Does your Diamond contain a
Man-Made Flaw?
We'll find out... But, before we talk about Diamond Inscriptions and Laser Inscribing, we need to delve deeper into Diamond Quality and how it affects the value of your Diamond.
To do so, we turn to the 4 C's. The 4 C's are Cut, Clarity, Color and Carat Weight. All four Categories weigh heavily on the value of a Diamond. When people shop and compare Diamond Prices, they're comparing the 4 C's! Apples to Apples.
Now 3 of these 4 C's determine the quality of the stone. Cut, Color and Clarity. Those 3 C's look at the Perfection of the Diamond, the Color of the Diamond, and the Shape of the Diamond. They grade how Clean the Diamond is. How Pure White the Diamond is, and how Perfect the Cut is (Angles, Proportions, Percentages).
Clarity
The only Category that truly affects our topic today is Clarity! All the others help define the Diamond and it's value, but Clarity is the Grade that tends to get a magnified look. Clarity in particular, looks at every single dot, every microscopic pin-point, every hairline inclusion and flaw. Clarity looks at every single nook and cranny with 10x magnification. It scopes the inside of the Diamond and the surface of the Diamond as well. Every Fleck, every Cloud, every Feather is evaluated. Nothing is overlooked. (Well, almost, that's where we're going...)
After all is said and done, after the quality of the Diamond is judged and the information for a detailed Certification Report obtained, we do a very odd thing...
We mar the Diamond!
We actually laser burn numbers and letters into the stone. We brand the Certification Report Number right into the Diamond. (See Picture)
The branding act itself caused a lot of controversy when Laser Inscribed Diamonds were first introduced many years ago. Gemologists and Diamontologists (Experts in the fields of Gems and Diamonds) had heated battles over the value of these man-made flaws and inscriptions. Were they good or bad? How do they really affect the quality of the Diamond? Will Inscriptions stand up to the scrutiny or actually harm the value of the Diamond in the future?
Where else would one judge a work of art for perfection, then add flaws to it? It sounds funny, but that's exactly what we're doing with Laser Inscriptions. We're digging into the Diamond and removing some of the stone. (Does this also make the Diamond smaller in Carat Size? Yes, but not enough to really make any difference!) We Create indentations and grooves in the stone just like Egyptians did with Hieroglyphs.
Does this make any sense? When we talk about Clarity, we're talking about making opinions about microscopic inclusions, flaws and surface blemishes. So why aren't these tiny nicks we engrave in the Girdle considered a surface blemish? Why aren't they considered a flaw? And not only one flaw, but lots of them. Look at the GIA etching in the picture. There's almost a dozen flaws carved into it. Aren't we being a bit hypocritical to exclude these as an imperfection?
Flawless
Let's take a moment and think about a Flawless Diamond. A Flawless Diamond has no Flaws, Inclusions, Blemishes, Feathers, Clouds, Trigons or Naturals (Surface Nicks). Flawless, in every sense, is supposed to be Flawless! Void of any marks, mars or microscopic characteristics. So by adding a Laser Inscription to this Diamond, do we not dig up the side of the Diamond? The branded Girdle is not perfect anymore. Why? Why doesn't Laser Inscripting hurt the Clarity of that Diamond? By all means it should. If a dot can cause a lower rating, wouldn't lots of dots be worse? You want to know why Inscriptions aren't taken into consideration for Clarity Grading? I'll tell you...
Certification Companies over look Inscriptions because... Read on...
