By holding a diamond close to a source of light, such as a flashlight, you can tell whether or not it's real. Watch closely for the shimmers of light that shine from the stone. A real diamond will reflect light easily, and provide you with a disco ball or rainbow-like display.
As straightforward as it sounds, fill a glass of water at home to roughly three-quarters full. Separate the stone so that it is loose, and drop it into the water. Diamonds are highly dense and a genuine gem will sink to the bottom – every time. If it hovers to the surface or only partially sinks, then it is a replica.
Real diamonds sparkle differently from fakes, but without experience it's difficult to recognize the differences. A well-cut diamond will have a good mix of white light, called brilliance, and flashes of color, called dispersion. Diamonds also display a strong contrast of light and dark areas.
A pure and natural diamond is known to produce a blue glow when exposed to black light. The impure ones have certain chemical impurities that trigger the glow of other colors like green, white, red, and yellow when diamonds are exposed to ultraviolet light.
Water testing your diamond
Get a glass full of water and simply drop your diamond into the glass. If the diamond is real, it will drop to the bottom of the glass due to the high density of the stone. If it's a fake, it will float on the surface of the water.
Genuine diamonds do not sparkle in rainbow colors inside of the stone. Instead, the inside of real diamonds sparkles in tones white and gray. The play on light in the diamond is brilliance. One factor that determines a diamond's level of brilliance is the cut.
If you have a loose diamond to test, fill a regular glass about ¾ of the way full with water. Gently drop the diamond into the glass. If the diamond sinks to the bottom, it's real. If it floats at the surface or just underneath, it's likely a fake.
Or do you only see a white light? Fake diamonds do not reflect spectral rays from the beam of the flashlight. This is because a diamond's refractive index is high; it makes the white light entering the diamond split into multiple colors before it exits on the other side of the stone.
By holding a diamond close to a source of light, such as a flashlight, you can tell whether or not it's real. Watch closely for the shimmers of light that shine from the stone. A real diamond will reflect light easily, and provide you with a disco ball or rainbow-like display.
Hold it in the light to see how it sparkles.
A fake diamond will have rainbow colors that you can see inside the diamond. “People have a misconception that diamonds sparkle like a rainbow, but they don't,” Hirsch said. “They do sparkle, but it's more of a gray color.
A dirty stone doesn't sparkle because light simply can't enter the diamond and causes it to appear dull. So, if you notice your diamond jewelry getting cloudier overtime, it's likely due to a dirty surface and there's an easy fix to restore their luster.
The free 4Cs app for Android is downloadable in English and Simplified Chinese. The GIA app is also available for iOS. A retailer version, designed for use at point of sale, is downloadable for free from GIA's retailer support site www.retailer.gia.edu.
A diamond should have a clear, bright yellow or white color. A crystal will be off-white or cloudy looking. Yellow diamonds are becoming more and more popular, especially in the wedding ring market. These diamonds look like pearls and are generally not as expensive as white diamonds.
If you're holding a genuine diamond, you'll witness an intense blue color on the diamond surface. A fake gemstone will reveal itself through other colors — including green, yellow, or gray tints. The validity of this test is limited, though.
Light rays do not pass through the diamond, but are instead broken and reflected back in different angles. This optical trait of breaking light rays and reflecting them back creates the diamond's unique sparkle.
The Density Test Real diamonds are incredibly dense, and often outmatch the fakes in density tests. To confirm this, fill a glass up with water and drop your diamond in. A fake diamond will most likely float on top or only sink to the middle while a real diamond will sink to the bottom thanks to its density.
Diamond fluorescence, in its most simple form, is the effect that ultraviolet (UV) light has on a diamond. When you place white or light colours under a blue light or ultraviolet light, sometimes you can see whites get brighter or appear to glow. This is the same effect the diamond has under the UV rays.
The way that diamonds reflect light is unique: the inside of a real diamond should sparkle gray and white while the outside should reflect a rainbow of colors onto other surfaces. A fake diamond, on the other hand, will have rainbow colors that you can see inside the diamond as well.
Place the gemstones in a glass of water and watch. If it floats, then it is probably a fake stone. Real diamonds will sink to the bottom of the glass, while cubic zirconia will float to the surface.
If the small stones on your diamond engagement ring are between 1 and 2 points (0.01-0.02 carats), it may be appraised at a price range of $300 to $700 per carat. Larger chips or stones at 0.10 carats may result in you being able to get $1000 or more for your jewelry if the diamonds score high on clarity and color.
There is nothing that can scratch a diamond except another diamond. A mineral like talc, on the other hand, is a 1 on the scale. You could scratch it with any hard material, even your fingernail. Natural talc is one of the softest minerals in the world.
A large percentage of real diamonds turn a shade of blue under UV lighting because of the minerals inside the stone. Fake diamonds, on the other hand, will light a yellow, grey, or green shade.