What is Crystal Clarity?

Clarity is the state of being clear or transparent. Crystal clarity is the presence or absence of characteristics called inclusions in the Crystal.

When grading the clarity of a Crystal, the lab determines the relative visibility of the inclusions in a Crystal and their impact on the overall visual appearance.

So, what are these inclusions that affect clarity? In short, inclusions are the internal or external flaws of the Crystal. The size and severity of these flaws determines the grade.

If you want to know more about inclusions, we go a bit further into detail in our Crystal Inclusions section.

Crystal Grading

Generally speaking, crystal grades can be divided into C grade, B grade, AB grade, A grade, 2A grade, and 3A grade. The higher the grade, the better the quality and value of the crystal. The classification criteria of grades include cotton wool ice cracking, crystal permeability, crystal impurity ore shortage, the amount of ore in the crystal, the color arrangement of ore, etc., the following table will illustrate the difference between C grade and 3A grade crystals according to these standards:

gradeCotton wool ice crackedCrystal transparencyLack of crystal impuritiesHow much ore is in the crystalThe fineness of the ore is arranged
Class Cmanylowmanyfewdifference
Class Bfewmiddlemiddlemiddleordinary
Class ABlesshighfewmanyGood
Grade Aleasthighestleastmostbest
Level 2AnotPerfectnotnotPerfect
Class 3AnotPerfectnotnotPerfect

The Clarity Scale

The clarity scale originated because jewelers were using terms that were unstandardized and could be easily misinterpreted. Descriptive terms such as “eye clean,” or “included” were vague and didn’t communicate the clarity of the diamond effectively.

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