Diamond Carat
The measurement for diamonds and other gemstones is metric carats – not be confused with the karats used to indicate gold purity.
A carat weighs 0.2 grams and one carat is divided into one hundred units called points. Within the trade, a stone weighing, say, 0.64 carats would be referred to as a '64 pointer'. The majority of diamonds used in fine jewellery weigh one carat or less. In the diamond industry, precision is critical as even a fraction of a carat can cause a significant difference in cost. Thus weight is often measured to the hundred thousandth of a carat, and rounded to a hundredth of a carat. Diamond weights greater than one carat are expressed in carats and decimals.
It’s possible that two stones of equal weight can have very different price tags, depending on the other members of the Four C’s: clarity, colour and cut. Bigger doesn't necessarily mean better, as a large diamond won’t be very valuable if it’s been badly cut or is a low-grade colour.
HOW DID “CARATs” come about?
The carat as standard unit of weight for diamonds and gemstones, takes its name from the carob seed. Carob seeds have a fairly uniform weight and early gem traders used them as counterweights in their balance scales. The modern metric carat was adopted internationally around 1913 and ensures that today a carat weighs exactly the same in every corner of the world.
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