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Diamonds are an expensive investment. For most people shopping for a diamond, they want to find quality at a great price. Therefore, many people will turn to online auctions on the internet, estate sales, and online companies. Typically, these options are legitimate and offer an excellent means for buying a great diamond at a great price. However, that nagging question, “How do I know the diamond is real?” seems to always be lingering overhead.

In actuality, this question is a good one, especially with the manmade diamonds available today being so strikingly similar to the real thing. In fact, most people cannot tell the difference between a fake and the “Real McCoy.” Some manmade materials used for making “diamonds” include clear crystals, colorless gems, and simple glass. With these types of materials, spotting a fake “diamond” is easy. However, now with new materials such as cubic zirconia and Moissanite, coupled with technology, telling the difference between fake and real becomes far more challenging.

If you find a diamond you want to purchase, have a jeweler or diamond cutter take a close look at it. This is harder to manage when you’re shopping at an online auction, but you should figure out a way to have the stone checked. Paying a lot of money for something that turns out to be an imitation could cause you a lot of grief and frustration. If you think someone is offering to sell you a cubic zirconium, there are a few ways to check it out.

One good test is simply to breathe on the gem. If it’s a cubic zirconium, then the fog will stay on it for a while. If it’s truly a diamond, it will clear up right away. Another method is to try writing on it with an ink pen. Ink balls up on a cubic zirconium and makes a line on a diamond. One more thing to try is to turn the stone over and try reading a newspaper through the back. If you can easily make out the print, then you probably are holding an imitation. This wouldn’t be true however, with a real diamond that was cut shallowly.

Another test is to check the weight. A cubic zirconia stone will weigh 55% more on average than a real diamond. If you have a similar size and shape diamond or have a gram or carat scale, the stone’s weight can be compared to help you determine – real or fake. Many real diamonds have fluorescence blue when placed under a black light but 99% of the manmade diamonds do not. Therefore, try holding the stone under the black light, looking for a medium to strong appearance of blue. If you see this, then the stone is real. While this will tell you if the diamond is real, keep in mind that the bluer the color, the lower quality the diamond.

One more test is to place the stone under a magnifying glass. Look down on it from the top and make sure the facets are well joined and look sharp rather than rounded. In a real diamond the girdles will look frosted, instead of clear. If the stone is phony, the girdles will be waxy and slippery. There are a lot of ways to check for diamond authenticity, but these are some good little insider tips.

Copyright 2006, Joy McDougle, All Rights Reserved. This article may be published on web sites or in newsletters provided this notice and the resource box is included without ammendment.