Chain Me Up has a range of diamond jewellery for sale at www.chain-me-up.com.au including engagement, eternity and wedding rings. We also stock pendants and earrings with natural diamonds and for those who are more budget conscious, cubic zirconia stones set in 9ct gold and sterling silver mounts.
This is Bob for Images jewellers; I’m the graduate gemmologist here. A lot of people ask us “how do you tell if a stone is a fake diamond or a real diamond.” There’s a lot of simple ways to tell. One of them is, it’s the simplest way really, is if you can weigh this stone, if you can get it out loose like this, get a loose stone and you can weigh it on a diamond scale, but not many people have a diamond scale. But for example, this is a 1 carat diamond, actual real diamond and this is a same size CZ but it weighs a carat 70. So obviously there is a big discrepancy in weight, so that is like a sure fire way to tell.
These two stones here are diamond simulants. This one is a material called Lustre, which is carbon based, but it weighs differently, it’s heavier than actual diamond and this is Moissanite in the same thing here.
You can go online and look up charts for diamond size and weight equivalents and it will tell you like, for example; a 6.5mm diamond should be approximately a 1 carat, but 8mm should be a 2 carat and that’s in a round. There are charts on all the different shapes and everything. So that’s the easiest way and the most sure fire way but without a diamond scale it’s hard to tell.
The other way is to look at it with a loupe. I got, taken my loupe out like this and to you know look at the stone and you’ll find if the facet junctions where the flats on the diamond come together on a diamond, they will be extremely sharp, very crisp. On a cubic zirconia or Moissanite or Lustre material, they’ll be more rounded. That’s just due to the material is not as hard, you won’t come to a crisp hard definite edge. That takes a good keen eye to tell them apart, in good lighting, so that’s another way.
Another way is to breathe on the stone and I’m going to do that here in a second ‘cause, fog it up and it’s going to last about 3 seconds if it’s a diamond. You know, turn to clear like you just saw. If I do it now on this cubic zirconia, you’ll see it’s going to last five to eight, nine seconds. Somewhere in there before it goes clear again, so it’s not a definitive way, but it is an indication. All the other materials do the same thing and that is due to a diamonds ability to dissipate heat. The other materials don’t have that same ability so it takes them longer to dissipate that heat, that fogging that you put on it. That’s an indication that it could be a fake.
The other is you could take a diamond and I don’t know if I have a large enough one to show you. I take the simulant and put it over some writing in a newspaper and you will be able to read the writing or see the writing through the stone. A diamond you will not, you should not be able to see the writing through the stone, but you can here.
The last indication is you look at the mounting, if it’s in a mounting and this is not a real definite way because they mount cubic zirconias and Moissanites in really nice mountings now. But if it’s in a very expensive looking mounting, a lot of little diamonds on it, it could be an indication that it might be real, but that’s not a sure fire way.
So those are the easiest ways that one can identify a diamond at home.
This is Bob for Images jewellers; I’m the graduate gemmologist here. A lot of people ask us “how do you tell if a stone is a fake diamond or a real diamond.” There’s a lot of simple ways to tell. One of them is, it’s the simplest way really, is if you can weigh this stone, if you can get it out loose like this, get a loose stone and you can weigh it on a diamond scale, but not many people have a diamond scale. But for example, this is a 1 carat diamond, actual real diamond and this is a same size CZ but it weighs a carat 70. So obviously there is a big discrepancy in weight, so that is like a sure fire way to tell.
These two stones here are diamond simulants. This one is a material called Lustre, which is carbon based, but it weighs differently, it’s heavier than actual diamond and this is Moissanite in the same thing here.
You can go online and look up charts for diamond size and weight equivalents and it will tell you like, for example; a 6.5mm diamond should be approximately a 1 carat, but 8mm should be a 2 carat and that’s in a round. There are charts on all the different shapes and everything. So that’s the easiest way and the most sure fire way but without a diamond scale it’s hard to tell.
The other way is to look at it with a loupe. I got, taken my loupe out like this and to you know look at the stone and you’ll find if the facet junctions where the flats on the diamond come together on a diamond, they will be extremely sharp, very crisp. On a cubic zirconia or Moissanite or Lustre material, they’ll be more rounded. That’s just due to the material is not as hard, you won’t come to a crisp hard definite edge. That takes a good keen eye to tell them apart, in good lighting, so that’s another way.
Another way is to breathe on the stone and I’m going to do that here in a second ‘cause, fog it up and it’s going to last about 3 seconds if it’s a diamond. You know, turn to clear like you just saw. If I do it now on this cubic zirconia, you’ll see it’s going to last five to eight, nine seconds. Somewhere in there before it goes clear again, so it’s not a definitive way, but it is an indication. All the other materials do the same thing and that is due to a diamonds ability to dissipate heat. The other materials don’t have that same ability so it takes them longer to dissipate that heat, that fogging that you put on it. That’s an indication that it could be a fake.
The other is you could take a diamond and I don’t know if I have a large enough one to show you. I take the simulant and put it over some writing in a newspaper and you will be able to read the writing or see the writing through the stone. A diamond you will not, you should not be able to see the writing through the stone, but you can here.
The last indication is you look at the mounting, if it’s in a mounting and this is not a real definite way because they mount cubic zirconias and Moissanites in really nice mountings now. But if it’s in a very expensive looking mounting, a lot of little diamonds on it, it could be an indication that it might be real, but that’s not a sure fire way.
So those are the easiest ways that one can identify a diamond at home.