At what carat weight...

[Alistra]

It depends on the shape of the diamond, the finger size (including length) and the way it is set. Usually around 2.5 carats looks pretty large to me. I mentioned finger length because I have long fingers, and I think that because of this diamonds look smaller on me that on a friend who has the same finger size (5.25) and a much shorter fingers. Or maybe that is just because I think they look smaller on me!

 

[Rhea]

I think 1.5 + on other people. Probably smaller on myself.

 

[Tmissy]

2 ct+ makes my eyes open saucer wide. A relative of mine has a 3.5 ct round stone. I do not much like it in a round shape. I think larger fancy shapes look better in 2 ct+ weights.

 

[Ninna]

For my hand size [6] 3ct in rounds, 4-4.5ct in fancy cuts.

 

[jewelerman]

3 carats

 

[honey22]

1.0+

 

[diamondseeker2006]

On PS, 2 cts. or above.

In real life, I don't see many diamonds over a carat most of the time. I was never self-conscious about my 1 ct. diamond, but I am at times about my 1.6 ct. diamond.

 

[luv2sparkle]

For myself, probably about 3.5 carats. My ring no longer looks big to me. I wouldn't go bigger for myself, but when I see a ring it is
a really big one that makes me go WOW!

 

[nararabbit]

We are in the palm springs area, before that santa monica, ca. Around here, lots of old biddies are rocking their dead husbands' money in the form of 5-10 ct diamonds (often yellow, cloudy, or poorly cut, heh), or swathes of diamonds on their necks and ears just for a run to the grocery. So 2-3 carats to me seems 'normal.' And Santa Monica, the same... I don't think I knew a single person who got engaged there with less than 1.5 carats. LOL!

Back home, my 1.5 got a lot of comments. Out here, it's only occasional.

 

[Cachette]

For myself, any stone that looks like the size of a 1 carat looks big and anything after 1.5 carats looks huge!

We may have a lot of diamond mines way up here in Norther Ontario but the vast majority of us Northern girls aren`t sporting the big Canadian rocks that come out of them!

Cachette

 

[Black Jade]

I don't count what I see on Pricescope because it all looks so huge on the computer screen.

I normally see diamonds ranging from .30-.75 so 1 carat looks huge to me, especially if the ring is pretty. In a nice way.

And I go to NYC a good deal; also I go to Palm Beach from time to time (relations in both areas). Idon't see huge diamonds in either place. There are one or two, and there are one or two I see at home, but it's not the usual thing to see.

I myself own earrings that are about 1 carat apiece and also a ring with a 1.19 marquise. But I don't see the earrings in my own ears and I have big hair so I don't think anyone else does all that much either. And I don't wear the marquise hardly at all. I always wear my .38 original engagement ring and I guess that makes everything else look huge in comparison. But I don't so much care if a diamond is large or not. Just if its pretty and seems to suit the wearer.

 

[Novel]

On others? 2+. On me, 1 + (and I'm starting to understand DSS for the first time! The horror. It only took 2.5 months post engagement...)

 

[kenny]

Maybe people think of a diamond as "big" when it is 50% larger than what they wear.

If you wear a 0.5 ct., then a 0.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1 ct., then a a 1.5 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1.5 ct., then a 2.25 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2 ct., then a 3 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2.5 ct., then a 3.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 10 ct., then a 15 ct seems big.

If you wear a 100 ct;, then a 150 ct seems big.

If you wear a 200 ct., then a 300 ct seems big.

Queen Elizabeth is always telling me, "To me a 3-pound royal scepter diamond seems big."

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

I think 2+ is big.

Outside PS, I do tend to wonder "is it real?" when I get a glimpse of a big rock. Tacky, I'm sure...but that's just what comes to mind.

 

[LGK]

IRL, I get to see a lot of eye candy on other women's hands when they come shopping for antiques. I see some whoppers every few weeks I'd say. Usually I'll be sneakily eyeballing it if it's, say, 1.75 or over. Smaller if the stone is gorgeous (much smaller- sparkle catches my eye every time!) But to think WOW THAT'S HUGE, I'd say a bit under 2 cts does it.

I saw somebody with a HUGE round brilliant the other day, must've been well over 4 (it's hard for me to judge size much over that). And a huge pendant. And a huge pair of studs. All round, all sparkly. If she'd been even slightly more approachable while I was ringing her up I would've shamelessly asked to see it closer, but she was giving me the "you're just the help" treatment so I didn't. Shame. It was an amazing set of jewels and I'm pretty sure they were the real deal. Her mom was also dripping diamonds.

There's also a really sweet, very much older woman who I see regularly- probably in her 80s- and she comes in wearing sweat pants, kitty t-shirts, and all her awesome jewelry. And it's all fabulous- a 3+ ct center stone round three stone ring, a huge eternity band with it, and pendant and earrings and a bunch of bangles. I love her! (I hope i'll be doing that when I'm 80 - rocking all my jewelry in my shlubby comfy clothes.)

 

[Dreamer_D]

I think 2+ is big.

