RIYADH – To the ancient Greeks the word "diamond" was a synonym to "safety", maybe the old Chinese worriers believed in the same meaning; they used diamond because they believed in its magical properties which make the worrier disappear in the eyes on his enemy. Even though the old myths told many legends about diamonds, there remains one truth that every women believes in at all times, adorning herself with a ring or a necklace of diamond will make her sparkle like one of the legend's characters. With the evolution of the world and the birth of a new term called fashion, craftsmen developed unique diamond designs that express their delicate sense of beauty and their passion in the diverse colors and sizes of diamonds. Though, very few of diamond lovers know that these designs have four important factors that should be considered if they were to buy diamond jewelry. The first and most important of these factors is the color of the diamond, because the color of the jewelry worn is what sight first falls upon. The diamond color ranges from transparent to yellow, silver or brown. We can also find rare colors such as blue, pink, red, green, yellow and even black. So the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) rated diamonds' colors according to the most precious kinds, it mentioned that the colorless diamonds are the finest and precious kinds of diamonds. A totally colorless diamond allows light to pass through it easily, resulting in the light being dispersed as the color of the rainbow. The second factor that should be taken into consideration is the clarity of the diamond. Diamonds like other gems are extracted from the earth in their raw forms. When extracted, nature leaves some of its prints on it in the form of inclusions, so the clarity of diamonds is determined by the amount of inclusions it contains. Like colors, clarity has its own rating such as VS1, VS2, VVS1, and VVS2; the IF is the highest rating for diamonds and it indicates to high clarity and inclusion free. The weight of the diamonds is an important aspect as it is the third of the factors that should be considered while buying diamonds. The weight of the diamonds is measured in carats; it is worthy to point out here that the meaning of carat when used with diamonds is different from its meaning when used with gold. Diamond carat means its weight and not its quality or clarity, while for gold it reflects for quality. Also the price of diamond's carat differs with the different diamonds' weights and is not fixed like it is for gold. The last factor to be considered is the cut and shape of diamonds. The process and way of cutting a diamonds greatly affects its characteristics, the more skillful the craftsman is in showing the edges and aspects of the diamonds the more it allows the maximum beauty of the diamond to be realized. You can look for diamonds in several forms including the traditional round, marquis and pear shapes. Ayman Al Haffar, Executive general manager of L'Azurde, emphasized the importance of paying attention to the four factors mentioned while buying diamonds, by saying: "Women adore diamonds, so they must identify the characteristics of the unique diamond they want to purchase, and that depends on the four factors which is cut, clarity, color and carat. These factors will help choose the best fit diamond for the social occasions, if for example it was a wedding or engagement ceremony then solitaire is the best diamond to buy which comes in 1 carat size most of the times." – SG
