with a hardness value of 10 on the Mohs scale, above ruby, which has a hardness value of 9. That’s why a ruby pencil (or corundum pencil) is sometimes used to identify them. There are other identification methods, but we will talk about that in another video.

At the beginning of the 20th century, standards were established to determine the color, clarity, weight, and type of cut of diamonds, in order to classify them and assign a standard price based on the aforementioned qualities. These standards are global; they apply in Hong Kong, in New York, in Paris…

Having seen this brief summary of these small characteristics, we should delve into the 4Cs (main characteristics), which is the system used to assign an initial price. And then the secondary characteristics (fluorescence and symmetry, polish and type of cut) will determine whether the price will negotiate downwards, remain stable, or increase.

The 4 C’s, in English.

Color: the color for “white” or “transparent” diamonds is measured from D to Z. With D being the most transparent color (therefore the highest grade and the most unusual or expensive) and Z being the color with the most yellowish tone. In between, we can find several groups: “colorless diamonds” D-E-F, “near colorless” G-H-I-J, faint “K-L-M,” very light “N-O-P-Q-R-S,” and light “S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z.”