EDUCATIONAL FAQ'S
What is Brilliance, Dispersion and Scintillation?
Brilliance - this is the internal and external white light which is reflected from the diamond
Dispersion - this is also known as the Fire and refers to the dispersion of white light into rainbow colours when it hits the facets of the diamond.
Scintillation - this is the contrast between darker and lighter areas within the diamond. The unique flashes of light from facet to facet when the diamond is moved (the sparkle).
What are Melee diamonds?
Melee is the term used to describe small stones which measure from 0.025ct to 0.07ct. Diamonds below 0.02ct are referred to as Stars.
What is a Facet?
A facet is the flat polished surface on a diamond. For example, a Round diamond has 58 facets.
What does brilliant cut and step cut mean?
These are both terms which relate to different cutting styles used to cut diamonds.
Brilliant cut is the most common cutting style for diamonds and the most common is the round brilliant cut. This cutting style creates triangular shaped facets.
Step Cut is the cutting style used to cut Emerald and Asscher shaped diamonds. This cutting style is where the facets are elongated and placed in rows.
There are some styles which are a mix of both cutting styles, such as Princess. These are called mixed cuts.
Each cutting style has its own unique light reflecting properties.
What are fancy shaped diamonds?
Any shape that is not round is a fancy shape diamond.
Why do gemstones of the same type and size vary in cost?
Gemstones often vary in price due to the quality of the stones. The quality is determined by the colour, symmetry, luster and transparency. For example, ten 1ct Ruby gemstones could all vary in price if they are all of different quality.
What is the Mohs Scale?
The Mohs Scale measures the hardness of a gemstone. Often people think hardness and toughness are the same thing but when it comes to gemmology they actually have different meanings.
Hardness refers to how well a gemstone can resist scratches and abrasion.
Toughness is how well a gemstone can resist breaking and chipping.
Diamonds are one of the hardest materials known to man which means a diamond can only be scratched by another diamond. Diamonds are not the toughest material known to man which means they can easily be fractured with a knock to the right place.
Diamonds are the hardest materials on the Mohs scale and they’re 10 times harder than the next gemstone, Corundum (Ruby and Sapphire).
