Carat is a unit of measurement for the weight of gems, not quality. It applies to most precious stones, but karat is used for gold purity. The size of a gem affects its value, but cut and clarity can make a small diamond appear larger and more impressive.
A carat is a type of measurement used to describe the mass or weight of a gem. The term was initially applied to diamonds only. It now applies to most precious and semi-precious stones.
There is some confusion in the word carat, since gold is also evaluated in karats or karats. Karat is the more traditional spelling when referring to gold and does not apply to mass. Instead, gold is graded by purity. Twenty four karat gold, for example, has the highest purity, while 10 karat gold has the lowest.
When the term carat refers to the mass of a gem, it is not referring to the quality of the gem. Evaluating cut, clarity, and color, as well as carat, is the best way to select a gem. The size or weight of a stone can be measured on the metric scale. One carat is the equivalent of 0.2 grams.
When an item of jewelry has small diamond chips, the measurement may assess the total carat weight (tcw), rather than providing specific measurements for each chip. Small chips are much less expensive than larger gems because they are more common.
Most uncut diamonds are considerably larger than the cut varieties available through retailers. Uncut diamonds are full of flaws and must be cut to achieve the most attractive diamonds. The higher the carat weight of a cut diamond, the rarer and more expensive it is. Diamond chips are not particularly expensive, but retailers often employ a tcw listing to make the jewelry item appear more impressive. However, you will notice that jewelry that includes small diamond chips tends to be offered at much lower prices than jewelry with large individual stones.
In fact, the value of a diamond or other gem increases dramatically as the size of the stone increases in weight. A half carat diamond can cost approximately a quarter of the price of a 1 carat diamond. The price increase is due to the rarity of larger flawless stones.
Jewelers are quick to assure potential customers that size matters. However, the cut and clarity of the diamond, along with its setting, can make a small diamond appear larger. A flawless one-carat diamond may not be as impressive as a nearly perfect half-carat diamond. Each flaw decreases the stone’s ability to reflect light, so flawed gems are less brilliant.
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