How To Check If Your Diamond Is A Fake

Diamond Care

Since your diamond is a valuable investment, you’ll want to take proper care of it. This section contains some basic tips to help keep your diamond looking its best.

Diamond Care Do’s

Diamonds must be kept clean and stored carefully when they are not being worn. Here are some guidelines to help keep your diamond in top condition:

If you notice loose stone settings or any other noticeable damages to your jewelry, do not continue to wear the jewelry. Take it to a trusted, professional jeweler who can make an assessment and repair the jewelry. We recommend that you have a jeweler check the setting in your diamond ring, stud earrings or solitaire pendants (while you watch) once a year.

When you’re not wearing your diamonds, be sure to store them in a fabric-lined case or in a box with dividers to prevent the diamonds from scratching other jewelry or other diamonds.

Diamond Care Don’ts

Avoid wearing your diamonds while doing housework, yard work or any other kind of rough work. Even though a diamond is extremely durable, a hard blow could chip it.

When doing household chores, never allow your jewelry to come into contact with chlorine bleach.

Cleaning Your Diamonds

Diamonds, like anything else, get smudged, soiled and dusty. Lotions, powders, soaps–even the natural oils from your skin–will create a film on diamonds, which will reduce their brilliance. In addition, chemicals in the air will oxidize or discolor the mountings. Keeping your jewelry clean will maximize its brilliance. Here are four ways Diamond.com suggests you clean your diamonds:

Detergent Bath: Prepare a small bowl of warm suds using any mild household liquid detergent (be sure not to use any cleaners containing chlorine). Brush the jewelry with a soft brush until you have created a lather around it. With the jewelry on a plastic or metal strainer, rinse off with warm water (be sure not to clean your jewelry over the drain!) Pat your jewelry dry with a soft, lint-free cloth.

Cold Water Soak: Make a solution of 4 parts cold-water and 1 part very mild dishwashing detergent. Soak the pieces for several minutes. Lift out and tap gently around all sides of the mounting with a soft brush. Rinse the pieces in the solution once more and drain on tissue paper.

Quick-Dip Method: Buy one of the brand name liquid jewelry cleaners, choosing the one that is best for the kind of stones and metals in your jewelry. Read the label carefully and follow the instructions. Do not touch your clean diamonds with your fingers, as the oils from your hands will leave a film on the stone.

The Ultrasonic Cleaner: There are many types of these small machines available to the public today. They will clean any piece of jewelry that can be soaked in a liquid within a matter of minutes. These machines often have a metal cup, which is filled with water and detergent. When the machine is turned on, a high-frequency turbulence is created.

NOTE: Be sure to follow the manufacturer’s instructions and warnings before using these machines. and detergent. When the machine is turned on, a high-frequency turbulence is created.

Traveling with Diamonds
Packing your precious diamond jewelry for traveling should be done with utmost care. There are many types of jewelry carrying cases that are specifically designed for jewelry travel, available in all price ranges, sizes, shapes and patterns. Most have velvet pads inside to attach pins and earrings, with special compartments for bracelets and necklaces. Don’t ever leave your jewelry on the rim of a sink when you remove it to wash your hands. It can very easily slip down the drain. When you’re away from home, don’t take off your jewelry in a public place–you may accidentally forget it and lose it forever.

Diamond Certification

Loose diamonds from Diamond.com are graded by the world’s most respected grading entities: the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) or AGS (American Gemological Society Laboratories). These institutes are revered for their consistency, stringency, and impartiality when grading diamonds. Each of our loose diamonds is accompanied by a grading report that includes a detailed explanation of the diamond’s characteristics, including the number of carats, the diamond’s color, its clarity, cut, and dimensions.
A certified diamond’s quality is guaranteed, and this makes it more valuable than an uncertified stone. The certificate verifies a diamond’s identity and value, and it will be recognized by all gemologists. Below are examples of GIA Grading Reports.

GIA Grading Reports

 

 

Diamond Color

If this is your first time researching diamonds, you may be surprised to learn that these sought-after, natural gemstones come in many different colors and hues.

“Colorless” or “white” diamonds – the diamonds traditionally used for engagement rings, stud earrings and solitaire pendants – are evaluated on a color-grading scale developed by the GIA. It spans the alphabet from D to Z with D being colorless, and Z representing a light yellow tint. With colorless diamonds, the value is placed on how little color you can see, and this is determined by studying the diamond under controlled lighting and comparing it to the GIA’s color scale. Incidentally, D-grade diamonds – that is, truly colorless diamonds – are extremely rare and valuable.

GIA Color Range
Diamonds with a color grade of D, E or F are considered colorless.

Diamonds graded G, H, I and J are near colorless.

Diamonds that fall in the K-M color grade range have a faint yellow tint. Diamonds in the N-R range have a very light yellow tint and S-Z are light yellow.

All loose diamonds available on Diamond.com fall into the D – J (colorless to near colorless) range.

Diamond Color Scheme


Fancy Color Diamonds
While “colorless” diamonds are the most popular, they are just one category of diamonds. The other category of natural stones is known as “fancy color diamonds.” Although relatively rare, they have been found in every color of the spectrum. Some of the most famous fancy color diamonds include The Hope Diamond (a walnut-sized blue diamond), the Hancock Red (which sold for $926,000 per carat at a 1987 auction), and the Dresden Green (the largest green diamond ever found).
The Diamond.com collection includes the following natural color hues: yellow, pink, red, orange, green, blue, and purple.

Fancy color diamonds are not graded on the same color scale as “colorless” or “white” diamonds. Rather, their value is derived by color intensity that ranges from Light at the lower end to Vivid at the high end. The more intense or strong the color appears, the more valuable the diamond. Color intensity is the most important factor when purchasing a fancy color diamond.

The distinct difference between fancy color diamonds and other colorful gemstones such as rubies, sapphires, and emeralds is in the mineral makeup. In particular, it’s the presence of carbon that differentiates fancy color diamonds from other colored gemstones.

All natural color diamonds are graded by gemological laboratories under controlled lighting environments similar to that of natural daylight. Diamonds are also tested for treatment, synthetic additions or alterations to ensure their authenticity.