What is the meaning of terms like Wesselton and Jager when you buy diamonds?

• Which terms are there?
• What do these terms mean?
• Which diamonds can I buy at BAUNAT?
• Which vocabulary is used with coloured diamonds?

When you take a look into diamonds or classic diamond jewellery, you will notice that there are various different colour gradations. These gradations, along with other factors, have a significant influence on the price of a diamond. But what do those terms you hear mean when you want to buy a diamond?

When you take a look into diamonds or classic diamond jewellery, you will notice that there are various different colour gradations. These gradations, along with other factors, have a significant influence on the price of a diamond. But what do those terms you hear mean when you want to buy a diamond?

Which terms are there?

Terms such as Wesselton are only used when people are talking about colourless or white diamonds. With coloured diamonds, people rather pay attention to the colour intensity. The general rule of thumb with colourless diamonds is ‘the whiter, the more valuable’.

Terms such as Wesselton only appear in older grading systems and are hardly used today. They have been replaced with a more accurate system using letter codes. This way, you are better informed on which diamonds you are buying.

What do these terms mean?

The old grading system was replaced by the GIA Colored Diamond Color Grading System that takes into account factors such as hue, tone and saturation. De colour of colourless diamonds is divided into 6 main categories: tinted colour, tinted white, lightly tinted white, white, fine white and finest white. These are further subdivided based on the colour intensity. Light Yellow, Very Light Yellow, Low Cape and Cape, in order from most tinted to least tinted, refer to the least coloured diamonds within the tinted colour category. These terms were replaced by the codes P-Z, O, N and M. Top Cape became tinted white with L and K as letter codes. Crystal and Top Crystal became J and I respectively and fall in the lightly tinted white category.

Starting from Wesselton, now H, you have a beautiful white diamond. With this colour grade, the slight colour tint is almost impossible to see with the naked eye if you do not have a whiter stone to compare it with. G and F are the new letter codes for Top Wesselton and River in the fine white category. D and E are the most colourless diamonds and have replaced the finest white terms River and Jager.

Which diamonds can I buy at BAUNAT?

BAUNAT standardly offers diamonds of the following quality: G-VS2-VG and H-SI1-VG. Both qualities ensure a beautiful white diamond without an obvious yellow tint and with only a few impurities, hardly visible to the naked eye. Moreover, all diamonds that BAUNAT has selected for you have an intense brilliance, as we only use diamonds that have a high score on their cut grade, a not to be underestimated quality parameter.

Of course, it is always possible to request and buy a higher quality diamond at BAUNAT.

Which vocabulary is used with coloured diamonds?

Not every client chooses a diamond with a white colour. Coloured diamonds, however, are rarer and therefore also more expensive. Red, green, purple and orange are the most uncommon colours, followed by the popular pink diamond. Because they are so unique and hard to find, these diamonds are graded using a different system. They are labelled ‘fancy’, followed by a description of their colour and colour intensity.

Which diamonds suit me? What do I pay attention to when I buy diamonds? Ask the diamond experts from BAUNAT for advice.

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