Diamond Review

Diamonds are a girl¿s best friend, but how do you tell if a diamond is real? Discovering that your cherished sparkler is a fake is nearly as heartbreaking as being betrayed by a friend, not to mention the financial loss involved. The best way to tell if a diamond is real is to consult an expert, in this case, a certified gemmologist whose specialized services come with a fee. Here are simple, rough-and-ready methods that anyone can try:

Shine a small ray of light through your stone. Does this result in a vivid halo around the periphery? If so, your diamond is real. Also, if your stone casts grey shadows, rather than multicoloured ones, breathe easy, you¿re on safe ground!

Real diamonds often contain ¿inclusions¿ or miniscule flecks of other minerals that lay close to the stone and got crushed into it in its formative stages. Paradoxically these imperfections signal a stone¿s authenticity.. A stone with perfect clarity and no inclusions could be quartz!

Ripples, dents and bubbles in your stone are giveaway signs of a glass stone masquerading as a diamond. So are facets with rounded or worn out edges.

Diamonds have good thermal conductivity, and that could help you tell if a diamond is real. Breathe on your stone. If its surface fogs up briefly, it could be one of the usual suspects used to substitute diamonds, like cubic zirconium, quartz or glass. On a genuine diamond, the condensation would disappear instantly. This test, however, does not succeed on moissanite, a diamond substitute with equally good thermal conductivity, so the only way to be absolutely sure is to get a heat evaluation test done by a jeweller.

Examine the setting to tell if a diamond is real. If the metal used for the setting shows tiny signs of wear and tear or pitting, for sure the stone is not a diamond. It could be cubic zirconium, a lab-grown synthetic diamond, quartz or moissanite, and while these have a certain value, they most definitely do not have the same value as a diamond. Also, authentic diamonds usually have open settings, allowing an all round inspection of the stone.

The pricing of a diamond is an instant giveaway factor, the thumb rule being: ¿if you pay peanuts, you¿ll get monkeys¿! So, if the charming diamond ring that catches your fancy is priced temptingly low, allow your common sense to make the final decision.
If you¿re buying diamonds online, insist on a certificate of authenticity issued by independent grading authorities. Most reputed jewellers would not defraud customers. With some practice, however, you should become proficient enough yourself to tell if a diamond is real or not.
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