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Owning a diamond is exciting, especially if you come from a low- and middle-income home, as it represents glamor, wealth, the jet-set and so much more. But how do you tell if your diamond is a good quality one? Here is how to tell if a diamond is real or fake at home so you can put your mind at rest before you go into an appraiser’s full of hope, only to have your dreams of wealth dashed!
Is it Fake or Real?
There are any number of tests that claim to ‘prove’ whether a diamond is real or not, but in fact all most of them (the ones that have some merit, at least) do is allow you to rule out some fake stones. This means that you could be left with a stone that may be real – only to find out that it is not!
Other tests can be destructive, and some are plain dangerous – never experiment with potentially lethal electrical currents, and do not be tempted to heat up your stone: even real diamonds can become cloudy or discolored from this!
If you have a proven diamond, good lighting and excellent magnification, you can do a minute comparison with a doubtful stone. This should give you a good idea of whether it is real or not, but you do need to be minutely thorough and patient as you work through all the possibilities.
Moissanite is an excellent diamond substitute, reflecting light in a similar way, and passing almost all the diamond tests that you can do at home. The only one it does not pass is the electrical current test: diamonds are conductive, being carbon, while moissanite is not. You can invest in a small tester that transmits a tiny current through the stone, letting you know if conductivity is high or not.
If It’s Real, is it Good?
Let us say now that you have carefully and attentively worked through a series of non-destructive and proven tests, including the electrical conductivity test, and your stone has passed with flying colors! Giving the stone the benefit of any lingering doubts, we say that it is a diamond. This now brings us to the next question: is it a good diamond?
Poor quality diamonds are often not worth very much, and you may be disappointed with what you are offered for your low-grade stone, should you want to sell it for any reason.
Telling how good your diamond is can be just as tricky as finding out if it is real! This is worsened if the stone is already set into a piece of jewelry, as this can disguise flaws, disrupt the flow of light into and through the stone, and can add or detract from the value of the stone.
However, if your diamond is completely see-through, reflects light in a very symmetrical way, and sparkles beautifully, it is more likely to be better quality than not. Poor quality diamonds can and do sparkle, so it is best, again, to have a comparison stone to check your questionable stone against.
There is, of course, one sure-fire way to tell if your stone is good-quality or not – and that is checking the certificate that accompanies every diamond over half a carat sold in the USA since the 1940s! These certificates will give you the quality and grading of your diamond in a quick and comprehensive manner!
