The carat is one of the four most important quality characteristics – the so-called Four Cs – that are used to determine the price of diamonds.
It is a unit of measurement for the weight of diamonds and other gemstones, with one carat being equal to 0.2 grams. As an alternative to specifying the weight in carats, very small diamonds are also usually specified in points. For this purpose, one carat is divided into 100 points; a half-carat therefore has a weight of 50 points.
The relationship between carat and price
The heavier a diamond , the more expensive it is. However, it is important to note that the price does not increase in direct proportion to the weight in carats. Large diamonds are extremely rare and therefore a two-carat diamond costs more than twice as much as a one-carat diamond.
There are also large price jumps for certain sizes. For example, there is only a small price increase between a 0.90 carat and a 0.95 carat, but there is a significant increase between a 0.95 carat and a one carat. The situation is similar for gemstones of two carats, three carats, etc.
The Karat and its Tradition
The origins of the word carat lie in Greek - there the term kerátion (English: horn) was used for the horn-shaped fruits of the carob tree. The seeds of these legumes were used as a unit of weight due to their almost uniform weight of 0.2 grams. The word carat eventually came into German usage via the Latin carratus and the French le carat .
The metric carat
In the Middle Ages, it was still common to define a carat in relation to grains. However, in 1875, the metric carat was finally introduced, which was set at a weight of exactly 0.2 grams.
In Germany, the abbreviation for carat is kt, while in Austria and Switzerland it is ct.
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