While the concept of the 4 C’s for diamonds was provided by GIA in 1953, and is a great industry standard today, there are additional factors to consider when pricing a diamond or other gemstone.

For example, the enhancement or treatment of a diamond (and gemstones) must be included as a price factor because it can have a significant impact on the price. Diamond treatments such as fracture filling and high heat + high pressure treatment did not exist prior to the 1980’s, but are common today. As are synthetic lab-grown (man-made) diamonds and look-a-likes, both have much less value than natural earth mined diamonds.

Transparency is also another price factor. Transparency is describes how clear, hazy, cloudy or opaque a gemstone is. It’s a separate factor from clarity. Hardly ever mentioned by retail jewelers, transparency has always been a value factor for colored gemstones, and it can be just as important as color in today’s diamonds.  Non-transparent diamonds are becoming more common in today’s color diamond market.

Salespeople like a quick easy way of presenting gemstone pricing to their customers, so they use the 4 C’s.

The Jewelry Judge does not sell or buy gemstones or jewelry.

I provide you information on how gemstones are valued during your appraisal process. To do that, I am committed to providing you with complete, accurate, up-to-date information, in order to answer the question: What’s Your Jewelry Worth?

That all being said:

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