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Carat Weight:

Sooner or later it all boils down to size.  No matter how beautiful the diamond is, some schmuck (like your future mother-in-law) always asks… "So, how big is it?"

Fatal responses: "It's not the size, it's how you mount it." or "Bigger than the hairy mole on your chin, but not as big as your butt."

Correct responses: "I went for quality, not for size" or "About a half carat" or "I don't know, but I liked the balance between it and the mounting."

The public (that's you) thinks of diamonds in percentages of carat weight, such as quarter carat, half carat, three quarter carat, one carat, etc.  Not surprisingly, people also tend to think of the value of your ring, or how much you spent on it by your answer of what it weighs.

Within the industry, there are several ways of expressing a diamond's weight.  A one carat diamond weighs 100 points, just like there are 100 pennies in a dollar, and would be expressed in written form as 1.00 carats.  When describing a half carat diamond weighing 0.52 carats to a store owner, we would refer to it as a 52 pointer.

In the old days, diamond wholesalers frequently referred to diamonds that weighed about one-quarter carat, or its multiples, as being so many grains.  A grain roughly equals one-quarter (0.25) carats.  A 0.74 carat diamond, for example, would be referred to as a three-grainer.

The Federal Trade Commission has set forth guidelines concerning the proper representation of carat weight to the public.  The diamond's actual weight must fall within two points (0.02 carats) of the fractional representation.  For instance, a diamond represented as weighing one-carat should fall within a range of 0.98 to 1.02 carats.  A half-carat diamond should weigh between 0.48 and 0.52 carats, and so on.  A diamond weighing 0.72 carats should not be represented by a person within the industry as being a three-quarter carat...  Fact of the matter is that your significant other can call her sixty-eight pointer a three-quarter carat, and her girlfriends will just have to take her word for it... We, on the other hand, can't get away with that.

When buying diamond jewelry advertised as having "a carat total weight" you should make sure that you're getting what you pay for... A pair of one-carat total weight diamond earrings or a one-carat total weight cluster style ring should have a combined total diamond weight that falls somewhere between 0.98 and 1.02 carats... If the combined total weight is actually 0.85 carats, then you're not buying a carat total weight and you should realize the difference... On the other hand, if the one-carat total weight diamond ring that you're looking at actually contains a total weight of 1.10 carats then the other eight points are a bonus for you and you should consider yourself lucky... But ladies, verbally stretching the total weight of such a ring to a-carat-and-a-half will cause your friends to doubt your story about your 0.85 carat diamond weighing more than a carat...

We frequently see advertisements that describe diamonds in fractional terms such as (one quarter carat, half carat, etc.) and wonder whether the actual weight of the diamonds fall within the legal guidelines.   Don't be afraid to ask the sales clerk what the actual weight of the diamonds contained in the piece of jewelry is... Your jeweler should be happy to provide you with the item's actual diamond weight and will be impressed with the fact that you knew enough to ask.  In the event that an experienced clerk is not available to assist  you, here are the GIA formulas and tables for calculating the carat weight of mounted diamonds:

• Round Brilliant Cut Diamond Formula: average diameter x average diameter x depth x 0.0061 = approximate carat weight.

To determine the average diameter of a diamond add the length plus the width and divide it by two.  Keep in mind that these formulas are for approximation purposes ONLY and that the actual weight of the diamond might be slightly different when unmounted.

• Oval Brilliant Cut Formula: average diameter x average diameter x depth x 0.0062 = approximate carat weight.

• Heart Shape Brilliant Formula: length x width x depth x 0.0059 = approximate carat weight.

• Triangular Brilliant (Trillion) Formula: length x width x depth x 0.0057 = approximate carat weight.

• Emerald Cut, Princess Cut, and Quadrillion Cut Diamonds Formula: length x width x depth x adjustment factor (below) = approximate carat weight.

Adjustment Factor:  First determine the diamonds length to width ratio by dividing the diamonds length by it's width and determining it's relationship to 1.00  For example, if a diamonds length is 7.22 mm, width is 3.90 mm and it's depth is 2.50 mm, then the length to width ratio would be calculated by dividing 7.22 by 3.90 which would equal 1.851282, which is then rounded to 1.85 and expresses as 1.85 to 1.00 or stated for appraisal purposes as 1.85:1.00  Once the length to width ratio is determined, use the adjustment factors below in the aforementioned formula to estimate the diamond's approximate carat weight.

Length to Width Ratio:	Adjustment Factor:
1.25:1.00	0.0080
1.50:1.00	0.0092
2:00:1.00	0.0100
2.50:1.00	0.0106