Diamonds Over $5,000

Above five thousand dollars you are no longer choosing a category, you are choosing a particular stone — and the reports start to matter in a different way. In this range we would rather you read the proportions than the summary grade.

Three numbers do most of the work on a round brilliant: table percentage, depth percentage, and crown angle. Two stones can both be graded Excellent and still perform differently, because Excellent is a band rather than a point. A table in the mid fifties with a depth around sixty-one and a crown angle near thirty-five degrees is the classic combination, and at this budget you can simply insist on it.

Fluorescence is worth understanding rather than avoiding. Strong blue fluorescence carries a real discount, and in the majority of stones it has no visible effect at all — occasionally it even helps a warmer stone face up whiter. In a small minority it causes a milky haze. The 360° video tells you which one you are looking at, which is why we put one on every stone.

Large stones also need the setting to be right. Every diamond here can be set in any mount in the range.