|
|
|
|
| ||
Diamond Jewelry Forums
 Picture Gallery
 Video Gallery
 Journal
|
|||
|
|  Search
|  Posted Today
|  Most Active
|  Help
|
||
 »
Home
»  » Diamond Prices and Grading »
 » RockyTalky
»  » How to spot a fake?
|
|
 |
How to spot a fake? |
 |
| P: 4/12/2004 3:08:25 PM | |
Manks Rough Rock Total Posts: 78 Last Post: 12/20/2004 Member Since: 11/30/2003 |
Just curious. How can one easily tell if a diamond is really a diamond and not CZ or glass? Manks
Manks |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 3:08:25 PM | |
|
There are 17 replies to this message. There are 17 replies on this page. |
|
| P: 4/12/2004 3:15:32 PM | |
moremoremore Ideal Rock Total Posts: 6,825 Last Post: 2/9/2009 Member Since: 3/15/2004 |
well- I heard that blowing on it is a test. But I do believe that real diamonds fog up too- but only for a second. Windowing is a sign. But how long will you have to examine it.....Not sure a friend who got engaged will appreciate you taking her hand and blowing on it....Hooooowwwwwwwwww lovely! 
______________________________ Stewart says: I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. And doggon'it, people like me. |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 3:15:32 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 3:24:05 PM | |
Nicrez Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,230 Last Post: 10/21/2009 Member Since: 1/21/2004 |
easy test: Kiss it. When you touch a CZ at room temp, they are NOT cool, but warmsih. A diamond does not remain at room temp, and since the lips are the most sensitive to heat, the lips have it. That's the easier test. Also, I believe that such things as inclusions and refraction signatures of the stones are also obvious ways to tell (light signature patterns on a CZ are actually better in quantity, I think), but if you have nothing on you, try just feeling it with your lips... Nuts, but works. "Sometimes it's OK to throw rocks at girls...as long as they sparkle! |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 3:24:05 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 4:22:24 PM | |
Patty Ideal Rock Total Posts: 4,031 Last Post: 6/4/2008 Member Since: 12/7/2003 |
Nic, I've got an Interlap CZ here in a stone holder and it feels the same as my diamond when I put it on my lip. Both are cool. I wonder if Wink accidentally sent me a diamond?!
|
| Posted: 4/12/2004 4:22:24 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 4:30:58 PM | |
|
Nicrez Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,230 Last Post: 10/21/2009 Member Since: 1/21/2004 |
Hey Patty...What's the temp there? 60 degrees? A jeweler I know told me this trick, and there was another with using a wet sliver of toilet paper, but I can't remember that one, and frankly sounds gross...Anyone heard that one? It worked on my diamond versus the CZ my friend had. The difference isn't night and day, it's slight, so maybe that's the problem. One major note between a CZ and a diamond is that a Zirconia is more dense. It will weigh more than a diamond at the same "carat weight". Obviously the weights will be different, but if the cut is identical, and the mm of surface area are the same, the CZ will weigh more. Everyone knows that diamonds are the hardest, so if you can scratch the diamond with another diamond too easily, then a) maybe it isn't a diamond that you are holding, or you are scratching TOO HARD... hee hee   
"Sometimes it's OK to throw rocks at girls...as long as they sparkle! |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 4:30:58 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 4:56:29 PM | |
beowulf33 Rough Rock Total Posts: 21 Last Post: 7/25/2005 Member Since: 2/6/2004 |
I read somewhere about a simple test that I tried once and seemed to work: Turn the stone upside down and move it slowly over printed text. Try to make out the text through the pavilion. With a diamond, you should not be able to read the text or make out the characters, whereas with a CZ, you can see the text more clearly. This is due to the differing light refraction properties of diamonds vs. CZs. Obviously, this only works for larger stones that are big enough to see through.
|
| Posted: 4/12/2004 4:56:29 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 5:11:23 PM | |
|
Nicrez Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,230 Last Post: 10/21/2009 Member Since: 1/21/2004 |
Oh yeah, diamonds are HIGHLY attracted to grease, unlike other minerals, so that's even how some mining seperates them from granets and other pyropes...they grease a belt and the diamonds stick to them. Hence why I am cleaning my diamond CONSTANTLY...if you have some grease, see if the CZ or the diamonds sticks...you may have to run from the store, because they are shooting at you...
