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In all diamonds, except the most rare, tiny traces of minerals, gasses or other elements were trapped inside during crystallization. These inclusions are like birthmarks. They may look like tiny crystals, clouds or feathers and they're what make each diamond unique.
Many of these birthmarks are not visible to the naked eye. Diamond clarity is graded by how many, how big and how visible the inclusions are. The fewer and smaller they are, the more rare and valuable the diamond. Fewer than 1% of all diamonds ever found have had no inclusions and can be called flawless (FL) or internally flawless (IF). The larger, more visible and frequently occurring the inclusions, the lower the grade and the less rare the diamond. Diamonds with inclusions visible with the naked eye are graded I1 to I3.
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