Natural

[Diermint]

A "natural" is a blemish that can be found on some polished diamonds when some of the rough is left on the diamond. This is often done so the cutter can maximize weight in a diamond.

 

[niceice]

A "natural" is simply part of the original "skin" of the diamond that was left on the diamond instead of being removed during the cutting and polishing process. What is the "skin" of a diamond? Essentially it is part of the original diamond rough which is the uncut crystal from which a polished diamond is crafted. Most often a natural is left on a diamond because removing it would reduce the weight of the finished diamond unnecessarily. Most naturals are located along the girdle edge of a diamond although we have also seen them on minor facets from time to time. We consider most naturals to be a perfectly acceptable type of inclusion, but give careful consideration to the location and extent of naturals during our selection process to determine whether they are acceptable to us or not. As recent as twenty years ago, it was quite common to find naturals on the "four corners" of a round brilliant ideal cut diamond (the North, South, East and West sections) because they served as proof to the owner of the diamond cutting factory that the cutter had not removed any more of the diamond rough than necessary. Here''s a picture if you look closely you can actually see the crystal planes of the diamond: