How Much is a 2 Carat Diamond?
Everything about a one carat diamond goes double for a two-carat diamond, right? Its double the weight, double the size, double the brilliance, and double the cost. That may be true, but it’s also true that there is no standard cost for a one carat diamond, and there’s no standard cost for a two-carat diamond either.
In terms of diamonds, an increase in size comes an increase in rarity, and with an increase in rarity comes an increase in price. Since it’s much easier to find a small stone than a two-carat stone in the raw, two-carat diamonds are more expensive than one-carat diamonds for their lack of availability alone. Cut, color, and clarity also impact the price. With so many variables, It can be difficult to pinpoint an all-inclusive cost.
However, if there is anything you can say for sure about the cost of a two-carat diamond, it’s a lab created one that will always be more affordable than a natural one. Let’s take a look at how the power of technology is making diamonds more accessible and less costly. In this article, we will discuss:
- Natural Two-Carat Diamonds
- Lab Created Two-Carat Diamonds
- The 4Cs of Diamond Quality
- Color of Two-Carat Diamonds
- Clarity of Two-Carat Diamonds
- Cut of Two-Carat Diamonds
- Side by Side Comparison of Lab Created and Natural Two-Carat Diamonds
Natural Two-Carat Diamonds
Natural diamonds do not come easily. It takes extremely rare conditions for them to form. They start out as carbon deposits deep in the earth’s mantle and are delivered to the earth’s surface through a series of volcanic activity. The formation of diamonds requires extreme pressure and high-temperature conditions.
The critical temperature for diamond formation cannot be found globally and the type of eruptions that bring them to the surface have never been seen by a human being. It’s difficult to find a small diamond, much less a two-carat one, and even if you do, the chance of them being high quality is nearly nil. With the extreme conditions they’re subjected to, the probability of finding a flawless, colorless diamond is close to impossible. That’s where lab created diamonds come in.
Lab Created Two-Carat Diamonds
Lab created diamonds are made in a lab, so there is no issue with rarity. Lab created diamonds are real diamonds made in a lab using cutting edge technology, in a highly controlled environment. There is no shortage of supply, and so the cost is significantly lower. In addition, the controlled environment allows for an even higher quality of diamond to be produced, which is why a two-carat lab created diamond can be priced so much lower than a natural one.
The 4Cs of Diamond Quality
The median price of a natural two-carat diamond is about $29,000. The highest can run about $60,000, while you can find the lowest for a cool $5,000. However, like with all things, you get what you pay for. The color, cut, and clarity all impact the price of a diamond. Here’s a look at how it works.
Color of Two-Carat Diamonds
If there’s one thing clear about diamonds, it’s that they’re usually not clear at all. Even though we tend to think of diamonds as colorless, the truth is that most diamonds show traces of yellow and brown. The more visible the coloring, the less sparkle the diamond exhibits as the absorption of light is impaired, and the less valuable the diamond becomes.
The GIA rates diamonds by color ranging from grades D-Z. D and E colors are the rarest and show virtually no color, the color in F rated diamonds can only be detected by a gemologist. Diamonds graded D-F are the most desirable and highest in price.
G, H, I, and J rated diamonds are the near colorless and exhibit color when face down. Diamonds in the K-M range show color face up. Anything rated N-Z is considered more of an acquired taste and not likely to be found on the commercial diamond market.
With new lab technologies, type IIa colorless diamonds can be easily produced. These diamonds fall in the D – F grading category. Because two-carat D grade diamonds can be created so efficiently in a lab, they can be sold at a lower price. Therefore, no matter the cost of a two-carat colorless diamond, the cost of a lab created two-carat diamond will be lower.
Clarity of Two-Carat Diamonds
Some people may be born, “flawless,” but not all diamonds are. As diamonds are from and are subjected to high-pressure conditions, flaws or inclusions tend to appear. Clarity refers to the degree to which these flaws can be detected. Diamonds without these inclusions are rare, and as we said before, rarity affects the value of the diamond.
The GIA Clarity Scale rates diamonds on an eleven-point system ranging from Flawless (FL) to I diamonds with obvious inclusions. Most diamonds fall into the VS1 (very slightly included) to SI (slightly included) range. Because flaws affect the play of light on the diamond, more heavily included diamonds display less brilliance. Generally, anything falling below an SI rating is considered undesirable.
If you’re searching far and wide for a flawless two-carat natural diamond, finding a flawless lab created diamond can save you a lot of time and money.
Cut of Two-Carat Diamonds
To teachers and students, excellent, very good, good, fair, and poor sound like grades on a report card, but gemologists and diamond buyers will know these words as the grades of cuts of a diamond.
Some say cut is the most important, “C,” of all. After all, a diamond is all about sparkle. Cut influences the way the diamond’s facets interact with light. A diamond’s proportions and symmetry determine the way a light passes through it. A diamond’s cut grade depends on how well it displays brilliance (the white light reflected from a diamond), fire (the way the diamond breaks down the light into colors, and the scintillation (the amount of sparkle a diamond produces).
Like the other, “Cs,” the cut of a diamond also affects the diamond’s price. Many believe that a well-cut diamond is worth the extra cost and that without fire and brilliance, even a two-carat diamond will, “pale,” in comparison.
Side by Side Comparison of Lab Created and Natural Two-Carat Diamonds
In order to give you a little preview of comparison shopping for a two-carat diamond, we put two contenders in the ring to see which one would deliver the knockout punch.
In the lab created corner, we have a Brilliant Earth Diamond weighing in at 2 carats. The cut is super ideal, the clarity is VS2, the color grade is E, the price is $10,770.
In the natural diamond corner, we have a Ritani Diamond weighing in at 2 carats. The cut is very good, the clarity is VS2, the color grade is F, the price is $20,478,
And the winner? The lab created diamond by a landslide. The grade of cut, clarity, and color are all higher, and the price is lower. You don’t need a referee to call this fight.
So now that you see how quickly the two-carat lab created diamond knocked out the lab created diamond in the ring, which do you think you would choose?