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Why diamond grades begin with "D" & not A, B, C?
It is a great mystery to the general public and to some in
the industry: Why do diamond color grades begin with "D"?
Perhaps to most effectively drive home the point that
diamonds are in a class by themselves.
That, at least, would seem to be the explanation implied in
a recent letter to Gem & Jewelry News, published by the Gemological Association of
Great Britain.
The letter, penned by Gemological Institute of America
Chairman Richard Liddicoat, who was there when the grading system was developed, said that
the old diamond grading systems — using terms like "top Wesselton" and
"river" — had fast become commercially tainted. Retailers began luring
customers with promises of "extra" or even "extra, extra, extra River
stones," he recalled.
The solution was to create a grading system that did not
echo any popular associations which could then be co-opted by any firm or firms seeking to
unfairly exploit these associations.
"It was obvious that to establish a grading system for
use in the jewelry industry, the grades could not have consumer appeal," he said.
Thus, the reason why diamond grades begin with ‘D.’ In America, at least
‘D’ had a very poor connotation. ‘E,’" a failing academic grade,
could also be short for ‘excellent,’ but not ‘D.’ It worked," the
writer noted.
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