Gemmology

Identifying
Diamonds
Diamond is one of the most important gemstones traded
in the world today. Diamond has all properties in the
superlative state- best luster, highest hardness, highest
thermal conductivity among gems and these properties
help in identification and form the basis for some of the
tips to check whether the white stone is a diamond.

t is said that Alexander the

Great found a valley full of both
diamonds and poisonous snakes.
No one could work out how to
retrieve the jewels until Alexander
had the idea of throwing down
raw meat, to which the diamonds
attached. When eagles flew down
for the meat, Alexander's men just
had to follow them to their nests. It
sounds like fantasy but diamonds
are attracted to fat, and the story
reminded people how to tell real
diamonds from fakes. De Beers still
practice Alexander's trick in their
South Africa mines today: They
use "grease tables" and only the
valuable stones stick.
This test is very much valid even
in day-to-day diamonds business.
Those who do diamond assorting
can vouch for it. Every sorter lifts the
diamond just by touching the stone
with a finger and the diamond gets
lifted due to the slight oily nature
of the human finger, whereas all
other white coloured stones simply
fall off the finger. Many who do this
daily dont know why this happens.
Its the property of diamond to get
attracted to grease or oily surface.
The human sweat has some oil
content in it which is responsible for
the diamonds sticking to the finger.
This is also very important for
those who are starting business in
diamonds. One
should always
open star sized
diamond packet
carefully and
slowly. If you
want to pick up a

stone then do so only with a stone

holder or tweezer. Never move
your fingers through the diamonds,
you would never know how many
diamonds would get stuck to your
fingers and fall out.

Visual Methods
Tilt Test

The high Refractive Index (RI) of

Diamond makes possible a simple
test to distinguish it quickly from
simulants with lower RIs. Hold a
brilliant-cut diamond in a pair of
tweezers with its table face up,
horizontal below the eye. Tilt the
stone away from the body and
observe the table facet. If the
stone is a diamond, the amount of
brilliancy coming from the table will
be the same. However if this test is
carried out on brilliant-cut stones
of lower RI, such as YAG or paste,
the light will appear to empty out
from the stone. This test can also be
carried out on mounted stones

Read through Test

Diamond has a low Critical

Angle of 24 26, which means
that a brilliant-cut stone reflects
back most of the light entering it.
It is therefore impossible to look
right through a perfect brilliant cut
diamond from the table and see
what is below. Except through the
culet, if it is large enough, anything
would be visible.
Draw a line on a piece of paper
and place the stone with its pavilion
face up. In case of a diamond the
line will not be seen at all. In the

case of simulants, the line will

appear partially or complete. This
test can be easily carried out on
unset stones; but care must be
taken when they are mounted.
Confusion is possible with
old cut diamonds, in which full
advantage of the low critical angle
was not taken in cutting. Here, the
line may appear unnaturally clear or
transparent for diamonds. The large
culet and the facet edges will be
immediately apparent to the naked
eye through the table. This results
from the larger angle of the pavilion
facets, which allow light to escape
through the back of the stone.
Not all diamonds would give
the read through test. Therefore be
careful of all fancy cut diamonds,
Fish-eye stones or diamonds with
shallow pavilion depth.
As well as stones like Strontium
Titanate (same RI of 2.41) and
Synthetic Moissanite (a DR stone
with RIs of 2.648-2.691 and Double
Refraction (0.043) which may not
give that effect.

Breath Test

As diamonds have high thermal

conductivity there is simple test
for identifying diamonds from its
simulants. Because of its high
thermal conductivity, diamond
feels colder to touch, any other
gemstones. It is cold to touch and
becomes warm quickly, when
worn. If a loose stone or diamond
jewellery is left to attain room
temperature and then touched, it
will feel quiet cold. In this test the
stone to be tested is taken along

with a known diamond. When you

breathe on the clean surface of a
diamond, the mist that is formed,
will clear much faster in case of the
diamond than when compared to its
simulants. Care should be taken to
ensure that both the stones are at
room temperature when the test is
taking place. The recent synthetic
moissanite also has a good thermal
conductivity would therefore give
similar reaction.

