As you search for your perfect diamond, you'll need some information to help you decide which one to buy.

Cut, Color, Clarity, and Carat are the "Four C's" which determine the quality and cost of your diamond.  So, here's what you need to know about them.

Cut

Cuts are given grades of VG (Very Good), G (Good), M (Medium), or P (Poor).

You may already have in mind a certain shape for your diamond.

The cut of a diamond is not the same as the "shape" of the diamond.  The diamond cutter evaluates each diamond and determines which shape will be the best.  The diamond is then cut into the ideal shape.  Round brilliant is the most popular and most costly shape.  The others, called fancy shapes, include oval, marquise, pear, oval and emerald.
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Tara Reid was recently seen lunching in Miami with a huge pink diamond engagement ring on her finger.

She's been dating German internet entrepreneur and billionaire Michael Axtmann for some time.

Apparently the pink diamond is not an engagement ring, but instead a very generous birthday gift.

Considering how valuable and rare pink diamonds are, it will be interesting to see the ring he gives her if they do eventually get engaged.

To learn more about fancy colored diamonds, check out our article on pink diamond rings.

Fancy Diamonds

What Are Fancy Diamonds

Fancy diamonds are colored diamonds. These are the rarest of diamonds.  To put it in perspective, as a general rule, 250 tons of material yield one 1 carat diamond.  There are 10,000 white diamonds for every colored diamond!

The grading scale for regular diamonds goes from "D" colorless to "Z" light yellow.  All other diamonds are called "fancy colored diamonds" and come under a different grading system.

The grading system for fancy colored diamonds is still based on the 4 c's of cut, clarity, carat, and color.  But, where the color scale for white diamonds is based on the absence of color, fancy diamonds are graded on a range of 27 hues and then graded.  The 9 color grades are Faint, Very Light, Light, Fancy Light, Fancy, Fancy Intense, Fancy Vivid, Fancy Deep and Fancy Dark.  The darkest hues command the highest prices.  To date, there have been over 300 distinct colors identified.  Check our pages for descriptions of the most common colors.

Fancy diamonds are 20 to 25 times the price of white diamonds.   Even though these elegant diamonds are priced higher than white diamonds, with the research provided on this site, you will be able to choose an elegant fancy diamond engagement ring.

The Four C's (Enhanced for Fancy Colored Diamonds)

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In our last article, The Tacori Dantela Collection, we discovered the "lace" collection and watched the "Checkmate" video featuring rings from the Dantela collection.

In this article, we'll discover Tacori's Hand Engraved Collection, which are magnificent in their intricate detail.

What makes these engagement rings stand apart is the hand engraving performed on each ring. Each ring is etched with either a scroll or wheat pattern. The wheat pattern is just that - a pattern that looks like wheat. The scroll pattern looks a bit like waves.

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In our last article, The Simply Tacori Collection, we learned about one of the Tacori collections.

In this article, we'll learn more about Tacori's Dantela Collection.

The Dantela Collection literally translates to the "Lace" collection and these rings are designed with the look of lace which cause the center diamond to look as if it is blooming.

Tacori's Checkmate video which you can watch below features the Dantela collection:

The Dantela collection was also featured on the cover of the Summer 2009 edition of Inside Weddings.

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