 Diamonds | Buying a Diamond | Caring for your Diamond | |
| Diamond Certification | Do I Need a Certificate? | About GOL | |
| A Background to Gold | Buying a Ring | Packaging of our Jewellery |
Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man - the only thing capable of cutting a diamond is another diamond. Made of pure carbon, diamonds form in the earth for thousands of years, making each diamond unique.
The first diamond was discovered 4,000 years ago in India - Geraldonline is continuing the tradition by using an exclusive source of diamond jewellery in Mumbai in India.
The quality of diamonds is not judged by size - various criteria need to be considered when buying a piece of diamond jewellery. These qualities are the four C's - cut, clarity, colour and carat.
The cut of the diamond refers to the angles and proportions that diamond cutters create in the stone to polish it and maximise its brilliance. Diamonds are classically round cut, but they can also be marquise, heart, emerald, princess, pear and oval shapes.
The clarity of a diamond is judged by the quantity, size, position, colour, release and shape of its inclusions which are tiny flaws - think of them as the diamond's birthmarks. The fewer the inclusions, the greater the quality and corresponding value of a diamond.
While we have all seen breathtaking yellow, blue, pink, green and red diamonds, they are very rare. Traditionally diamond engagement and wedding rings use clear diamonds. The closer a diamond is to being completely colourless, the more valuable it becomes.
You must also consider the setting you would like for your diamond - Geraldonline offers diamond rings in both yellow and white gold settings and a small range in platinum.
A diamond's value is not judged by its size but by its weight. A diamond's weight is measured in carats, and one carat equals 200 milligrams. Carats can be broken into 100 points, so a 0.5 carat diamond can also be referred to as a 50 point diamond, or half a carat. Not all diamonds of the same carat will cost the same - the quality of the other three c's, the cut, clarity and colour, all have to be the same.
At Geraldonline we have over fifty years experience in the jewellery industry internationally. If there are any questions you would like to ask us before you purchase a piece of jewellery please 
contact us – our team of experts will be happy to help you.
There are various criteria you need to consider when buying a piece of diamond jewellery. These qualities are the four C's - the cut, the clarity, the colour and the carat.
Cut
The cut of the diamond refers to the angles and proportions that diamond cutters create in the stone to polish it and maximise its brilliance and is the only one of the diamond's defining qualities that is not created by nature.
A classic round cut diamond is cut to 58 facets. Diamonds can also be marquise, heart, emerald, princess, pear and oval shaped.
A round cut diamond is as it sounds, a diamond cut into a sphere. Marquise is a brilliant-cut diamond, meaning that it reflects the most light from within the stone. Marquise cut is boat-shaped, long and thin with gently curved sides that come to a point on either end. A heart cut diamond is as it sounds, as is a pear shaped and oval diamond - all are brilliant cut. Emerald cut is a rectangular or square-shaped cut-cornered diamond and princess cut is a square or sometimes rectangular-shaped modified brilliant-cut diamond.
A poorly cut diamond, either cut too deep or too shallow, will allow the light to escape and it will not sparkle as effectively.
Clarity
Diamond is a natural substance, and each diamond is different, so naturally the majority of diamonds contain “inclusions”, or tiny flaws; think of them as the diamond's birthmarks. These inclusions can be minute feather shapes, clouds and tiny crystals that are formed when the diamond is forming in the earth. Inclusions stop the light being refracted as effectively out of the diamond, thus making a difference to its brilliance.
The clarity of a diamond is judged by the quantity, size, position, colour, release and shape of its inclusions. The fewer the inclusions, the greater the quality and corresponding value of a diamond.
The range of clarity is divided into grades. IF (Internally Flawless) means the diamond has no visible characteristics under magnification, or that no flaws are visible. VVS means that the diamond is Very, Very Slightly Included, VS1/2 means that minor characteristics are visible under magnification, SI1/SI2 means that the diamond is slightly included, or that characteristics are visible under magnification, and I1, I2 and I3 mean that characteristics are visible with the naked eye. The numbers mean that the diamonds can be graded more precisely, as each number represents levels within each grade. The 1s will have fewer or smaller inclusions than the 2s.
Diamonds with no inclusions are referred to as flawless and are extremely rare.
Colour
While we have all seen breathtaking yellow, blue, pink, green and red diamonds, they are very rare. Traditionally diamond engagement and wedding rings use clear diamonds. The closer a diamond is to being completely colourless, the more valuable it becomes.
