The 7 Cs of Diamonds

You've probably heard of the 4 Cs of diamonds: cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. They were established by DeBeers in order to concisely communicate to consumers about the four aspects of a diamond that play into its appearance, relative rarity, and therefore--value.

Over time, jewelers on the front lines of providing diamond education to consumers have added a few more Cs to the list. At Alara, we think of there as being a total of 7 Cs. Our additions include: cost, certification, and conscience.

It's abundantly obvious why cost is of interest to consumers...there is simply no reason to ignore this attribute. Certification is something that results in a bit more cost, but doesn't affect how a diamond appears. Think of it as a third-party confirmation of a diamond's 4 Cs. And finally, conscience has to do with you, and your interest in diamonds from (or not from) certain locales on the globe or mined during certain times...or lab-grown versus natural.