What is a good sized diamond for an engagement ring?
When it comes to diamonds quality is more important that quantity. It’s better to have a half carat colorless and flawless diamond than a 1 carat diamond that has obvious inclusions and is light yellow in color. When looking for a diamond you must go by the 4 C’s (Clarity, Color, Cut and Carat) clarity and color are the most important because they will determine how impressive, sparkly and overall beauty of the diamond. When looking at clarity you want something is F IF or VVS1. For color you want something that is in D-I on the colorless scale. When looking at carat size, bigger is not always better. If you work as a gas station attendant and you spend 20,000 dollars to get her that 5 carat diamond then you will look like a fool for spending so much money on a diamond when you should put it towards more important and practical things. Usually the average person looks for a center diamond to be between half and one carat. This of course depends on the female’s preferences AND the budge
If you want impressive, pretty much anything between 1-2 ct. is good looking. Over that, and there will be people asking if it’s real and assuming that it’s not. (Yes, it’s a rude question but it doesn’t stop people asking, and a lot of people do think it.) You can get away with a smaller diamond looking more impressive if you have little hands. Women with man-hands tend to make a large diamond look average-sized, where women with slender, small hands make an average diamond look really big. Your best bet is to try on rings and see what looks good on your finger – and make it so it impresses YOU – not other people – because you’re the one who will be looking at it every single day.
My friend is a jeweler and she says the average size sold is about .7. This is partly due to cost. Most jewelers have a huge increase in price at 1 carat except that 1 isn’t 1.0, but closer to .92. So they keep the majority of their diamonds between .5 and .92 b/c that’s the price range most of their customer’s want. They have a 1/10 diamond ring but to be honest you can’t even tell there is a stone in that ring. You might as well get her anything but a diamond. Mine in particular is 1.25. IMHO you need a bigger center stone if you are getting her a band with diamonds. You can have a smaller solitaire. An “impressive” size is 1.5-2. Beyond 2 it’s not impressive, it’s just gaudy. I would say an impressive diamond though isn’t the size. People usually compromise clarity and color for size. The larger it is the more easily it is to see those flaws. If someone comes in with a J in color stone with clarity of I…it doesn’t even look like a diamond and isn’t impressive at all. The clarity a
