This is the Laher Engagement Ring Journal.

Today, we’re talking FAKE DIAMONDS and how raise the red flag during a consult.

Your Diamond Could Be Fake…

Here Is A Quick Way Make Sure Your Diamond Matches The Cert

You can never wholeheartedly trust The Rapaport when it comes to the scare mongering around lab grown diamonds being passed off as natural diamonds… 

However, there is some validity in their last announcement. We’ve had first hand experience. 

The stories that are circulating throughout the jewellery industry at the moment, are of customers coming in for certification of their natural diamond and finding out it’s actually a lab grown diamond. 

Our head jeweller also does valuations for customers. Recently they have been called upon for their opinion in a court case of a 30k natural that was discovered to actually be a lab grown.

Scary stuff. 

The issue is that it’s unbelievably difficult for any consumer to know the difference between labs and naturals. It’s hard enough for us, let alone a stray punter looking to paralyse their bank account for a ‘forever-after’.

What makes it a ‘fake’, is that a lab grown diamond will be deliberately paired with a real natural diamond certification. 

The methods that certifiers use to identify a lab vs natural are quite complex, generally the main approaches are through UV testing and the laser inscriptions. 

Now, before the jewellers jump my throat, I am well aware there are tech approaches that we are not listing here - however the point of this article is to highlight some tool-free, non-expertise weidling techniques to raise qualify what the jewellers are laying down for you. 

To give you an idea of the nuances that are in play - a recent story that we became aware of; a “natural” diamond was flagged as potentially fake due to the laser inscription around the rim of the diamond (all diamonds have this), was in the wrong font.

They had polished the original inscription away and redone their own to match a real diamond cert. Wild. Someone noticed the slight difference in font matching and flagged it for further testing - turns out it was fake.

So, let me explain to you our initial method for throwing up the off-side flag, before then requesting further certification. 

It’s in the inclusion mapping section on your certification. 

On your cert, there will be a segment called ‘Clarity Characteristics’. 

In this section the visual features of the stone are highlighted and this is the simplest way, (without any technical tools), to identify if your stone matches the certification. See below:

FIRSTLY, before diving into the inclusions mapping - make sure the diamond measurements are DEAD ON. 

The dimensions are very specific and quite difficult to match a ‘fake’ stone to a current certification's specs. So when choosing your stone, let the jeweller show you the dimensions and make sure they match perfectly. 

Although dimensions are difficult to match - it's often human error that makes it hard to perfectly align. They might be slightly off, however this would more than likely be due to measuring technique.

So, this is where the Clarity Characteristics play an important role. 

Unless internally flawless, (more on this in a second), your stone will have visual inclusions, even if only visible under magnification. 

So you’ll want to look at the certification and see where the inclusions are situated and make sure this lines up with the inclusions of the stone you are looking at. 

The likelihood of a certification matching the inclusions of a fake stone is extremely rare. 

What If It's Internally Flawless? 

As mentioned above, you will not have any clarity characteristics to base an initial validation off. However, if you are paying for the premium of an Internally Flawless stone, you should request a 3rd party certification. These are a fraction of the cost of what you’ll be paying and your jeweller should offer this regardless. 

If you are based in Australia, we’d recommend Bill Sechos. Who we use for all our certification and is widely acknowledged as the best here in Australia. 

Want to know something though? 

I tell you who is not affected by this issue…. Those customers who are already looking for lab grown options. Something that we highly recommend. 

See our range of Lab Grown Diamonds here; 

https://laher.co/collections/lab-grown-diamonds