Harling's Jewellers - Learning Lounge
At Harling's we believe that one of the most important parts of purchasing jewellery is education. Many of our staff are certified gemologists and can answer any and all of your questions and now we've added this section to our website to help you learn more about diamonds and other gemstones and provide answers to some of the most commonly asked questions.
Diamonds
A diamonds is so many things: the symbol of love everlasting, the purest of the gemstones and even a girl's best friend. Diamonds are universally beloved and coveted for their beauty, fire and radiance.
Choosing the perfect diamond for an engagement ring or other piece of fine jewellery can be an intimidating process, but at Harling's we are committed to helping you understand how diamonds are graded and valued, so you can focus on making the right choice.
The beauty of a diamond and value of any diamond is determined by four characteristics: cut, color, clarity, and carat weight.
Cut
The cut of a diamond is what brings out the brilliance and amplifies the fire within. This fire can only be brought out through the precision of a skilled diamond cutter. Each facet of the stone must be cut perfectly and precisely aligned with every other facet.
The Ideal Cut is a technique for diamond cutting built on generations of experience and designed to maximize every aspect of a stone's brilliance. Less than 1% of all mined diamonds can be certified, making them all the more unique and special.
Colour
Diamonds range colour from icy winter white to slight tones of yellow or brown. Except in the case of fancy coloured diamonds, the rarest and most prized diamonds are the ones with an absence of colour. The whiter a diamond, the more that light can pass through, increasing its brilliance and its value.
Truly colourless diamonds exceptionally rare. Most have a slight tinge of colour that is only detected by a trained eye under the right lighting conditions. All Harling's diamonds are colour graded according to international gemological standards.
Clarity
The clarity of a diamond refers to the number of tiny flaws or "inclusions" found on a diamond. Truly flawless diamonds are extremely rare. Most diamonds have a small number of inclusions that are only visible when the stone is viewed under magnification.
We view natural inclusions as a diamond's "fingerprints" – making each stone totally unique. All Harling's diamonds are graded for clarity and certified by international gemological standards.
Carat
The "carat" is the simplest of the four C's – a gemologist's measure of a diamond weight. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams. Each carat is divided into 100 points, so a 75 point stone is three quarters of a carat.
Larger diamonds are very rare in nature and have a greater value per carat, so the price of diamonds increases exponentially in relation to its size.
Hide the 'Four C's'
Canadian Diamonds
Canadian diamonds are highly desirable. Found in Canada's stunning Arctic region, these precious stones are mined according to the principles of sustainable development and the highest environmental standards in the world.
All Canadian diamonds sold at Harling's are certified by the Canadian Diamond Code of Conduct and meet all the requirements of the Kimberly Process, the international standard for certification to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds.
