Sunday, September 6, 2009

Carat Weight

The weight of a diamond is expressed in carats. This term comes from ancient times when gems were weighed against the carob bean. One carat is equal to 200 milligrams, or one fifth of a gram.

Carat weight is sometimes expressed in points. One point equals 1/100th of a carat, so 25 points is equal to a quarter of carat and 50 points is equal to half of a carat. Grains of rice were also used. 4 grains of rice were equal to a carob bean. That’s why people sometimes call a quarter carat diamond a one grainer.

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