What combination of clarity, color, carat weight is best value?

“Despite the fact that I’ve spent hours upon hours reading about diamonds, I don’t feel any closer to really knowing what to purchase. There is so much conflicting information floating around online. Some of the forum articles that I’ve read indicate that an eye clean SI-2 clarity diamond is perfectly fine and offers great value, while others indicate that there is no such thing as an SI-2 clarity diamond that is eye clean. One article indicates that diamond color is of critical importance, and the next article I read indicates that most people can’t tell the difference. The only thing that people seem to agree on is diamond cut quality, but there are even some differences of opinion as to how high up the scale one needs to go in order to achieve great light performance. As I understand it, Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamonds represent the best of the best, so buying one would take care of the cut quality issue. But what combination of clarity, color, and carat weight provides the best value then? My budget is $10K.”

Is Bigger Really Better?

The thing you have to ask yourself when buying a diamond is, is bigger really better? Because how you answer that question, will help you prioritize other factors such as diamond clarity and color. All of these factors affect the market price of a diamond, but after the sparkle factor is taken into account, the next most noticeable of the characteristics will be diamond size.

Your decision to buy a Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond eliminates the need to be concerned about sparkle factor. All of our signature diamonds are specifically cut to deliver the highest volume of light return and sparkle factor. They will exhibit broad spectrum sparkle that will show up from across the room, regardless of the size of the diamond.

So what you really have to decide, is which combination of clarity, color, and carat weight represents the best value for your personal preferences. If you’re okay with the possibility that you might be able to see an inclusion or two upon scrutinizing the diamond closely, then an SI-1 or SI-2 clarity diamond is a reasonable option. But if you absolutely need the diamond to be completely eye-clean upon close inspection, then VS-2 clarity and higher is going to be a better choice.

Which diamond color offers the best value?

If you prefer diamonds that look icy-white, then the best value for your personal preferences is likely to be something in the D-E-F colorless range. But if you simply want the diamonds to face-up bright and white, then you can go as far as G-H and possibly even I-color depending on your personal interpretation of diamond color. Diamonds in the J-K-L and Cape Series range offer warmer hues which a lot of people seem to love, thus those can also offer great value if that is the look you find appealing in a diamond.

And I suppose that in the end, what really determines which combination of clarity, color, and carat weight represent the best value, depends on what order you place those characteristics in terms of importance. The fact is that everybody has different preferences and places these factors in a different order of importance. But at the end of the day, all of this is kind of a mute point, because all anybody is really going to focus upon is the sparkle factor of the diamond, and that’s “in the bag” so-to-speak as far as Brian Gavin Signature diamonds go…