4 Carat Diamond Ring Buying Guide | How Big and How Much is 4-Carats?

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November 6

There must be something wrong with me because I have 4 carat diamonds on the mind. As a matter of fact, just the other day I was walking along the river with my girlfriend. At one point she says something about “Big Rocks” and my mind immediately goes to diamonds. To be more specific, my thoughts went straight to this 8.108 carat, J-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond.

As a matter of fact, the diamond was in production (it’s available for purchase now). I wish that I could make this sort of stuff up, but sadly it’s true. My girlfriend is sitting there mesmerized by the structure of the boulders and even the smallest of rocks that are haphazardly arranged along the river’s edge.

And yet, I’m staring at the water, thinking about alluvial mining deposits and how amazing it is that there are diamonds to be found just below the surface of the water in remote areas of the world. Speaking of remote areas of the world and beautiful things, the image featured above of an aurora borealis that appeared over the Jokulsarlon Lagoon in Iceland.

Brian Gavin Unveils 8th Wonder of the World:

Eight Carats! Unlike most people, I don’t just think about diamonds in their polished form. As a matter of fact, when Brian told me about this 8.108 carat, J-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond, my first thought wasn’t “Wow. How big is that?” nor did I spend even one-tenth of a second pondering the diameter of the diamond (12.895 mm, average diameter for my engineer friends) but rather “Wow! The piece of diamond rough that diamond is cut from must have been h-u-g-e!” and in fact it was, well in excess of twenty carats.

brian-gavin-we-do-big-rocks

How’s that for the Understatement of the Year? “Brian Gavin, We Do Big Rocks!”

How about “We Do Big Rocks!” (larger than 4 carats). At the same time, we cut them to a degree of optical precision that is off the charts. Let alone in diamonds larger than two-carats, four carats, eight carats, and larger. Yea, it’s probably a bit too long for a marketing slogan, but seriously I think this would be more appropriate:

“And in this corner, weighing in at 8.108 C-A-R-A-T-S !!!”

8 carat, hearts and arrows diamond from Brian Gavin, AGSL 104082870001Do you have any idea how rare it is to find ideal cut diamonds weighing more than two carats? Especially diamonds that exhibit a crisp and complete pattern of hearts and arrows? And yet, the hearts pattern exhibited by this 8.108 carat, J-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond is top-notch! This diamond is a Slam Dunk for the Engagement Ring Hall of Fame.

When you “Get in the ring” with a contender like this, there can be only one clear winner! And with Brian Gavin in your corner, nobody will be surprised when it’s you! She’s going to say “!!! YES !!!” right?

Regardless of what size diamond you present her with from the Brian Gavin Signature Collection, she’s going to say yes! I’m like 99.9% certain of it. Don’t ask me about the other 0.01% it has nothing to do with the diamond, and I’ve only got time to talk about the diamond today 😉

As with all Brian Gavin Signature round diamonds, this diamond has an overall cut grade of AGS Ideal-0 as determined on the Light Performance grading standard of the American Gem Society Laboratory (AGSL).

The higher degree of optical precision required to produce the crisp and complete pattern of hearts and arrows pictured above actually exceeds the cut grade requirements for the AGS Ideal-0 cut grade and is not something that is taken into account by gemological laboratories when they grade diamonds.

Check Out This ASET Scope Image:

8 carat diamond, Brian Gavin Signature, AGSL 104082870001 ASETAs you can see by the picture to the left, this 8.108 carat, J-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond looks exceptional when viewed through an ASET Scope. All of that red is an indication that the diamond is going to be nice and bright!

The color red in an ASET Scope image represents the brightest light source available to the diamond from within the room, being picked up by the diamond and reflecting off of the facets back at you.

Learn more about what the different colors of an ASET image mean and whether that green spot in the middle of the table facet is something you need to worry about or not (you don’t). This degree of optical perfection, combined with the proportions of the diamond, are going to deliver the highest light return, with a virtual balance of brilliance (white sparkle) and dispersion (colored sparkle) in the form of broad-spectrum sparkle.

By the way, that is larger in size, and bolder, brighter and more vivid than what standard ideal cut diamonds are capable of producing. Diamonds cut this precisely are exceptionally rare, constituting about 0.01% of the average annual production of round brilliant cut diamonds, weighing more than 2 carats makes it more so.

Phenomenal 5 carat, Brian Gavin Signature diamond:

If eight carats just seems like “a bit much” then you might want to get things rolling with this 5.388 carat, J-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature “starter stone” which is will enable you to get things rolling and ease your way into wearing a diamond of larger carat weight. I can see the email raving about this statement:

“Starter Stone? Five-carat starter stone?!?!” Bah! You have to realize that after spending the past 30 years as a diamond buyer for the trade, I’ve seen some pretty big rocks! Heck, a diamond cutter who shall remain anonymous for the purpose of this discussion, shuffled up to my late wife Robin at the JCK Trade Show in Las Vegas one year, and dropped a twenty-carat pear shape diamond into the palm of her hand, muttering little more than “I give you this. You marry me!”

Wildly oblivious to the fact that I was standing right there beside her. Picture this. Short, fat, Jewish diamond cutter. Tall, Southern California blonde, kind of a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Mae West. A twenty-carat pear-shaped diamond bouncing up and down in the air between them, while I can only imagine that she’s weighing out her options… literally.

