Diamonds in Miami, Aventura & Boca Raton

The four Cs, in the order that actually costs you money

Every counter in South Florida will hand you the same four words — cut, colour, clarity, carat — and let you assume they matter equally. They do not. Cut is what makes a diamond look alive, it is the only one the cutter controls, and a poorly cut stone looks dull at any grade. Carat is the one that moves price the fastest, and it jumps at the round numbers: a stone just under one carat can cost noticeably less than one just over, and nobody will ever see the difference on a hand.

Colour and clarity are where most buyers overpay. Once inclusions are invisible without magnification, paying for a higher clarity grade buys a better certificate rather than a better-looking stone. And colour reads differently depending on the metal: a warmer stone that looks tinted next to platinum can look perfectly white set in yellow gold.

Certificate, or no certificate

For a new stone of any size, a report from a recognised laboratory is worth having, and the laboratory matters — grading standards are not identical between labs, so a colour or clarity grade from one is not automatically the same as the same letter from another. Compare stones with reports from the same lab, or have them looked at side by side.

Estate and antique diamonds are a different matter. Most have no report at all, because reports became routine long after those stones were cut, and their absence says nothing bad about the diamond. What matters there is that whoever is selling it examined it and will put a colour and clarity range in writing. Any diamond can be sent for grading after purchase if you want independent confirmation.

Before you buy a diamond in Miami

• Look at the stone face-up, in more than one light, next to another stone. Grades on paper do not tell you how it looks.
• Ask whether the price includes the mounting, and what the mounting is — metal and purity.
• Ask for the report number and check it on the laboratory's own website, not on a photocopy.
• Ask whether the stone is natural or lab-grown, and get the answer in writing.
• Ask what happens if an independent appraisal disagrees with the description.

Frequently asked questions