Ways to Tell if a Diamond Is Fake

Video Transcript

"It's easy for me to tell you, but unless I had the two beside each other, it's somewhat difficult for the layperson to determine it. Basically, diamonds have no see-through effect. Any other stone, a white stone, regardless of what it is, you can lay it on its top on a piece of paper and if you can read the letters through it, it's not a diamond. That's an easy thing to say, but when it's in a ring, it's impossible to do that. But, basically, the way I tell as a gemologist and as a jeweler for all these years, I'll look under the microscope and the facets, the junctions on a diamond are very, very precise and distinct. Whereas, the other stones, the simulated diamonds, the facets are not distinct, they tend to roll because they won't take such a high polish like a diamond will. And then secondly, the edge of the diamond, a real diamond, is very, very rough; that's termed a girdle. It's very rough because of the difficulty in cutting such a very hard substance such as diamond, hardest substance known to exist. Whereas, the other stones, they cut fairly easily and they almost have a waxy appearance versus a rocky appearance. So those are the two ways that I determine it."