How to Find a Real Diamond

A free article on Fashion

Diamonds are costly treasures. The majority of people in the market for one are looking for a good stone that is still a bargain. These days’ shoppers often look to online auctions, estate sales, and online jewelers. For the most part all these options are honest businesses, but we still might worry about the diamond’s authenticity.

This is a valid question with so many manmade stones now on the market. Most of them look like the real thing. Let’s face it, most of us can’t tell the difference, unless the stone is cut glass or crystals, or some of the colorless gemstones. Those made from cubic zirconium or Moissanite, using the latest technology, are harder to spot as fakes.

If you find a diamond you want to purchase, have a jeweler or diamond cutter take a close look at it. This is harder to manage when you’re shopping at an online auction, but you should figure out a way to have the stone checked. Paying a lot of money for something that turns out to be an imitation could cause you a lot of grief and frustration. If you think someone is offering to sell you a cubic zirconium, there are a few ways to check it out.

One good test is simply to breathe on the gem. If it’s a cubic zirconium, then the fog will stay on it for a while. If it’s truly a diamond, it will clear up right away. Another method is to try writing on it with an ink pen. Ink balls up on a cubic zirconium and makes a line on a diamond. One more thing to try is to turn the stone over and try reading a newspaper through the back. If you can easily make out the print, then you probably are holding an imitation. This wouldn’t be true however, with a real diamond that was cut shallowly.

Cubic zirconium weigh about 55% more than a similarly sized diamond. Try to compare it to a diamond you know is authentic by weighing both of them on a carat or gram scale. Also, real diamonds look fluorescent blue under black light. Most manmade stones will not show the blue color. As for quality, the bluer the diamond, the worse the quality. You may know your stone is real, but it may not be as good as you expected.

You can also place the stone under a magnifying glass. Look at the facets from the top and see how they are joined. In real diamonds the facets have sharp rather than rolled edges. The girdles should be faceted or frosty, rather than clear looking. If they are too resinous or slippery, you know the stone is not a real diamond. These tips should help you make sure you get your money’s worth when you buy a diamond.

Copyright 2006, Joy McDougle, All Rights Reserved. This article may be published on web sites or in newsletters provided this notice and the resource box is included without ammendment.

Information about the Author: Joy McDougle provides a range of resources at her web site: Raja Diamonds, where you will find information that will help you on many issues on how to buy a great diamond. Why not take a look: www.rajadiamonds.com Fashion Articles: http://www.article-buzz.com

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