Create Your Own Engagement Ring

Buying Diamonds

How to choose the right Diamond

You traditionally hear of the 4Cs in choosing the right diamond for your engagement ring. But at Bashford Jewelry we are advocates of 5: Cut, Color, Clarity, Carat, and Conflict Free. The combination of the 5Cs determines the quality, beauty, and value of your diamond.

CUT

When people think of cut, they often think it’s the shape of the diamond. But, it’s about how light is returned due to a diamond’s facets. Cut is responsible for brilliance, fire, and scintillation of particularly a diamond engagement ring but any Diamond jewelry you may purchase.

Brilliance = combination of all of the white light reflected internally and externally Fire = a scattering of light into a play of color Scintillation = a diamond’s sparkle

For the best results, proportions of its facets, symmetry, the relationship of its weight to its diameter, girdle thickness, and quality of its polish have to come together in just the right way.

One of the most defining characteristics of a diamond is its cut. Create Your Own Engagement Ring While high grades of color, clarity, and carat weight also contribute to a diamond's appeal, it's the cut that determines the symmetry of the stone's facets, its overall proportions, and its ability to reflect light. An expertly cut diamond will achieve high levels of brilliance, sparkle, and durability. Even if a diamond is graded well in other areas, a poor cut can result in a dull, muted effect and a not so stunning engagement ring.

CLARITY

Just as a diamond’s color is graded on the absence of color, the diamond’s clarity is graded on the absence of inclusions and blemishes.

Internal characteristics = Inclusions External characteristics = blemishes

Most are smaller than can be seen by the naked eye. And, accurate assessment is of utmost importance. So, trained diamond graders evaluate the quantity, size, relief, nature, position of these characteristics, and how they affect the appearance of the diamond and its effect on the finished engagement ring or piece of fine-diamond jewelry.

Diamonds are graded for clarity based on the finish on the outside of the diamond, and the appearance of any natural internal organic identifiers produced by nature. Look closely inside any BashfordJewelry.com diamond, chosen for its exceptional clarity, and you won't notice anything other than its beautiful sparkle. Diamonds are one of nature's wonders, and a diamond with one of the highest clarity grades — like IF or FL — is even more incredible to see. If you are considering the balance of clarity to the other three Cs,for your engagement ring consider that we've hand-selected diamonds that have no inclusions, that are distinguishable without magnification, even in the diamonds with the lowest clarity grade we offer. This ensures that even if you choose a diamond with SI-clarity, you will be amazed by the sparkle, not distracted by visible inclusions.

COLOR

A diamond’s color is measured using the D-to-Z diamond color grading system. This system is the most widely accepted for grading. All diamonds are evaluated based on the absence of color. Perhaps the most important feature when choosing the right conflict-free diamond for the right engagement ring.

DEF – Colorless GHIJ – Near Colorless KLM – Fainted Color NOPQR – Very Light Yellow STUVWXY – Light Yellow Z - Fancy

This lack of color is measured in degrees based on comparisons with masterstones, made while viewing under controlled lighting and conditions. This means that regardless of where in the world the diamond is graded it will be under the same conditions and should receive the same grade. These color distinctions are invisible to the untrained eye when buying an engagement ring or any fine jewelry it should be left to a trained diamond grader.

This grade refers to the "whiteness" of a diamond, or its lack of color. A diamond's color grade actually refers to the lack of color. In other words, diamonds that are white, containing little or no color, receive higher quality grades than those with visible color.

CARAT

In addition to color, cut, and clarity, carat weight directly correlates to price of the diamond. This happens because the supply is low (larger = rarer) and demand is high (larger = more popular). The bigger the carat does not always correlate to the beauty of the engagement ring, of course the size of the engagement ring is important to some but before you choose the size, you must choose the color and clarity for the engagement ring to really sparkle and of course your diamond must be conflict-free.

1 Carat = 200 milligrams 1 Point = 0.01 carat = 1/100 of a carat Diamonds of equal weight are not necessarily the same size. Different proportions and depths will result in different size and weight combinations will have an effect on the appearance of your engagement ring.

This is a measure of a diamond's weight and a reflection of its size. Carat weight is exactly that — a weight measurement, but carat weight does not always clearly help you determine if one diamond looks larger than the next. Consider that the carat weight of a diamond is the total weight, no matter how that weight is distributed. If a diamond is poorly cut and is tall and narrow, when viewed from the top that diamond will appear smaller than a diamond of equal weight. To eliminate this concern, at Bashford we do not offer any diamonds cut to maximize carat weight at the expense of sparkle, to provide you with only the most stunning diamond for your engagement ring.  

CONFLICT FREE

At bashfordjewelry.com we obtain diamonds through strict labor and environmental standards that were mined ethically, conflict free and tracked through highly-audited processes. As such, we rely on a trusted partner for our diamonds and gems one who mirrors our values—CanadaMark.

We use newly-mined diamonds from the Canadian Arctic that adhere to strict standards outlined by the Canadian Code of Conduct and other government authorities. They are all certified conflict-free and must be cut and polished responsibly. Employees that mine them are paid fair wages and efforts are made during the mining process to reduce the negative environmental impact. CanadaMark diamonds are: • Responsibly-Mined in Canada’s Northwest Territories • 100% Natural and Untreated • Tracked and audited from place of origin to polished stone • Cut and Polished by Exclusively-Approved Manufacturers • Guaranteed by the CanadaMark Hallmark Program through Independent Verification to ensure Canadian Origin