If you've been wondering how diamonds are valued exactly, you may be surprised to learn that it's fairly simple. Rough diamonds, freshly plucked from the “wild” have a good value, but don't sell for high prices on the common market.

What diamond lovers seek is the sleek cut of the stone; something that can be displayed or set in jewelry. Because of this, the value of a diamond runs concurrent with how it is cut. Other factors of a diamond's value also include things such as clarity, color, and carat. But the cut of the diamond is ultimately its best selling feature.

All diamonds are separated and graded based on their four separate characteristics. This is done at a heavily guarded center, such as the DTC. The clearer a diamond is the more value it has. If you notice, all of the diamonds you see on television and in magazines are absolutely transparent and colorless for the most part. But that's for aesthetic purposes more than anything.

Most jewelers often rate the “cut” of a stone as the most important feature, and thus determine a diamond's value from how it's cut. It takes a highly trained eye to spot the subtleness of a jewel's cut. The cut will determine the brilliance of the stone, and the amount of light refraction.

The cut is the only part of the gem that is solely dependant on manpower. Diamond cutting has been traced back to the middle ages, when people of the time first took it upon themselves to improve on nature's design. They would polish the crystal faces of the jewel, which is now called a point cut, and thus increase the jewel's value.

The round brilliant cut, which is considered the standard today, was not perfected until 1919. The round brilliant has 58 facets, all of which must be in perfect alignment. Modern jewelry saws and various lathes were developed to assist the cutter, and the technology has continued to advance. There are many other shapes used for diamond cutting, but none of the early cuts could reveal what a diamond is prized for today, its strong dispersion or “fire.”

There are a few different cuts, including the shallow cut, ideal cut, and the deep cut. And the principal diamond shapes are the round brilliant, marquise, oval, pear, heart, emerald, and princess. The cutting process, topped off by the final polishing, is what reveals the true beauty and value of any particular diamond.

In fact, the most vital aspect of a diamond is indeed its particular cut. The beauty of a diamond when light is reflected off of it is dependant upon the cut, therefore, the more delicate and precise the cut is, the more the diamond will sparkle. A good looking gem will sell for more than a not so good looking gem, and that's the basic principle behind the diamond pricing in comparison with the cut.

The round brilliant is the industry standard, and what most people have in their rings, watches, necklaces, and bracelets. The marquise runs a close second.