Carat weight
“How many carats?” is often the first question you are asked about a beautiful new diamond. The term ‘Carat’ is the most common term for describing the size of a stone, whether a natural or man made diamond. One metric carat weighs 200mg – one fith of a gram.
Carats are also used to describe the weight of other gem stones. A point to look out for is that two different types of stone with the same carat weight might be a different size. This is because some stones are denser than others, and so an equal weight has a smaller volume.
Most gemstones increase in cost exponentially as they increase in size – for example, a 1 carat diamond will be worth much more than twice as much as a 0.5 carat diamond.
For stones of less than one carat, the size of the stone is often given in ‘points’, which is simply the size of the stone shown as a percentage of one full carat. For example an .50 carat stone is equal to half a carat.
Although larger stones are worth more, size is not the most important attribute when choosing a diamond. Many feel that a better quality stone is preferable to a larger, poorer quality one.