Carat: weight not size
Although commonly thought to refer to the actual size of a diamond, a carat is actually a standard unit of measure that defines the weight of a diamond. Carat sizes are expressed as "points," with a one carat diamond equaling 100 points, just as a dollar is divided into 100 pennies.
One Carat = 100 points One Dollar = 100 pennies For example, a half carat diamond is 50 points or .50 carats, a three-quarter carat diamond is 75 points or .75 carats, and so on. One carat is also equal to 0.2 grams or 200 milligrams, about the same weight as a paperclip. Also, don’t confuse carat with karat, as in “18K gold,” which refers to gold purity. Since a carat is a unit of measure and not size, two diamonds of the same carat weight may appear to be different sizes depending on how the diamond is cut. Some diamonds will have extra weight on the bottom part — or pavilion — of the stone, and therefore appear smaller. But two diamonds of equal weight can have very different values depending on the other members of the Four C’s: clarity, color and cut. |
The majority of diamonds used in fine jewelry weigh one carat or less. Because even a fraction of a carat can make a considerable difference in cost, precision is crucial. In the diamond industry, weight is often measured to the hundred thousandths of a carat, and rounded to a hundredth of a carat. Diamond prices rise exponentially with carat weight. So, a two-carat diamond of a given quality is always worth more than two one-carat diamonds of the same quality. When diamonds are mined, large gems are discovered much less frequently than small ones, which make large diamonds much more valuable. Hundreds of tons of rock and ore must be processed to uncover a single one-carat gem quality diamond, and less than one percent of all women will ever own a one-carat or larger diamond.
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