She gets this quizzical look on her face, and then says to him “I’m already married to him (thumbing in my direction) so he’s got to be part of the deal.” This guy doesn’t skip a beat… He leans back to look me up and down, says “Not bad. I’ll think about it” extends his hand out for the stone, which she begrudgingly relinquishes, and shuffles off… I feel like such a piece of meat.

“Oh, the degradation!” But needless to say that Robin was suffering from a Case of Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome. After all, the five-carat pear shape that was sitting on her index finger was little more than a starter stone. Clearly, Robin was desperately in need of an upgrade. We’re not talking about our marriage, don’t go there. Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome is a Global Pandemic.

Fantastic 4.61 carat, Brian Gavin Signature diamond:

This 4.610 carat, G-color, VS-1 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round hearts and arrows diamond is another fantastic starter stone! “It’s totally fun-sized!” and is guaranteed to delay the onset of Diamond Shrinkage Syndrome for at least six months. Hey, you have no idea how aggressive this disease has become!

As a seasoned diamond buyer, I have first-hand insight into the terrors of this debilitating disease… It strikes at the hearts of women, infecting them when they are very, very young. More or less forcing them to shove quarters into vending machines that spit out plastic renditions of diamond engagement rings, one after the other, relentlessly pursuing the ring with the largest rock glued to the top of it.

Beyond the Scope of Hearts and Arrows:

Brian Gavin Signature 4 carat diamond, AGSL 104063508001Say what you want about four-carat diamonds, but this one’s got heart! Eight hearts to be more precise! And each of them appears to be formed as perfectly as the next! Don’t get all caught up in the symmetry of the arrowheads located at the base of the hearts. After all, that is not the “arrows” pattern referred to in the “Hearts and Arrows” designation. With that in mind, those little arrowheads are never going to look perfectly uniform.

The arrows pattern is visible in the top half of the diamond and is clearly visible in the video and static clarity photograph provided on the diamond details page. What we’re talking about right now is the “hearts pattern” which is phenomenal and incredibly difficult to produce.

For more insight on this, read the article “Creation of hearts patterns in round brilliant cut diamonds” which also features tips on grading hearts and arrows patterns. Needless to say that as a result of the ideal proportions and higher degree of optical precision, this 4 carat diamond from Brian Gavin is going to take her breath away! And it will continue to do so, every time she looks at it, maybe she’ll even forget about the fact that it’s only 4.61 carats and you won’t have to upgrade for a while.

The Incredible Personality of Little Boy Blue:

Medium blue fluorescence, 4 carat, H-color diamond, Brian Gavin, AGSL 104065989001I’ve always loved blue fluorescent diamonds, and find myself awestruck by this 4.090 carat, H-color, VS-2 clarity, Brian Gavin Signature round diamond which exhibits medium blue fluorescence. Diamonds in the D-color to Z-color range tend to look perfectly normal when viewed in normal lighting situations, like those that the majority of us live and work under, but emit this beautiful neon-blue color when exposed to black light.

In order to achieve the intensity of color that is visible in this photograph, Brian Gavin had to photograph the diamond in a completely dark room. At the same time, he was exposing the diamond to black light. No other light source can be present when photographing blue fluorescent diamonds if you want to achieve this kind of intensity and saturation of color.

It is absolutely incredible, right? And medium to strong blue fluorescence is seen by many, including myself, as being a positive trait, which is likely to improve our perception of diamond color, by serving to filter out yellow undertones that might be present in the diamond. It should be noted that this only occurs when the diamond is exposed to direct sunlight, and other light sources containing high amounts of UV light.

Activating the Blue Fluorescent Molecules:

When the ultra-violet light excites the blue fluorescent molecules, they actively filter out some of the yellow undertones which can be present in diamonds of all color grades. There is a lot of fuss and misinformation about the negative effects that blue fluorescence can have upon the visual performance of a diamond.

Most of that information is inaccurate and an extreme over-reaction to “the potential effects” that blue fluorescence “might” have upon a diamond by making it appear to look “over blue” but this is a factor in fewer then 2% of gem-quality diamonds, according to a study conducted by the Gemological Institute of America.

In my 30 years of professional diamond buying experience, the presence of medium to strong blue fluorescence is only going to have a positive influence upon the appearance of a diamond, it is likely to make the diamond face-up whiter and be truer to the color grade assigned. Medium to strong blue fluorescence is not likely to make a diamond look cloudy, milky, or oily, but rather is going to make it look crisper and whiter…

It is a minute possibility in the realm of very strong to distinct blue fluorescence, but as stated previously, even then it is a negative factor in fewer than 2% of gem-quality diamonds. But all of this is a moot point when talking about Brian Gavin Signature Blue Diamonds, because Brian personally evaluates every diamond selected for inventory, to ensure that it only looks incredible.

Speaking of Incredible. If you truly want the diamond that you purchase online to be spectacular, then I encourage you to take advantage of my free Diamond Concierge Service. It works like this… Click the link and give me an idea of the diamond you are looking for, things like the shape, carat weight, range of clarity and color, whether you’re interested in options that exhibit blue fluorescence or not, and the price range you are working with. Upon receipt of your submission, I will conduct a search and provide you with a list of the best options available within the scope of my selection criteria.

About the Author

Dive deep into the glittering world of diamonds with Todd Gray, the CEO of Gray Matter Development, LLC. Todd has 35+ years of experience as a diamond buyer and trade consultant. He ghostwrites content for several online vendors and is an avid Freediver, currently exploring the Cenotes of Yucatan, Mexico. Dive into brilliance with Todd Gray!