Diamond Guide

Why choose D&D Jewelry in Walnut Creek, CA, above other stores for your diamond purchases?

Click here to Search for your desired Natural Loose Diamond

Click here to search for your desired Lab-Grown Loose Diamond

• Many diamonds purchased from online stores are graded in laboratories where diamond grading certificates are held at a lower standard compared to reputable laboratories such as GIA.

• Searching online for, say, a 2.00 carat round-shaped genuine untreated white diamond with clarity VS1 and color F, reveals a roughly $15,000 span between the highest and lowest price. This is a significant price range. Remember that all diamonds are unique. A certificate will not tell you how much it sparkles! So, when you read a diamond report, that report does not reflect a lot of what we, as professional jewelers, are trained to look for! The whole story of the diamond can only be told not only by reading its grading report from a reputable laboratory but also by having a trained professional, such as our expert jewelers, examine the stone. Many diamonds purchased from online stores are graded in laboratories where diamond grading certificates are held at a lower standard compared to reputable laboratories such as GIA.

• When making a diamond purchase online, it is likely that someone else has also purchased the exact same stone with the exact same certificate (assuming the stone comes with a certificate)! Naturally, this is highly unlikely, and the chances of getting the exact same stone with the exact same characteristics are extremely slim, so the stone that is being displayed online may not necessarily be the stone you receive.

• A jeweler would never buy a diamond without seeing it, why should you?

• At D&D Jewelry, it is our responsibility to understand your preferences before directing you to the diamond of your choice. This is a one-way process because you should never settle for a diamond that is imposed upon you.

• Unlike many other jewelry businesses, we provide on-site assistance, guarantee our diamonds and jewelry, and provide expert advice.

• With so many variables involved when purchasing a diamond (such as the 4Cs, transparency, fluorescence, treatment, budget, etc.), we will be there for you every step of the way, guiding you in the direction that leads to the diamond that you love that also meets your budget without sacrificing quality. We are a second-generation family-owned and operated jewelry store established in 1985.

Take a moment to learn more about the "Anatomy of a Diamond" on this page and its "4Cs" and find out how the 4Cs play an important role in making your diamond jewelry unique.

History of 4Cs

Anatomy of a Diamond

Shape

Choose the shape that is most appealing. Your personal preference should play the greatest role in your decision. If you like more than one diamond shape, pick your first choice; the one that you belie,ve looks best on your hand and most importantly the one that you like the most.

Cut

The cut of a diamond affects its proportions & the position of its facets and subsequently the degree of its brilliance or sparkle. A diamond's cut affects how the stone captures light and reflects it to the eye. For optimal light performance, you will want a diamond that is cut neither too shallow nor too deep. When a diamond is cut with the proper proportions, light rays entering the stone from all angles are maximized to return through the top, aiming for your eye.

Color

When looking at diamonds with your naked eye in a jewelry store, the stones may all appear colorless (depending on the store's lightings or what kind of light is shining on the stone - the best light to judge the color of a loose diamond is the natural sunlight). Now, if you look at a diamond through a magnifying glass, you may notice slight tints of yellow, gray or brown. The more colorless a diamond, the pricer -- so the strength of these tints plays a role in pricing diamonds. The most widely used color grading system is the one developed by the GIA (Gemological Institute of America), which identifies colors with alphabetical letters as follows:

Clarity

A diamond is distinguished by its intrinsic natural characteristics, just as a person would be noted for her blue eyes or brown hair, or unique fingerprints. Noted as a diamond's clarity, these characteristics can be present on the surface as tiny surface blemishes such as scratches, nicks, pits, abrasions, extra facets, etc. -- or they can be present within the stone (referred to as inclusions) such as crystals, cleavages, clouds, grain lines, cavities and so on. GIA (Gemological Institue of America) first introduced and then further developed the diamond grading system which includes the following diamond clarity grading scale:

FL Diamonds
Flawless: No internal or external flaws.

IF Diamonds
Internally Flawless: No internal flaws.

VVS1, VVS2 Diamonds
Very, Very Slightly included: Very difficult to see inclusions with 10x magnification.

VS1, VS2 Diamonds
Very Slightly Included: Inclusions are visible under 10x magnification to a skilled grader.

SI1, SI2 Diamonds
Slightly Included: Inclusions are visible under 10x magnification and may be visible with the unaided eye.

I1, I2, I3 Diamonds
Included: Inclusions are visible with the unaided eye.

Carat Weight

It is customary to refer to a diamond's weight as Carat. Historically, the name Carat originated in ancient times when gemstones were weighed against the carob bean. The price of a diamond rises exponentially with its weight.