Diamond colour is judged on a scale established by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the range is from D (colourless and therefore extremely valuable), through Near Colourless, Slightly Tinted, Very Light Yellow, Light Yellow, Yellow, to Light Fancy, which is graded at around a Z.
Even diamonds that appear colourless and seem simply to refract other colours than to have their own intrinsic colour have a slight yellow, brown and grey tinge that experts can identify. The colour can add a character to a diamond - some of the world's most beautiful diamonds have colour in them.
You must also consider the setting you would like for your diamond - Geraldonline offers diamond rings in both yellow and white gold settings and a small range in platinum.
Carat
A diamond's value is not judged by its size but by its weight. A diamond's weight is measured in carats, and one carat equals one fifth of a gram, or 200 milligrams. The word comes from the plant carob - in ancient civilisations carob seeds were used to compare weight with diamonds.
Carats can be broken into 100 points, so a 0.5 carat diamond can also be referred to as a 50 point diamond, or half a carat. Carats go from 0.05 to 4 carats. Not all diamonds of the same carat will cost the same - the quality of the other three c's, the cut, clarity and colour, all have to be the same also.
The fact that a diamond is large should only be considered in terms of the other c's - a large stone of poor cut, clarity and colour will not be worth more because of its size. A large stone of excellent cut, clarity and colour though will be worth more than a smaller diamond are more rare.
A diamond certificate or grading report verifies that a diamond is genuine and evaluates the quality and size of the stone. A diamond certificate is a document issued by a Gemological Laboratory, detailing the ‘grade’ which indicates the physical properties of the diamond.
The ‘ physical properties’ being the cut, clarity, colour and carat of the stone. A certificate is a document, which retains its value over a long period of time, assuming the diamond is not chipped or otherwise altered.
Do not confuse certification with an appraisal, which is an indication of the financial value of the piece under consideration. The financial value of a diamond can easily change over time and appraisals are most commonly used for insurance purposes.
A certificate enables you to buy your diamond with confidence. A diamond certificate, however is only useful if it has been issued by a reputable independent laboratory.
There are several reputable gemological laboratories throughout the world. We currently use Anchor Cert – part of the Birmingham Assay Office, IGI (International Gemological Institute) based in Antwerp, EGL (European Gemological Laboratory USA) and GLG (Great Lakes Gemological Laboratory) based in Mumbai. Other well known worldwide laboratories are ‘HRD’ (Hoge Raad Voor Diamont) based in Antwerp, Belgium and the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) based in the USA.
) GLG Certificate  | We use several bodies to provide our certification. The ‘ GLG’ (The Great Lakes Gemological Laboratory) based in Mumbai, India, where our rings are manufactured, and for our half carat stones and above, we mainly use ‘AnchorCert’, part of the Birmingham Assay Office. However, we may sometimes supply diamonds that have been certified by other laboratories for example IGI (International Gemological Institue) or EGL (European Gemological Laboratory USA). | ) Assay Certificate  |
Each product that is certified is indicated by a blue or black sign in the corner of the product picture.
We certify all of our eighteen carat solitaire (single stone) rings from quarter of a carat and above, plus a few eighteen carat multi stone rings and several solitaire pendants and earrings. The certificates that we issue are pictured above.
We believe in ensuring your trust in our product and therefore have a significantly more products certified than is normally undertaken by other retailers.
Generally the answer is no, unless you are buying an expensive piece of jewellery. However, buying a certified diamond allows you to make an informed choice about your selections and to enable you to do a comparison shop.
You can compare one diamond with a particular weight and quality with other diamonds if they are of a similar weight and quality to determine which is the better value.
Rule Of Thumb:
A quick note of thought: if a jewellery store offers to sell you a diamond without a certificate, keep in mind that you are buying the diamond based on the sales persons claims about the quality, and that a trained gemologist may disagree with the salesperson’s assessment.
Firstly, ensure that you never store your diamonds with other diamond jewellery as the diamonds may scratch each other or the chains or settings become tangled.
To clean your diamond jewellery, make a weak solution of warm water and mild detergent (ie gentle washing up liquid). Gently brush the setting and stone with a soft toothbrush, run under clean running water to remove the detergent, then tap to remove excess water and dry with a soft clean cloth that is not prone to shedding lint.
You can of course use dedicated jewellery cleaner which is available from jewellery retailers – simply follow the instructions given.
