Easy tips to identify fake diamonds 

Purchasing diamonds is an emotional occasion for most of us. Depending on our affordability, all of us want to bring home the best possible, genuine diamond. Therefore, it is of great help to be able to find out whether a diamond is fake before making a purchasing decision. Whether you want to inspect your old diamonds or in the local store while buying a new ring, you are certainly entitled to ascertain the authenticity of the stone. 

Many of you would be surprised to know that there are several counterparts of diamonds that have striking similarities with real diamonds in terms of their appearance. Colourless zircon, colourless topaz, and colourless sapphire are natural gems that strongly resemble diamonds.  Lab-created gems such as synthetic cubic zirconia, gadolinium gallium garnet, synthetic moissanite, and yttrium aluminium garnet can also be mistaken by an average person for genuine diamonds. 

Industry experts suggest that there are innumerable diamond substitutes available in the current market. Though some of them have some value attached, most are absolutely worthless. In order to be sure that a diamond is genuine, it is advisable to purchase diamonds certified within the GIA, AGS, and IGI grades. 

If you have questions related to the authenticity of your diamond, it is helpful to contact Adina’s Jewels or any other reputable jeweller in your locality. However, if you are in a fix, mentioned below are some simple ways to do it on your own.

At-home Diamond Tests: 

Before starting this home tutorial, it is important that we understand the difference between loose and mounted diamonds because the determination of a diamond’s authenticity depends significantly on this factor. 

Testing the authenticity and flaws of a diamond that hasn’t been mounted or a loose diamond is the easiest. Mounted diamonds are sometimes able to hide potential chips, cracks, or flaws. Also, lights are usually reflected in the mounted diamonds. Therefore, it becomes difficult for an average person to assess the colour or clarity of the stone.  Therefore, if you are purchasing a mounted diamond, it is not a bad idea to request the seller to remove the diamond so that it can be inspected thoroughly. 

Now, after gaining an adequate understanding of the difference between loose and mounted diamonds, we are finally ready to start the tests. There are four different types of tests that you can conduct conveniently at home to ascertain whether your diamond is fake or real. In order to carry out these tests, you would require fog, water, magnifying glass, and black light. 

Testing with Fog: Start by placing the diamond right in front of your mouth and use your breath to fog it up. In a real diamond, the condensation will not stick to the surface of the diamond. As a result, there will be no fogging whatsoever. On the other hand, if the stone remains fogged even for a few seconds, it is possibly fake. 

Testing with Water: Drop your diamond in a glass filled with water. Genuine diamonds have extremely high density. Therefore, a real diamond will sink completely when it is dropped in the water. However, a fake diamond will tend to float to the middle or top of the water surface.

Testing with Magnifying Glass: Thoroughly examine the diamond using a magnifying glass and look for imperfections. All real diamonds have imperfections, commonly referred to as inclusions. If your diamond doesn’t have any imperfections, there is a likelihood of it being fake.

Testing with Blacklight: Place your diamond in front of a blacklight. If you observe a strong to medium blue fluorescence, the diamond is real. In the case of fake diamonds, you may observe slight yellow, green, or gray fluorescence.