How To Spot Top Quality Diamonds

When you shop for wholesale diamonds for sale in Brisbane, you’ll want to make sure you’re getting a top quality product – whether you want to buy wholesale diamonds online or prefer to approach wholesale diamonds suppliers.

There are a number of particular properties that diamonds have and if you know these, you’ll be able to identify the fakes from the real deals. For example, diamonds are the hardest known material. Let’s take a look at the distinguishing features in diamonds and some of the most popular simulants on the market so you will be able to tell you’re getting top quality wholesale diamonds for sale in Brisbane.

What to Look for in Wholesale Diamonds

  1. Top quality diamonds will always have sharp facet edges since the stones are so hard. The facets are the flat polished surfaces on a cut stone.
  2. Diamonds boast a bright lustre – the way in which light interacts with the surface.
  3. Good quality diamonds will have a good polish.
  4. Natural diamonds contain natural inclusions such as needles, pinpoints, feathers, clouds, cleavage, bearding, crystals, darky crystal inclusions and graining.
  5. Diamonds tend to be singly refractive.
  6. The girdle of a diamond’s finishing is also a good indicator of quality. The girdle is the edge surrounding the diamond where the bottom and top of the diamond meet. A ground girdle is sugared in appearance. The girdle may also be faceted, polished or bruted. Grinding lines should not be visible. If they are, the stone is probably a simulant.
  7. Bearding may be visible on quality diamonds. Bearding is short, fine cracks the run around the girdle.
  8. If the stone is large, modern and has good clarity and colour but a poor cut, it’s likely not one of the top quality wholesale diamonds for sale in Brisbane.

Imitations

There are three particularly common simulants of diamonds: synthetic moissanite, cubic zirconia and artificial glass. Let’s take a look at their features.

Cubic Zirconia

  1. This is the most common imitation diamond. Cubic Zirconia is typically a lot softer than a diamond which means it shows more wear, particularly around the girdle and facet edges.
  2. The facet edges of these stones are a lot more blunt compared to diamonds and are rounder in shape.
  3. Bruises and chips are easy to identify on the surface of the stone.

Moissanite

  1. Moissanite has a slightly green tinge.
  2. These stones are doubly refractive whereas diamonds are singly refractive. Doubly refractive means the stone will show doubling inclusions or facets which are visible with a 10x loupe. A singly refractive stone won’t show such features.
  3. Sometimes there are parallel needle like inclusions visible on moissanite.
  4. Moissanite is also a very hard stone which means facet edges tend to be sharp. Double fraction is the best way to distinguish this stone from wholesale diamonds for sale in Brisbane.
  5. This stone shows a high dispersion – that is, its ability to display different colours when white light splits into colours at the visible spectrum.

Glass

  1. Glass is an extremely soft material so it will show a great deal of wear, especially around the facet edges.
  2. Glass also chips really easily and conchoidal fractures occur too.
  3. Glass facets tend to be rounded.
  4. Glass lacks the same sort of lustre as you will see in diamonds. It looks far more dull.
  5. Diagnostic includes include swirls and bubbles.
  6. Mould marks are often visible on the glass’s surface.

This brief guide should be able to help you better identify top quality wholesale diamonds for sale in Brisbane. It does take practise and experience to spot the differences between stones, so it’s a good idea to always ask the specialists before making a purchase.