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Diamond Glossary

Diamond Glossary:

Knowledge is Power and the more information you have the better diamond purchase you will make. Here are a number of diamond terms that are used by jewelers to describe diamonds and which appear on diamond grading reports.

Blemish: A surface or inherent clarity characteristic of a diamond.

Brilliance: A phenomena unique and powerful in diamonds is the extent to which a diamond can reflect light. This "brilliance" is created when light enters through the diamonds table, reaches the pavilion facets, and is then refracted back out through the table to your eye.

Carat: A unit of weight by which a diamond is measured.

Clouds: A cluster of very tiny imperfections within a diamond. These imperfections will often take on a transparent cloudy look, and will require extremely high magnification in order to be seen.

Color grading: A grading method system by GIA used to determine the colorlessness of white diamonds.

Crown: The portion of the diamond above the girdle.

Crown angle: The angle where the diamond's bezel facets intersect with the girdle plane. The positioning of these facets is critical in determining the amount of light dispersion and fire in a diamond.

Culet: A flat facet diamond cutters add to the bottom of a diamond's pavilion. The purpose of the culet is to protect the integrity of the pavilion from chipping and fractures. Once a diamond is set in jewelry the purpose of the culet is generally negated as the setting will provide adequate protection for the stone. Most modern diamond shapes have either no culet, or very small pointed culet.

Cut: Refers to the proportions as well as the polish and finish of a faceted diamond. Cut is the most important of the "4 C's and is critically instrumental in determining a diamonds beauty and value.

Depth: The height of a diamond from the culet to the table. Depth is measured in millimeters.

Depth percentage: Refers to the relation between how deep and how wide the diamond is. Depth percentage plays a role in determining the brilliance and value of the diamond.

Diamond:
A crystallized carbon made up of 99.95% pure carbon atoms in an isometric or cubic arrangement.

Diamond cutting: The method whereby a rough diamond mined from way beneath the earth's surface is polished and faceted into a magnificent diamond. The diamond must go through a long and arduous process of many different steps until it is considered a completely finished gem.

Dispersion: The effect that properly angled and placed facets have on the diamond's ability to display fire.

Eye clean: A term used in the industry to describe a diamond with inclusions that cannot be seen with the naked eye.

Facet: The various smooth surface areas of a diamond set up and positioned at different angles, allowing light to enter the stone and reflect back to your eye. A round brilliant diamond has a total of 58 facets.

Feathers: are the small stress fractures in a diamond formed during its crystallization process. Feathers will pose no risk to the durability of the diamond once that stone has survived the rigors of its crystallization, mining, and cutting process.

Finish: This refers to the quality of how the diamond cutter executed the designing, fashioning, and faceting of the diamond.

Fire: (or Color Light)This refers to the percentage of the diamond returning bright colored light to the observer.

Fluorescence: This refers to an effect seen in diamond when exposed to long wave ultra violet light. Fluorescence is undetectable in most lighting conditions and can only be seen when placed under an intense and direct ultra violet lamp. Fluorescence has no deleterious effect on the integrity of the diamond. Some prefer Fluorescence in diamonds, others do not. It is a matter of personal taste. Fluorescence in lower color diamonds posses a unique desirability as they will make diamonds appear whiter than their actual color grade.

GIA (Gemological Institute of America): Was founded in 1931 as a non profit organization and is considered to be the standard bearer of the diamond grading industry with the strictest, most stringent diamond grading criterion. The grading system developed by the GIA has become the standard system used today by grading labs across the world.

Girdle: The outer ring of the diamond is called the girdle. The girdle is described by its thinnest and thickest points.

Inclusion: An intrinsic clarity characteristic found within diamonds.

Naturals: Small particles of the original rough diamond's surface which remain on the polished diamond.

Pavillion: This refers to the lower portion of the diamond underneath the girdle.

Point: Refers to a measurement describing the weight of a diamond. One point equals one hundredth of a carat.

Polish: This refers to a diamond's surface blemishes which do not affect its clarity grade such as polishing lines or scratches. Polish is graded on laboratory reports as either ideal (AGS) excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor (GIA).

Scintillation: This is the term for changing colours, the radiance and sparkle of the rays when the stone is moved or when the light source changes. The GemEx Brilliancescope ™ analyzer that we use for all of our diamonds measures the number of light points and determines how they change from position to position.

Symmetry: Variations in a diamond's symmetry such as misshapen or misaligned facets are graded in the laboratory report. Although such variations are often undetectable to the naked eye, it is certainly indicative of a diamonds cut quality.

Table: percentage Represents the diameter of the table facet in relation to the diameter of the entire diamond.


Posted by Barry Gutwein on December 28, 2004 6:30 PM in Diamond Basics | Comments (28)

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