DNE Buzz guide on how to buy the perfect diamond engagement ring

Buying a diamond engagement ring is a stressful experience, to say the least. There’s a lot to consider when figuring out when, where, and how to buy an engagement ring. DNE Buzz takes you through the dizzying array of choices and provides the best tips for making this monumental purchase.

“Before you determine your budget, you should educate yourself on the basics of diamond,” said Diamond Center Chairperson Magdy Abbas.

Daily News Egypt interviewed the experienced jeweller to know how to buy a diamond engagement ring and the factors affecting its prices.

What is the difference between “open” and “closed” diamonds?

These expressions are usually heard in the local market. “Closed” indicates that it has a certificate from international laboratories, such as the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and HRD Antwerp, while “open” diamonds do not have a certificate.

The cost of certifying a diamond ring is approximately $300.

Why diamonds are expensive?

One of the common rumours about diamonds is that they are expensive. You don’t need to buy a diamond engagement ring weighing one or two carats. It is possible to purchase a ring of 0.35 carat. The carat is divided into 100 parts. There are also other factors that affect the ring’s price, such as the colour and purity of the diamond. You can also buy used diamond rings which are less expensive.

Do diamond engagement rings lose their price in re-selling?

Diamonds are not considered an investment because they lose at least 10% of their value when reselling. Companies and merchants record this percentage on purchase invoices because it is like a contract between consumers and companies.

You should make sure the purchase invoice contains all the specifications and price of the ring.

The discount rate shall be calculated at the time of sale in the Egyptian pound.

You should also go to the same dealer when reselling because the invoice and guarantee are considered as a contract. Dealers are not committed to what was agreed with others.

How to evaluate a diamond engagement ring?

Until the middle of the 20th Century, there was no agreed-upon standard by which diamonds could be judged. GIA created the first, and now globally accepted standard for describing diamonds: Colour, Clarity, Cut, and Carat Weight (4Cs).

Today, the 4Cs of diamond quality is the universal method for assessing the quality of any diamond, anywhere in the world. The creation of the Diamond 4Cs meant two very important things: diamond quality could be communicated in a universal language, and diamond customers could now know exactly what they were about to purchase.

Grading of the 4Cs helps determine the value of a diamond and indicate its quality. Diamond sellers often set their prices based on grading reports.

Knowing the basics of these grading is helpful when comparing two similar diamonds, having a foundational understanding of the 4Cs is imperative as a buyer so that you can avoid spending your budget on a component that will go unnoticed.

What is Diamond cut?

Diamond cut does not refer to a diamond’s shape (e.g. round, oval, pear, etc.) but a diamond’s proportions, symmetry, and polish.

The most important of the 4Cs is cut because it has the greatest influence on a diamond’s sparkle, and is the most important element to consider when buying a diamond.

The cut is the biggest factor in creating sparkle and fire, and without a high cut grade, even a diamond of high quality can appear dull and lifeless. A diamond cut poorly and too deep can face-up smaller than it is. Grades range from ‘Excellent’ to ‘Poor.’

What are the most popular diamond colours in Egypt?

The second most important of the 4Cs is colour, which refers to a diamond’s lack of colour. The less colourful the diamond is, the higher the grade it takes.

After the diamond cut, diamond colour is the second most important characteristic to consider when choosing a diamond. The highest quality diamonds are colourless, while those of lower quality have noticeable colour, which manifests as pale yellow in diamonds.

Diamonds come in a variety of colours, some of them highly prized (pinks, blues, even yellow). However, in a white diamond, the presence of a yellow tint will lower the price of a diamond. The less body colour in a white diamond, the more true colour it will reflect, and thus the greater its value.

The GIA grades diamond’s colour on a scale of D (colourless) to Z (light yellow or brown). All D-Z diamonds are considered white, even though they contain varying degrees of colour. True fancy coloured diamonds (such as yellows, pinks, and blues) are graded on a separate colour scale.

The most demanded colours in Egypt are G and H, and their prices are appropriate and correspond to the purchasing power of the citizens, as well as their quality and tendency to white, and the colour in lower degrees tend to yellow, and its price is very low.

Yellow diamond grades are traded in the local market due to the low price value, and it has attracted new social segments, and some Arab countries are interested in weight at the expense of colour, and the weights in circulation in them range between 2 and 5 carats, but their colour grades are low and yellowish.

What about the diamond clarity?

Clarity is one of the 4Cs of diamond grading and quality, which refers to the absence of inclusions and blemishes.

Diamond clarity is the least important factor when choosing to buy a diamond because most diamonds have blemishes and small inclusions that are microscopic, unable to be seen with an untrained or unaided eye.

The FL grade is the highest degree of purity in diamonds and thus its price is very high. In the local market, grades of VS1 and VS2 which are stones that contain few impurities and affordable are the most common. The lower grades are poor and cheap, such as SI and I.

How do you measure the diamond weight?

Carat is the weight measurement of diamond. A metric “carat” is defined as 200 milligrams.

Each carat can be subdivided into 100 parts. This allows very precise measurements to the hundredth decimal place, A jeweller may describe the weight of a diamond below one carat by its ‘points’ alone.

For example, the jeweller may refer to a diamond that weighs 0.25 carats as a ‘twenty-five pointer.’ Diamond weights greater than one carat is measured in carats and decimals.

Diamond price increases with diamond carat weight because larger diamonds are rarer and more desirable. But two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different values (and prices) depending on three other factors of the diamond 4Cs: Clarity, Colour, and Cut.

It’s important to remember that a diamond’s value is determined using all of the 4Cs, not just carat weight.

What are the most common types of diamond in Egypt?

The local market prefers diamonds that weigh between 0.25 and 0.50 carats, with H and I colours, and clarity of VS1 and VS2.