"Sometimes it's OK to throw rocks at girls...as long as they sparkle! |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 5:11:23 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 6:24:07 PM | |
someguy Rough Rock Total Posts: 52 Last Post: 9/3/2004 Member Since: 12/3/2003 |
Hi Nicrez, Just a technical note, but diamonds do remain at room temperature, just like anything else in the room that does not have an internal source of heat, or method of cooling itself. The reason why different materials feel warm or cool to the touch has to do with their thermal conductivity. In other words, if a material is very good a transmitting heat (like metal, for instance) then it will appear cool to the touch since it is pulling heat away from your skin, which is above room temperature. If you touch a poor thermal conductor (like wood), then it will appear to be warm because it isn't very good at taking the heat away from your skin. That's all! 
|
| Posted: 4/12/2004 6:24:07 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 9:33:59 PM | |
|
Patty Ideal Rock Total Posts: 4,031 Last Post: 6/4/2008 Member Since: 12/7/2003 |
Yes, Nic, it's chilly here today. If there is a difference between the two, it's too slight for me to notice. I'll keep kissing them and let you know if they warm up.
|
| Posted: 4/12/2004 9:33:59 PM | |
| P: 4/12/2004 9:47:49 PM | |
|
Nicrez Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,230 Last Post: 10/21/2009 Member Since: 1/21/2004 |
---------------- Absolutely right about thermal conductivity. A diamond's thermal conductivity can range from 5-25, whereas a CZ will be .10 (measured in watts per centimeter per degree Celcius at 300K) The instrument used to tell CZ from diamon is a THermal-conductivity meter, but supposedly with Moissonite, it's much harder. I was wrong that diamonds don't feel "icy" due to the room temp, but because they have such a high thermal conductivity, because the diamond absorbs the heat from the warmth of the lips, and thus feels colder. Supposedly, this old method of determining real diamonds is the reason diamonds are called "ice"... Hmm.... Patty, perhaps you have been kissing them too long, they just don't "work" anymore...want me to try...?  
"Sometimes it's OK to throw rocks at girls...as long as they sparkle! |
| Posted: 4/12/2004 9:47:49 PM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 3:51:42 AM | |
|
Manks Rough Rock Total Posts: 78 Last Post: 12/20/2004 Member Since: 11/30/2003 |
So without a pot of grease and the stone being loose, it seems to me that there is no easy way to spot a diamond from a fake. Is that right? Manks |
| Posted: 4/13/2004 3:51:42 AM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 4:20:58 AM | |
valeria101 Ideal Rock Total Posts: 14,048 Last Post: 4/30/2006 Member Since: 8/29/2003 |
---------------- Oh yeah. It does help to know what those look like. It would be hard to take a fake for granted after handling lots of diamonds and CZs and seing the look of both. Moisanite has double refraction - easy to spot. White sapphire looks quite different - so it is not very hard to get used to it's look. Not sure what to call the visual effect, but the color of those 'sparkles' (from difraction) is definitely not the same. This is more obvious in smaller stones. Actually, in commercial jewelry the cut would give away CZ really fast. Things get harder if the stones were really meant to be used as fakes, and all the details of the cut are in line with what diamonds should look like (thin girdle instead the huge one on CZ, no facet abrazion). Coated CZ of smaller size set in high quality mountings/jewelry woudl probably be the worst nightmare, if all you can do is stare at the piece. Even then, it would be easier to spot the marks of resetting stones (as the original diamonds have been reset) and details of cut - enough to reise questions and make sure the price is in line with your doubts. A density test would do the trick (taking into account the average between metal and stone for teh ring's average). There are plenty of electronic diamond testers (cheap) and if you want to update your glasses (or get ones) you can also try the trick mentioned (HERE). I would venture to say that that the terms of the deal are probably the best way to identify the merchandise. And those diamond testers are not too bad either. Ana "The greatest experts are only as good as the sum total of what they have seen." [Souren Melikian] |
| Posted: 4/13/2004 4:20:58 AM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 4:55:06 AM | |
|
Manks Rough Rock Total Posts: 78 Last Post: 12/20/2004 Member Since: 11/30/2003 |
Thanks Valeria, a valuable cross-reference. Manks Manks |
| Posted: 4/13/2004 4:55:06 AM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 12:39:29 PM | |
pulp_princess Cut Rock Total Posts: 184 Last Post: 3/5/2005 Member Since: 8/24/2003 |
This was an old post from 'oldsalt': "Here's a means to distinguish a mounted round brilliant cut CZ; branded "supersimulant" or not, from an actual diamond, no matter how well the CZ is cut. If the ring is slightly tilted,(works better against a dark background) a Vee shaped area is formed, as you can see the pavillion right through the table, through which you can make out the mounting right through the stone. If the stone is, in fact, a diamond, the Vee shaped area does not form, and you can not see the mounting through the stone. With some practice, you Can spot a CZ discreetly, without asking boorish questions. PS: for an unmounted stone, simply place it face down on a piece of newsprint; if you can make out the print, it's not a diamond. CZ also displays a "rainbow effect" of consideraly more dispersion or fire than diamond. This is much more easily noticed in sunlight or under incandescent lighting than it is under flourescent lighting."
