Spada Jewellers · Melbourne
The Diamond & Gold Guide
Plain answers to the questions that matter before you buy. No upselling — just the information you need to make a confident decision.
Not all gold
is equal.
14K is the sweet spot — pure enough to wear every day, durable enough to last a lifetime with proper care.
Gold purity isn't
a small detail.
Skin compatibility. Lower carat gold contains a higher proportion of alloy metals. On sensitive skin that means a greater chance of irritation or reaction. Higher purity gold is gentler to wear long-term.
Longevity. 14K and 18K gold strike the right balance between purity and structural strength. They hold their polish longer and resist everyday wear better than either extreme.
Value. The purity of the gold you pay for should be reflected in the price you're quoted. At Spada, all metal specifications are disclosed upfront — no surprises after the sale.
Cut is the one grade
you can actually see.
All stones in the Spada catalogue are cut to Excellent grade. It's the only cut that returns light the way the stone was designed to.
Brilliance comes from
cut — not carat weight.
Light performance. A well-cut stone reflects light back through the top face — that's what creates the brilliance you see. A poorly cut stone leaks light through the sides and looks dull regardless of its other grades.
Apparent size. Cut affects how large a stone appears to the eye. A 1.00ct Excellent cut stone can look significantly larger than a 1.10ct Good cut stone because the proportions spread light more effectively across the face.
Resale consistency. Excellent cut is the internationally recognised benchmark. It's the grade buyers, appraisers and insurers understand — and expect — when they assess a stone's quality.
Same diamond.
Different origin.
Lab-grown diamonds are physically, chemically and optically identical to mined diamonds. The difference is price — and where it comes from.
The stone is the same.
The saving is real.
Identical by every measure. A gemologist cannot distinguish a lab-grown diamond from a mined diamond without specialist equipment. Same hardness, same refractive index, same crystal structure — because it is the same material.
IGI certified the same way. Every lab-grown diamond Spada supplies is graded and certified by the International Gemological Institute using the same criteria applied to mined stones — colour, clarity, cut, and carat are independently verified.
The price difference is substantial. Lab-grown diamonds typically cost a fraction of their mined equivalent at the same grade. For trade buyers, that means more stone for your budget — and a stronger margin for your business.
Clarity grades:
what's actually visible.
Anything VS or above is eye-clean to any buyer. The difference above VS is measurable only under magnification — pay for what you and your customers can actually see.
Carat is weight —
not the size you see.
Carat measures mass, not diameter. A 5ct round brilliant is roughly 1.7× wider than a 1ct stone — not 5× wider. The face-up size you actually see grows far more slowly than the weight, which is why cut and proportions matter so much more than carat alone.
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All measurements are approximate face-up diameters for round brilliant cut diamonds at ideal proportions.
Questions? We answer them
directly.
Contact our team or apply for a trade account to access wholesale pricing and our full stone catalogue.