How much is the carat?

1 carat equals 0.2 grams. Each carat can be divided into one hundred points. 1 carat = 100 points. Therefore, half a carat means fifty points, and we write it in short as 0.50 ct. Why is weight so important to us? Well, since big diamonds are much rarer than small diamonds, the price increases with each weight group. For example, you could buy a single 1-carat polished diamond, and pay the same amount of money you would pay for 6 diamonds weighing half a carat each (0.50 ct).

Why is weight so important to us?

It's a little boring, but statistically, from every 100 carats of rough diamonds: - 64 carats will produce stones in weighs ranging from 0.12 to 0.40 carat in rough. - About 29 carats will produce stones in weighs ranging from 0.40 to 2.00 carat in rough. - Only 7 carats will generate diamonds bigger than 2 carats in rough. - Keep in mind that only 15% of those diamonds will be in good enough quality to be set in jewelry. Besides, when cutting and polishing a rough diamond, you lose about 50% to 70% of the original rough. Moreover, to find 100 carats of diamonds, 6000 tons of soil must be mined, crushed, and be transported to the factory to be sorted. That's an extremely complicated and expensive process. After explaining all that now, I'm sure now you have a better understanding of why diamonds are so expensive. And the bigger they are, the rarer they are and cost even more. See the diamonds' weight groups:

Why CARAT?

The word carat derives from the Greek word "Ceration" which is the seed of the carob tree ("Haruv" in Hebrew or "Kharrūb" in Arabic). As a common tree in the Mediterranean and the Middle East regions, the Carob seeds (weighing 0.2 gram each) were uses as weighs while trading small merchandise. You might hear another weight unit about diamonds - Grainers. This term originates from the ancient Far East, where diamonds were weighed by grains of rice. 1 Grainer = 0.25 carat It means that 4 grainers equal to 1 carat. Nowadays, we don't use this unit buying polished diamonds. This unit is used in the diamonds trade about small rough diamonds.