Purchasing a diamond engagement ring is a serious business (probably more so than you expected). You should be aware of certain issues. You are likely to meet scams (from fake diamond engagement rings to deceptive “deals”). As great value is involved, make sure you buy the real thing. Begin by questioning everything.
Fake Diamond Engagement Rings
Here are differences between cubic zirconia and diamonds, glass and diamonds that can be helpful to differentiate a fake diamond from a real one.
How to Identify Fake Diamond Engagement Rings
- You can see through zirconia as you can through a window. If you place zirconia on paper, you allow the print to be seen. When you place it on something black, you can see the black color through it. This does not happen with diamonds. The reflection from the facets scatters light everywhere.
- If you look at the stone through a 10x magnifying glass and see numerous air bubbles, the stone is glass.
- Real diamonds have the bottoms exposed. The fake diamond engagement rings will usually have a setting that encloses the bottom of the stone.
- Reputable jewelers will give an honest answer when you ask them about the authenticity of the stone. Ask whether it is a genuine diamond, cubic zirconia, moissanite or another synthetic substance.
- Zirconia and other cheap stones are sometimes set in inferior metals.
- We highly recommend that the stone is certified by an official grading institution. In specialized laboratories, special equipment is used to analyze the stone.Tests establish the stone structure.
The Gia Website has more on this.
- The stone should be appraised by an independent appraiser affiliated to a professional organization. He or she will issue a certificate which indicates the value and characteristics of the stone.
Deceptive Appraisals
Quite often jewelers will specify on CTW on the tags of diamonds in a ring, and not the weight for the center stone separately. This is very important information. One large diamond is worth much more than several smaller ones of the same quality and total weight.
Ask for the weight and quality of the center stone separately, in writing. If the seller refuses, take your business elsewhere.
In most cases, in-house appraisals will be deceptive and serve the interest of the seller, not yours.
Seek an appraisal by an independent, unbiased, certified gemologist orappraiser who is unconnected to anyone who sells diamonds.
Fake Lab Certificates
Sometimes stores would present the stone with a certificate from a so-called certified gemologist laboratories, These labs might be tightly connected to the seller. Do not accept any certification. Make sure that certificates come from large, independent, labs.
Note
Do not be taken in by false names such as “Gemological Institutions of America”. The correct name is “Gemological Institute of America”.
Hidden Flaws
Usually, flaws can be hidden by the setting. Make sure you examine the loose stone to avoid unpleasant surprises.
Color Tricks
When a stone is coated, there is a small point of blue or purple paint on the culet of a diamond. Sometimes this is undetectable. It might increase the value of the diamond value by creating the illusion of a colorless stone.
Ask for the diamond to be washed before your eyes in an ultrasonic cleaner.
Color specifications are included in a certificate.
Laser Drilling
This procedure is used to increase the clarity of the stone by burning and evaporating large black inclusions. Techniques such as these make the diamond more fragile and prone to breaking.
You should always ask if the stone has been drilled. A certificate will contain such information.
Fracture Filling
This procedure fills surface-breaking fractures by melting some kind of crystal in them. When the stone is mounted by a heating process, this treatment damages the stone.
Always ask for specifications of color or clarity enhancements in a written form (a certificate from a recognized laboratory).
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