The ultimate guide to buying the perfect 4 carat diamond ring with price analysis and real images of diamonds on hands.
Buying a 4 carat diamond is no small feat – the cost alone raises the stakes for every aspect of the decision making process. For example, a relatively minor tweak like stepping down a color grade from G color to H color could save you over $10,000.
Before you decide to drop down to a K color diamond consider this: the larger the stone the more noticeable the subtle tinge of color becomes. Hence, most buyers err on the more conservative side by choosing a D - F color grade (known as “colorless”) for a 4 carat diamond.
We recommend you go no lower than an H color diamond and if you do pick one of the lower color grades like an I color diamond or J color diamond, that you choose a yellow or rose setting which will help offset some of the color. In fact, if you’re already planning to purchase a 4 carat engagement ring with a yellow gold setting you should certainly skew lower in color grade, otherwise you’re paying up for quality that will go totally underappreciated.
To illustrate the difference between each color grade we have picked one 4 carat diamond from every color grade D – K, making sure to keep all of the other GIA grading metrics the same. These are all 4ct-4.05ct Ideal Cut VS1 diamonds and they are placed in descending order (from D color on the top left to K color on the bottom right). However, these diamonds do have varying degrees of fluorescence – but this is imperceptible in the images (though it does make a difference in real life – read more in our Diamond Fluorescence Guide). Click on the images for more details.
Prices from top left to bottom right:$109,838 D color, $84,872 E color (has strong blue fluorescence), $100,074 F color, $95,297 G color, $83,323 H color, $54,132 I color, $42,902 J color, $41,016 K color.
It’s tough to tell the difference between any of these diamonds when viewed faced up, because diamonds always look whitest when viewed from this angle (viewed as they would be in an engagement ring setting). This demonstrates that color actually matters very little after a certain threshold. However, there is a big difference in price; the D Color is going for $109,838 while the asking price for the K color’s is $41,016.
Color is just one of the many variables that influence the price of the diamond. If you are looking for a specific estimate you can use our Diamond Price Calculator or check out one of our diamond price chart pages.
In the 4 carat diamond price chart below you can see that even if you hold all variables constant the price of a specific diamond still fluctuates significantly over time. The average price of a 4 carat diamond is $80,775.
On January 2nd 2020 the average price was $85,651, while on April 1st 2020 the average price of a 4 carat was $76,939. That is a 10% drop in 3 months, so once you find a diamond you like make sure you keep track of any potential price movements.
A 4 carat diamond is very large (the average size of an engagement ring in the US is 1.1 carats), so you are probably wondering what it would look like on her hand. Below we show 4 carat diamonds on a variety of finger sizes ranging from size 3 to size 7 ring size.
4 carat diamond on size 3 finger
4 carat diamond on size 4 finger
4 carat diamond on size 5 finger
4 carat diamond on size 6 finger
4 carat diamond on size 7 finger
A 4 carat diamond is an expensive purchase and you want to make sure that you use the setting that suits you or your loved one best. In this section we are going to go over a few of the most popular settings and show examples of each.
The most common setting styles are:
Let’s go over a few examples of what each looks like and what it means for the appearance of a 4 carat diamond.
The solitaire setting puts all of the emphasis on the center stone and you can still customize how many prongs you want it to have, giving it subtle personality. Given the size of the center stone and the lack of ‘distractions’, you want to make sure you got an amazing eye clean and sparkly diamond.
You can expect to pay around $450 for a 18k yellow gold setting like this one from Blue Nile.
Do you feel like 4 carats does not look quite big enough by itself? Then this is the setting for you. The diamonds around the center stone create a visual illusion that make it look even larger. This is a tradeoff though because it does take some focus away from the sheer size of your 4 carat center stone diamond.
When it comes for the surrounding stones, the clarity and cut do not matter nearly as much as they do for your center stone. You only want to make sure that you get a similar enough color grade to the center stone and if they differ that the smaller stones are a lower (worse) color grade (like G color grade side stones with an F color grade center stone).
A halo engagement ring in 18k white gold starts at about $1,390 (like this one from Ritani).
The three stone setting allows you to play around with different shapes and achieve a similar result to that of the halo (to look larger). You can play around with the shapes of the side stones and often times it creates a unique and beautiful contrast to vary the center stone and side shapes like this 4 carat round cut diamond engagement ring with baguette sidestones.
A three stone engagement ring in 18k white gold starts at about $3,220 (like this one from Ritani).
In addition to the setting you can also customize the band styles. The most common by far is the pave band, which consists of small diamonds on part (or the entire) ring.
In this example we are looking at a halo settings with a pave band. A 1/4 carat total weight pave engagement ring in 18k white gold starts at about $1,450 (like this one from Blue Nile).
4 carat diamonds are huge by any standard, but you’d be surprised by how negligible the difference between larger carat weight diamonds like a 4 carat and 5 carat are when compared to smaller carat sizes. For example, the difference in diameter between a 1 carat and 2 carat diamond is 58.6% while the difference between a 4 and 5 carat diamond is just 16%.
The first reason behind this significant difference is that the carat weight itself is doubling from 1 to 2 carats but increasing by just 25% from 4 carat to 5 carat. The other reason is that the diamond is not only growing horizontally in two dimensions (making the diameter and surface area larger) but also vertically, meaning much of the diamond’s carat weight is distributed vertically and can’t be appreciated by viewing the diamond from above.
Carat | Diameter (mm) | Surface Area (sq. mm) |
---|---|---|
0.5 ct. |
5.10 |
20.41 |
1 ct. |
6.42 |
32.37 |
1.5 ct. |
7.35 |
42.39 |
2 ct. |
8.08 |
51.34 |
2.5 ct. |
8.71 |
59.55 |
3 ct. |
9.25 |
67.24 |
3.5 ct. |
9.74 |
74.50 |
4 ct. |
10.18 |
81.43 |
4.5 ct. |
10.59 |
88.06 |
5 ct. |
10.97 |
94.46 |
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