Diamond certificates are incredibly important in determining the exact characteristics of your diamond. You need to make sure that your diamond ring or diamond necklace lives up to all of your expectations - the certificate will give you the assurances that this is the case.

Yet they can be quite confusing so here is a quick guide to the anatomy of the certificate .

Date : Make sure that the date stated on the certificate is fairly recent – at least within the last three years. Should it be older than this then you need to determine whether the diamond has been changed in any way. The best way to do this is to compare the rock with the rest of the information given in the certificate.

Report Number : Make sure to keep a note of this just in case you misplace the original certificate.

Carat Weight : Documents the exact weight of your stone. This is rounded off to the nearest one hundredth of a carat.

Clarity and Colour: This highlights definitive information regarding the colour of your diamond and also it’s clarity value. These are essential pieces of information when it comes to the value of the stone.

Cut Grade : This was added to the certificate around two years ago and represents an assessment of how the diamond was cut. This is based on a multitude of factors including facet arrangement, girdle percentages and visual appeal. The cut grade ranges from excellent down to fair and is employed exclusively for round diamonds.

Shape/Cut : This documents the type of cut which has been used ie round brilliant cut

Measurements/Dimensions : Highlights the measurements of the diamond to one hundredth of a millimetre.

Proportions : These are commonly given in angles or percentages. An optimum level of dispersion and brilliance is acquired if the correct angles and percentages are in place

Percentage of total depth : This is a key area of the certificate. A stone with a total depth percentage of over 63% could result in the mass of the diamond being increased, yet this generates no real benefit to the piece in terms of its beauty and also it’s value. The reverse side of the coin is that a diamond with a particularly low depth percentage will seem of be larger than it really is and therefore, it could potentially be valued at more than it is actually worth.