Derco Unique™ Diamonds Collection
About our Diamonds
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Diamonds--one of nature’s most precious and beautiful creations—have fascinated mankind for centuries. Their enduring value and beauty make them the ideal jewel to mark life’s most important moments: an engagement, the birth of a child or an anniversary, to name only a few. We at Derco Fine Jewelry want to assist you in learning as much as you can about the unique qualities of these precious stones, so that you can select a stone that meets your highest expectations. The beauty and value of diamonds are determined by four parameters: Cut, Color, Clarity and Carat weight. The 4 C’s as they are better known. Here are a few guidelines: |
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Cut
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The brilliance, fire and scintillation of a diamond is primarily determined by its cut, making it perhaps the most important, though most difficult, element of a diamond to evaluate. If a stone is cut too deep or too shallow, light will not be refracted back through the surface of the diamond, and the stone will lack luster. Properly proportioned stones will maximize a stone’s brilliance. At Derco, we sell Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and American Gemologist Society (AGS) certified stones that give a full description of a stone's proportions, symmetry and polish. We also have a large selection of “Ideal” cut stones, which are cut to the most optimum proportions that maximize a stone’s beauty. |
Color
| A diamond’s value increases dramatically with each grade of colorlessness. Although most diamonds may appear white or colorless to the untrained eye, the majority have slight traces of yellow, brown or gray. The  GIA and AGS certificates that accompany each Derco diamond rate the stone’s color on a scale from D (colorless) to Z (light yellow).On the other end of the color spectrum, very rare diamonds can also be pink, deep yellow, blue, green and red. These fancy colored stones are beautiful, unique gemstones. |
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Clarity
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The clarity of a diamond refers to the presence, size and location of mineral inclusions within the stone. Inclusions can be carbon pin-points, feathery white crystals or other blemishes. The fewer inclusions a diamond has, the more valuable it is. The clarity of a stone is rated on a scale ranging from Flawless to I3 (heavily included). Stones with a rating of VS2 or higher contain inclusions that are only visible with magnification. Stones with a rating of SI1 will have inclusions that are visible to the trained naked eye but that are often not visible to the untrained eye. |
Carat
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A carat is the standard measure of a diamond’s weight. There are 100 points in one carat, so a 1.5 carat diamond can also be described as a stone of 150 points. Size alone does not determine the value of a diamond because the color, clarity and cut of the stone are so important. For this reason high-quality smaller stones can be more valuable than lesser quality larger stones. However, in comparing stones of similar quality, the larger a stone, the rarer it is, and the more value it has. |
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