Water Test

Diamond has a very high surface

tension, therefore if the table
surface of a diamond is thoroughly
clean and free of grease, a drop of
water on the table will remain as
a globule for a long time, whereas
in case of other stones / simulants,
the globule will spread out in a
relatively short time, depending on
the mineral.

Tests using a 10x lens

Polishing Lines: Diamonds has

directional hardness and therefore
the polishing lines run in different
directions on different facets.
This means that there are no two
adjacent facets having polishing
lines in the same direction. In case
of simulants, the polishing lines
always run in the same direction
on all facets. This is a Confirmatory
Test for identifying diamonds.

Bearding: In the manufacturing

process of diamond there is the

bruting process in which two
diamonds are rubbed against one
another in order to form the girdle. If
there is a vibration between the two
diamonds (due to careless handling)
then in the polishing diamond it will
produce hair like feathers / cracks
/ whiskers running from the girdle
into the stone. This is known as
bearding and it occurs due to the
cleavage property of diamonds.

Even after many years of constant

wear, cut diamonds preserve their
sharp edges and corners, while
most other gemstones become worn
and chipped. Most simulants after a
few years of wear have rounded or
moulded edges between facets.

Gridle Appearance: The

girdle of a brilliant-cut diamond is

different in appearance from that
of other stones. It appears sugary
or granular, if it is unpolished. In
case of simulants the girdle would
appear smooth and glass-like. The
girdle of a diamond has a matt,
waxy appearance, caused by the
fracturing process of bruting. It
is not dull like ground glass, but
has a shiny wax-like lustre. This is
Confirmatory Test for identifying only
round brilliant cut (RBC) diamonds.

Presence of naturals: A

natural on the girdle is an indication

of diamond. It is the part of the
original skin of the rough diamond
left on the stone and usually looks
much brighter than the girdle. A
natural indicates that the cutter has
tried to retain the maximum weight
from the rough crystal. A natural
may show surface markings in the
form of trigons, cube markings or
parallel lines. Trigons may be seen
on the natural, when they are part of
an original octahedral face. This is a
Confirmatory Test.
Naturals are good proof that
the stone is a diamond, but there is
one simulant Yttrium Aluminate or
Yttrium Aluminium Garnet (YAG, also
called Diamonair) where similar
naturals are occasionally left, during
manufacturing (by Czochralski
Method). But its RI of 1.833 is much
lower than that of diamond.

Doubling of Backseats:
Synthetic Moissanite is the only
diamond simulant with Thermal

Conductivity high enough to fool

many of the Thermal testers
on the market, but it is easily
distinguished from diamond with 10x
magnification. Because Synthetic
Moissanite is Doubly Refractive
(unlike diamond, which is singly
refractive), inclusions and back
facet junctions will appear doubled.
However, since synthetic Moissanite
is often faceted with the table
perpendicular to the optic axis, you
should examine a suspect stone
from multiple angles to check for
doubling. Viewing through several
bezel facets will usually produce the
best results.
Some inclusions that might be
seen in Synthetic Moissanite are
open, not-quite-parallel, tubelike channels. They are usually
hexagonal in cross section, and
might be capped by other inclusions.
These will appear doubled under
magnification, unlike the etch
channels sometimes seen in natural
diamond. Other possible inclusions
are slender white needles, very fine
refractive lines and pinpoints that
are sometimes numerous enough to
form clouds. By Jaushree Panjikar

Facet Junctions: Diamonds

exhibit sharp, knife-edge like facet

junctions, due to their highest
hardness. When seen under a 10X
lens, the edges of the diamond
facet will be clean and sharp. In
stimulants or diamond look alikes
the facet junctions are less sharp or
they appear rounded or moulded.

JAYSHREE PANJIKAR
Pangem Testing Laboratory
10 Sangeetha Apts, Tadiwala Road,
Pune-411001
jayshreepanjikar@gmail.com

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All that Glitters 4 3