Cuts, color and clarity

If these three are not understood properly, everything else is noise.
Most buyers overpay because they misread one of them.

Colour

The primary driver of value.

Judge:

  • Hue — what colour it actually is
  • Tone — light to dark
  • Saturation — intensity, not brightness

What matters:

  • holds in normal light
  • not too dark, pale, grey, or brown
  • even distribution
  • visible life, not flat

If colour is weak, the stone is weak.

Clarity

Always relative to the material.

  • Some stones tolerate inclusions (e.g. emerald)
  • Some are expected to be cleaner (e.g. spinel, aquamarine)

Focus on:

  • visibility to the eye
  • type and placement
  • impact on durability
  • impact on appearance

“Clean” is not the goal.
Appropriate is.

Cut

Not shape — performance.

Look for:

  • no obvious windowing
  • minimal extinction
  • good face-up size
  • balanced symmetry
  • usable proportions

A bad cut kills colour and value.

Colour draws the eye. Cut reveals it. Clarity supports it

If one fails, the stone underperforms.