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A carat is the universal measure of weight for a diamond. It's the easiest of the 4Cs to determine, but two diamonds of equal size can have very different values, because the quality is still determined by the color, clarity and cut.
The carat is a unit of weight which derives from the carob seed. The pods of the carob, or locust tree, contain tiny seeds which are remarkably consistent in weight. These seeds were used by early gem traders to weigh their diamonds. A 1 carat diamond used to equal the weight of a carob seed. In today's terms the carat is a standard metric weight of 0.2 grams of 1/142 of a standard ounce. Each carat is divided into 100 points. So, for example, a quarter of a carat is 25 points, writter as 0.25; a half a carat is 50 points, written as 0.50, and so on. It is easy to weigh an unmounted diamond, but once it is in a setting, it is only possible to estimate its weight by using special gauges and formulae. Larger diamonds are found relatively infrequently in nature, which increases their value. For example, fewer than one percent of women will ever own a diamond weighing one or more carats.
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