Diamond Quality & Ethics
Diamond Quality
This is the universally accepted guide to diamond quality. Defined by four categories Cut, Colour, Clarity and Carat weight. Each is used to grade a diamond.
Cut – The cutting of a diamond sets alight its sparkle and fire. A well cut diamond will reflect the light exquisitely within its well proportioned facets. From the rough diamond to finished article over 50% can be cut away to obtain its brilliance. Diamonds are cut into variety of shapes.
Colour – Diamonds are generally assumed to be an icy white colour but they do exhibit hints of colour and are graded by the GIA official scale D–Z (applies only to white diamonds). D being the rarest, most highly sought after and hence the most expensive. Descending the scale each letter denotes a fractional change, they begin to show hints of yellow, brown, or grey making the diamond appear murky. (Wondering what happened to A,B,C? They left them free in case they ever found a whiter diamond!).
Clarity – All diamonds are natural, each and every one is unique. Formed hundreds of millions of years ago in the Earth’s crust some mineral elements or tiny fractures in the crystal can become trapped inside for eternity – a diamond’s birthmark, technically known as an inclusion. These are graded from the very rare flawless diamonds (fl) with no inclusions to diamonds with inclusions visible to the naked eye looking like black dots, feathers, or clouds.
Carat – Simply the size of the diamond by weight, 1 carat = 200 milligrams. One carat can also be divided into 100 "points", a 0.75 carat diamond is the same as a 75 points or a ¾ carat diamond.
Diamond Ethics
Simon Pure’s philosophy has always been to provide an ethically superior product by being highly selective in our choice of suppliers for diamonds, coloured gemstones and metals. Our suppliers have been on board with the Kimberley Process since it began and guarantee that the diamonds we purchase are from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations resolutions. We therefore guarantee that all our diamonds are conflict free and that they are natural, high quality stones from reliable sources, produced under strict ethical and environmental standards.
In fact at Simon Pure we go further than just the diamonds. Historically, all gemstones have always been at the centre of conflict, in one way or another, so we feel that the same ethics should be applied. At Simon Pure we hand select all our gemstones from around the world, we personally know all our suppliers, some of whom actually own the mines in which the gemstones originate. This not only allows us to be ethically confident about our products but allows us the benefit of creative input to choose and commission unusual and unique gemstones.