|
| Posted: 4/13/2004 12:39:29 PM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 12:58:08 PM | |
tonysgeko Cut Rock Total Posts: 294 Last Post: 6/3/2009 Member Since: 6/26/2001 |
For those that don't have a moissanite and a diamond to compare, there's this awesome site birdamlasu.com/isitdiamondormoissanite. I don't know the author, nonetheless, they deserve props for the photos, descriptions and putting it all together to educate. 
|
| Posted: 4/13/2004 12:58:08 PM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 5:59:32 PM | |
glitterata Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,313 Last Post: 11/7/2009 Member Since: 4/17/2002 |
Don't kill me, folks, but isn't it kind of weird that people are willing to spend thousands of dollars for something that's virtually indistinguishable from something that costs $10 or $20 at most? Yes, there are ways to tell the difference between a diamond and a CZ. Yes, some CZs are so badly cut and fake looking that you can tell at a glance. But for the well-cut CZs, you need all these subtle tests--blow on them, kiss them, drop them on oil, etc. Unless you get up close and personal with loupes and instruments, you just can't tell the difference. But your wallet sure can!
|
| Posted: 4/13/2004 5:59:32 PM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 6:39:03 PM | |
|
Nicrez Ideal Rock Total Posts: 3,230 Last Post: 10/21/2009 Member Since: 1/21/2004 |
Diamonds aren't only meant to decorate. If that were the case, CZ would overtake diamonds every day almost. Diamonds are a luxury good designed to symbolize the most precious thing we have, LOove. No one wants to symbolize that with something that is rather easy to make, and less expensive. Diamonds are used to indicate wealth and prove as a status symbol, as well as symbolize love being strong, etc, as diamonds have the highest hardness on the Mohs scale. I think that's why they are the most unique for this type of job. Based on rarity, rubies should outshine diamonds, but as it stands, everyone wants to "prove their love" is the strongest, that their ring is the largest, purest, nicest, etc...and yes, they DO decorate. CZ is actually more apt for most marraiges now a days, but people still want to believe in the purity and strength of a diamond being symbolic of their unions... Strength and wealth is what drives their sales, just like titanium and platinum... (but hey, I'm not picky, I'd take Apatite in 24K gold anyday!) "Sometimes it's OK to throw rocks at girls...as long as they sparkle! |
| Posted: 4/13/2004 6:39:03 PM | |
| P: 4/13/2004 8:15:29 PM | |
niceice Ideal Rock Total Posts: 1,792 Last Post: 7/22/2008 Member Since: 1/29/2003 |
Oh man, this thread is about CZ's? From the subject line we thought it was going to be about augmentations! Looks like it's been thoroughly answered, but we couldn't help ourselves... Todd L. Gray, President |
| Posted: 4/13/2004 8:15:29 PM | |
 Previous Page
|
Next Page 
|
Contact Us | Back Home | Privacy Statement | Forum Agreement | Forum Policies | |
| Ideal BB Version: 0.1.5.4.beta1 | Message forum software powered by the Ideal BB |
| |
Pricescope -
Knowledge -
Diamond Prices -
Tools -
Resources -
About
© 2000-2009 Pricescope. Terms of Use Privacy Policy Disclaimer
forum archives
