Buying certified diamonds ensures that you are getting the best quality diamond for your budget.

There are a number of laboratories in the diamond industry, and each follows a process of certifying diamonds and rating them in specific categories of quality.

The certification process makes it much easier for consumers to determine the quality of a diamond. Though there are several reputable laboratories that certify diamonds, for simplicity's sake, we will limit our discussion to the Gemologists Institute of America (GIA) standards for the purposes of this article.

Before you go shopping for diamonds, make sure that you are familiar with the GIAs standards for quality. This way you can choose the best diamond for your budget.

The Gemologists Institute of America was started by Robert Shipley in 193 Shipley was a jeweler in Kansas who was inspired to start an organization to standardize the quality of gems in America. Over the years, the GIA has become a respected industry leader all over the world. Its mission is to bring quality standards in the gem industry to their highest levels possible. In addition to grading diamonds, the organization trains gemologists all over the world, holds seminars and maintains labs in four different countries.

Getting a certified diamond is as simple as looking for the GIAs symbol at a jeweler. You can also directly ask the jeweler if the diamonds you are looking at are GIA certified. Once you ask this question, the jeweler will know that you are serious about purchasing your diamond and he or she can share other information with you about the quality of the diamond.

Your jeweler may tell you about the "four Cs" of the diamond in question. These four measures are used by the GIA to determine the quality of the diamond. They are carat, clarity, color and cut. You should go for the best of the four categories that you can afford. Getting a large carat diamond is worthless unless it has good clarity, color and cut. The overall quality of your diamond should be the determining factor, and not just the size.

The GIA weighs diamonds to determine the carat. The measurements are so specific that a diamond can have a carat number with five decimal places. The higher the carat number, the larger the diamond is.

The clarity of the diamond is determined by its lack of flaws or blemishes. Flawless diamonds are the top standard and they can go all the way down to an I3 diamond. Slight blemishes can be overlooked if they are toward the bottom of the cut of the diamond. Cloudiness and dark spots should be avoided.

Color is rated from D, which is colorless, to Z, which is light brown. A colorless diamond is the most valuable, but in recent years slightly colored diamonds (such as yellow or pink) are becoming more popular.

There are several different standard cuts of diamonds that are different shapes. The round cut, marquis cut and square cut are some of the most popular. The GIA evaluates a diamond for how well the jeweler has executed the cut. The cut of the diamond is rated between excellent and poor.

Each GIA certified diamond goes through a rigorous process of testing. Multiple experts evaluate a diamond during the testing phases to make sure that the four Cs are being used correctly.

Certified diamonds all come with a unique report number, so be sure to ask your jeweler for this before purchasing. When buying diamonds online, make sure that the diamonds have been analyzed and graded by one of the grading organizations. Some online jewelers even allow you to view the certificate when shopping.


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