I recently read some concerns expressed by vendors where consumers may be misunderstanding clarity red flags, particularly in regards to the comments section. In my tutorial on diamond clarity, I brought up the red flag where you have a clean clarity plot for an SI quality diamond and then under the comments section, it states “clarity grade is based on clouds not shown”. … [Read more...]
Diamond Simulants
Being aware of the types of diamond simulants that exist can protect you as a consumer of real diamonds. This is perhaps the number one concern of most people when buying a diamond. Is it real? Well the thing about diamonds is that its properties are so unique that it is pretty hard to fake. I will be talking about ways you can quickly tell whether a stone is likely to be a … [Read more...]
Diamond Treatments
Diamond treatments refer to clarity or color enhancement techniques. Even if you are not in the market for a treated diamond, an understanding of these methods may help you advise those who are comfortable in passing on the knowledge they've learned here. Clarity Enhanced Diamonds Clarity enhancement techniques include laser drilling or fracture filling. The justification for … [Read more...]
Why does a diamond have dark spots?
Seeing dark spots in a diamond can be a scary thing, especially if it’s in your newly purchased internally flawless diamond! What other than an inclusion might cause dark spots in a diamond? The only way to tell for sure is a visual inspection. Let me tell you how you can test the diamond if you had it in hand. Dark spots, if not due to an inclusion can be one of three … [Read more...]
Virtual Facets
I have mentioned virtual facets several times before in my previous tutorials and so if you've been following my tutorials, you should already know that they are simply what we call the reflections of real facets. The real facets being the table, crown, pavilion, star, upper and lower girdle facets, girdle, and the culet. Virtual facets are ‘virtual’ because when we look at … [Read more...]