The legendary 4 C’s of diamonds are: Colour, Clarity, Cut and Carat. Collectively they are used to grade and describe the quality of an individual diamond. Essentially these qualities, when described by a gemmologist, help to determine the value of a diamond.

The Gemmological Institute of America (G.I.A.) established the 4 C’s to create standardization in the language used to describe the various qualities of diamonds. Before the establishment of the 4 C’s there were many different systems of terminology for describing the qualities of diamonds. Some systems were popular in certain geographic areas and others were popular in another place. It’s easy to see how that could get very confusing!

Below I explore each category in further detail. The information I’ve provided here is essentially a primer, for further information I highly recommend the G.I.A. website. If you’re interested in gemstones, there’s no better place!