How to Tell if Diamonds are Fake – 10 Ways to Find Out

A diamond is a valuable possession. Whether a diamond was given to you as a gift or if you purchased it on your own, you should know whether it is real or fake. Its value depends greatly on that fact.

There are a lot of sinister diamond dealers out there who sell bad quality diamonds and much worse, fake ones. The price can be too good to be true with all the marketing strategies that they can muster to convince buyers.

Experts suggest quick and easy ways to test if your diamond is fake or real. Although you cannot test a diamond while you are shopping, make sure that you are purchasing from a reputable diamond dealer.

Your dealer should have a written solid return policy and a grade report from a credible gem laboratory, in case you detect the diamond is fake.

Here are multiple ways to spot if a diamond is fake or real:

Thermal Test

This type of test is made only for diamonds and moissanite. Every gemstone has an innate thermal conductivity that can be measured and tested. The thermal test for a diamond will only take 30 seconds.

All you need is to clean your diamond thoroughly and follow the instructions indicated in the manual of your diamond tester.

When your diamond tests are positive, it means that it is a real diamond.

Facet Doubling

You will find a real vs fake diamond by using a jeweler’s loupe, a specialized magnifying glass that is very convenient to use. It is the standard hand-held tool commonly used by jewelers to identify gems.

Use a color-corrected 10X loupe for the best and most accurate result. Make sure there is good lighting.

Natural window light or overhead lighting will suffice. Just remember to place the stone in a proper position so as not to cast a shadow on it. The source of light should be behind the diamond, so you can see how it shines through it.

A real diamond will have single refraction. Doubles or fuzzy facets can be a red flag. It means the stone you are holding is not a diamond.

UV Fluorescence

For this test, you will need a dark room to check if your gem fluoresces. Fluorescence is observed when the light absorbed through the stone is released almost immediately. To test if your stone is a diamond using UV light, shine the light on your stone.

If it is a diamond, it will glow a shade of blue. Some say it can also glow a shade of yellow when it is a diamond. The key is if your stone reacts to the UV light with a bluish or yellowish color, it can be a diamond.

Newspaper/Dot Test

This diamond test is best for loose diamonds. All you will need for this fake diamond tester is a newspaper.

Draw a small dot on the newspaper if it is not printed. Place your loose stone face-down on a printed part of the newspaper or on the dot that you drew.

To know if your stone is a diamond, you should not be able to see the shapes of the letters that it is placed upon. Diamonds extremely bend light because of their many facets, so the dot or the letter beneath the stone should not be recognizable.

If you do not see the dot at all, you can be convinced that your stone can be a diamond.

The Fog Test

Where will the fog come from? Out of your mouth, so all that is required is yourself when you do this test. First, you will have to make the stone spotless and clean of oil and dirt that can alter the results.

Just as you would do to make a window foggy by using your breath, breathe on the stone with warm breath. You will know that the stone you fog on is a diamond if it will not get foggy. Real diamonds do not retain the heat of your breath.

To make sure that your results are accurate, you can fog two stones and compare the results. If both stones fog up, both are not real diamonds.

The Water Test

To spot fake diamonds, you can use a glass of water and a loose stone. Simply drop the stone into the water. Diamonds carry great weight or are dense, making them sink immediately after they are dropped in water.

When the stone does not reach the bottom of the glass right away, it means you are not holding a diamond. Do this with other reliable tests for fake diamonds, since there are several stones that can sink quickly as well.

The Sparkle Test

You will have to do a little research on how to detect the sparkle of real diamonds. Diamond experts will tell you that 99.9% of diamonds are not pure. This means that almost all diamond stones have impurities in them that can affect their sparkle. Fake diamonds will appear to be perfect.

Diamonds sparkle because of the reflection of light that passes through them. It is influenced by the cut of a diamond that determines how the stone reacts to the surrounding light.

Real diamonds with a great cut display a strong contrast of light and dark facets. Without prior experience, though, this test can be tricky.

Facet Edges

Real diamonds will not have rounded edges. You can determine the presence of diamond facets using a loupe or magnifying glass.

Because diamonds are the hardest stone on earth, you should not see scratches or chips on the stone, especially if it’s a new one.

Weigh and Measure

Test the density of your loose stone using a gem scale that has very high accuracy. Measure the stone using a caliper.

Compare the results you get with a standard chart of gem sizes.

A graded diamond with an ideal cut from reputable laboratories will have a noticeable difference in weight, quality, and value when compared to fake diamonds.

Scratch Test

For testing fake diamonds, you can use a full gemstone hardness kit or another material that is very hard. This test can be destructive for stones that are softer than diamonds. Diamonds that are known to be the hardest stone will not be scratched.

A popular scratch test for diamonds is scratching a diamond across a mirror. When the mirror is scratched, your stone is most likely a diamond. However, since there are hard stones compared to a mirror, you can get the same results.

Use this test alongside other tests for fake diamonds to get more accurate results.

Don’t Get Fooled!

Protect your valuable investment by making sure that what you are purchasing is a real diamond. These simple tests in detecting fake diamonds that you can do alone or with an expert jeweler will give you peace of mind.

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Visit our wholesale diamonds store in Dallas or contact us today for more information!