Confused, please clarify

[rosy]

Hi,
I''m a bit confused. I have often read here on Pricescope that an ideal cut diamond will look larger than a diamond with the same weight that is a lesser cut. Does this mean that the diamond IS larger physically as measured in millimeters? or does it just LOOK larger due to it''s increased brilliance?

Thanks!

 

[phoenixgirl]

Its spread, or diameter, is larger. Diamonds are measured by weight, but they could be hiding weight in a super thick girdle or a very deeply cut diamond. An ideal cut diamond doesn't cut corners and make a one carat that's really deep and only 6.0mm across. An ideal cut one carat comes from a larger original rough and will be about 6.5mm across. So you might as well buy an ideal 0.87 instead of a deep 1.00 carat; they'll have the same diameter across (and thus look the same size), but the 0.87 will sparkle more.

 

[laney]

Yeah, that can be confusing.

As said above carat = weight --- not size/shape.

A one carat diamond could be as round as say, an eraser on a pencil. A 1.5 carat could be the same diameter around - but deeper ... if that makes any sense.

1 carat is 1 carat... but people look for the millimeters or diameters to be as "large" as possible.. as most people view the top of the diamonds in daily wear.

 

[Hest88]

Either or. It *could* look larger due a better cut. However, you can also get a shallow stone that''s spreadier than an ideal cut stone, so it will be larger in diameter but will suffer in light return.

However, when we usually talk about it is in terms of a better cut returning more light to the eye, thus making it look larger.