VS1 and VS2 (very slightly included)

How to read it

VS1 and VS2 sit in the middle of the GIA clarity scale, below VVS and above SI. GIA’s graders separate the two by how hard the inclusions are to find face-up at 10× magnification: difficult for VS1, somewhat easy for VS2. GIA says most diamonds seen in jewelry stores fall between VS and SI.

Also searched as: VS, VS1, VS2, VS clarity.

What sets a VS grade

GIA says the inclusions in a VS diamond must be very small relative to the size of the stone. Typical ones are a few crystals, knots or distinct clouds, or a minor feather or cavity reaching the surface. In almost all cases they can’t be seen with the naked eye, though GIA allows that a large VS stone very occasionally has an eye-visible inclusion. Position counts as well as size: the closer an inclusion is to the centre of the table, the large flat facet on top, the more it lowers the grade.

VS or VVS

One letter separates the names. In a VVS stone the inclusions are extremely difficult (VVS1) to very difficult (VVS2) to see at 10×, and GIA says a diamond with eye-visible inclusions would not be graded VVS.

On other laboratories’ reports

HRD Antwerp’s scale uses the same codes, VS1 and VS2, and calls the grade “very small inclusions”. Its top grade is loupe clean (LC), where GIA’s is flawless. The US Federal Trade Commission’s jewelry guides say that when a seller states a grade, the grading system it comes from should be disclosed.