Diamond Carats
In 1939 the DeBeers company introduced the concepts of cut, carat, color and clarity as measures of a diamond's quality.
The carat is a unit of mass used for gems, most commonly diamonds. The word derives from the Arabic kirat. In the past, different countries each had their own carat. However, in 1907 the metric carat of 200 milligrams was adopted, which is now universally used today.
The carat (spelt karat in the U.S., to distinguish it from the unit of mass above) is also a measure of the purity of precious metals such as gold. One carat in this sense is one-twenty-fourth purity. Therefore 24 carat gold is pure gold, 12 carat gold is 50% purity, etc.
Carat is often confused with size but it is actually a measure of weight. The way that a diamond is cut can make it look larger or smaller, without affecting its carat weight. Diamonds with high carats often appear more brilliant than lower carat diamonds because of the prism effect of light passing through the higher mass carat diamond.
A diamond's carat weight is only one factor in determining its value. For example, clarity and cut being equal, a 1 carat diamond will cost much more than a 1/2 carat diamond because larger diamonds are much rarer in nature. In other words, all other things being equal, one should not assume that the value of a 1 carat diamond will be exactly twice the value of a half-carat diamond.
See also: cut, carat, color and clarity
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