HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A DIAMOND IS REAL?

This is a continuation of a post on okpolice.net discussing some very important tips and tricks on how you can determine if you have a real diamond in your hands. The “Fog test” and the “Newsprint test” has already been discussed, so lets move on to the next.

The Hardness Test – This is a simple but risky test. Basically what you’ll need to do is to scratch a piece of glass using the diamond. If it does, and does not chip, it most probably is a real diamond. This can be a fairly inaccurate test since diamond simulants, or diamond replacements which have properties almost identical to real diamonds, can also scratch glass. However, if you look at your stone under a jeweler’s loupe after the test, the facets of a fake diamond should also be dulled and chipped.

Now it may be pretty awkward to ask your jeweler to look at the diamond under a loupe, but an honest jeweler will not be offended by such a request. Now here are the things that you should pay attention to:

Facets – The edge where facets meet are sharp in a real diamond and dull on a fake diamond.

Girdle – The girdle, or the widest and outermost edge of a real diamond should be faceted and frosty, not waxy and slick.

Inclusions – In my opinion, the presence of inclusions is the best proof of a real diamond. Inclusions and inherent flaws serve as the unique fingerprint of a diamond, and no two diamonds will have exactly the same inclusions. Furthermore, fake diamonds will not have any inclusions!

You can perform these tests on loose online diamonds but doing it on diamondengagementrings can be next to impossible.