How To Find A Real Diamond

Diamonds are an expensive investment. For most people shopping for a diamond, they want to find quality at a great price. Therefore, many people will turn to online auctions on the internet, estate sales, and online companies. Typically, these options are legitimate and offer an excellent means for buying a great diamond at a great price. However, that nagging question, "How do I know the diamond is real?" seems to always be lingering overhead.

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.

Another test is to check the weight. A cubic zirconia stone will weigh 55% more on average than a real diamond. If you have a similar size and shape diamond or have a gram or carat scale, the stone's weight can be compared to help you determine - real or fake. Many real diamonds have fluorescence blue when placed under a black light but 99% of the manmade diamonds do not. Therefore, try holding the stone under the black light, looking for a medium to strong appearance of blue. If you see this, then the stone is real. While this will tell you if the diamond is real, keep in mind that the bluer the color, the lower quality the diamond.

Other options include using a magnifying glass. Start by looking carefully at the facets from the top of the stone to see how well they are joined. Facets for real diamonds would be sharp, not a rolled appearance. Then, the girdles will need to be checked to see if they are faceted or frosty in appearance, which represents real. However, if the girdles are waxy and slick, the stone is a fake. You have a number of ways to make sure you get what you are paying for, but these are insiders secret tips that work.

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.

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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

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