Outside PS, I do tend to wonder "is it real?" when I get a glimpse of a big rock. Tacky, I'm sure...but that's just what comes to mind.

I suspect a lot of people think mine is fake when they see it. Not big by PS standards, but big enough IRL to make people wonder I bet. No one has asked me though.

 

[ChloeTheGreat]

I think 2+ is big.

Outside PS, I do tend to wonder "is it real?" when I get a glimpse of a big rock. Tacky, I'm sure...but that's just what comes to mind.

I suspect a lot of people think mine is fake when they see it. Not big by PS standards, but big enough IRL to make people wonder I bet. No one has asked me though.

I am newly engaged and enjoy showing off my haloed 1.25. My sister said "it's so sparkly, it looks fake"...I think it was supposed to be a compliment?

 

[slg47]

I think 1.5 ct is 'big'. I agree with Kenny, it depends on what you have...I have a 1.1 ct.

 

[Haven]

I think stones look big when they hit around 8 mm. I wear a 2.3 ct stone, and it looks ginormous to me. It measures 8.10 x 7.92, so that's why I say 8 mm.

 

[sphenequeen]

With a round, pear, heart, oval or marquise I'd say 3.00 carats. Step cuts I think 4.50-5.00 looks big.

 

[qtiekiki]

Bigger than mine. LOL. 2+ carats.

 

[Circe]

Maybe people think of a diamond as "big" when it is 50% larger than what they wear.

If you wear a 0.5 ct., then a 0.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1 ct., then a a 1.5 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1.5 ct., then a 2.25 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2 ct., then a 3 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2.5 ct., then a 3.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 10 ct., then a 15 ct seems big.

If you wear a 100 ct;, then a 150 ct seems big.

If you wear a 200 ct., then a 300 ct seems big.

Queen Elizabeth is always telling me, "To me a 3-pound royal scepter diamond seems big."

This formula seems eminently plausible to me ....

 

[qtiekiki]

I think 2+ is big.

Outside PS, I do tend to wonder "is it real?" when I get a glimpse of a big rock. Tacky, I'm sure...but that's just what comes to mind.

I suspect a lot of people think mine is fake when they see it. Not big by PS standards, but big enough IRL to make people wonder I bet. No one has asked me though.

I am newly engaged and enjoy showing off my haloed 1.25. My sister said "it's so sparkly, it looks fake"...I think it was supposed to be a compliment?

Remind me of the time when I was talking to my coworker. She told me her friend just got engaged with a half carat ring from Costco. She continued to say that it was a great size, and anything bigger just looks fake. I didn't say anything, but was thinking "WTF" because my center stone is 1.25ct. But to her defense, she doesn't know how my ring looks like since I don't wear it to work. I just chalked it up to her being young.

 

[Cozystitches]

Maybe people think of a diamond as "big" when it is 50% larger than what they wear.

If you wear a 0.5 ct., then a 0.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1 ct., then a a 1.5 ct seems big.

If you wear a 1.5 ct., then a 2.25 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2 ct., then a 3 ct seems big.

If you wear a 2.5 ct., then a 3.75 ct seems big.

If you wear a 10 ct., then a 15 ct seems big.

If you wear a 100 ct;, then a 150 ct seems big.

If you wear a 200 ct., then a 300 ct seems big.

Queen Elizabeth is always telling me, "To me a 3-pound royal scepter diamond seems big."

I think there may be merit in this....but I'm a bit on the smallish size I have a 0.3 center and 1+ is "big". For me, the largest would be like 1.5 (not that it'll happen), and I have larger hands.

 

[kenny]

Yes when Liz drops by for tea she gossips about those other tacky crown monarchies who upgraded to 3-pound D Flawless scepter diamonds.
She says, "You know, Kenny, they just think of them as status symbols, they DO. But me, I think a nice delicate 2-pound scepter diamond is just perfect for my understated persona. I hate putting on airs since we're all equal now. "

Of course I think to myself, well you know dear monarchs vary too, but I bite my tongue.
I really don't argue with the old gal anymore.

 

[platinumrock]

I would say anything 3+ carats or 9+ mm in diameter is big.

 

[slg47]

I would say anything 3+ carats or 9+ mm in diameter is big.

that's huge!!

 

[platinumrock]

I would say anything 3+ carats or 9+ mm in diameter is big.

that's huge!!

I know! But then your eyes get used to it and they start shrinking.

Kenny is right, size is relative. Things look huge until they're compared to something larger.

It also doesn't help if you have large fingers. lol

 

[monarch64]

Pre-PS I would've said 1 carat looked "big." Post PS ,and after having had a 1.5 RB and now a 1.3 oval...my eyes think 2+ carats is "big." My 1.3 oval looks very modest (not small, just conservative) to me. I have several friends who have over 2 carat center stones and my eyes are always drawn to those. Funny, though, anything larger I've seen I have always found it more of a curiosity than an attractive bauble. Not in a bad or judgmental way, I think my eyes just aren't used to seeing stones larger than 2 carats on a daily basis. No diamond or colored stone is too large for this girl's hand!

 

[m-2-b]

2+ ct! Also depends on the proportions of the finger to the diamond!