CRACKED, CHIPPED OR BROKEN DIAMOND?

People are always concerned about their diamonds. They are in fear that they’ve cracked the stone, or that a jeweler sold them a cracked diamond, or even chipped the stone during the mounting process!

Let me settle this whole mess right now. 9 times out of 10, the answer is:

NO!

Your diamond isn’t cracked.

Let me explain…

In over 20 years of looking at thousands of diamonds, I think only 2 of them have actually been what I would call “a real crack“.

When you purchased your diamond, it was new and shiny and beautiful and you were filled with excitement by the sparkle, fire and life it gave you.

Weeks later, after hand lotions, soaps, powders, perfumes, gels & shampoo, your diamond has…

Lost some of that sparkle

When the brilliance doesn’t shine like it used to when it was clean, you’ll be able to see inclusions inside the diamond easier. The inclusions are more noticeable because they don’t have sparkles of light hiding them anymore.

People always mistake an inclusion for a crack (even though technically, a crack is a type of inclusion).

If the jeweler sold you a cracked diamond, chipped diamond or broken diamond, you would have been able to see it immediately.

Chips or cracks don’t suddenly show up weeks later like a magic trick. It doesn’t work that way. Cracks don’t rise up and expand like bread in the oven. Plus it’s very rare to actually crack a diamond, and usually when it really does happen, it’s caused by striking the diamond with just the right amount of force and pressure at just the right angle.

And if you did hit it that hard to actually break it, believe me, you’d know it! You’d look down at your hand and see that your lovely little diamond ain’t so lovely anymore. Once you see a cracked diamond, you’ll always be able to spot one. It’s that apparent!

So what does a cracked diamond look like?

When a diamond is cracked the signs are usually easy to see.

It will usually either look like it’s broken into two sections, one side being a clean beautiful diamond, the other side looking like a piece of salt…

(Cloudyyyyy)

Or you’ll see a huge white cloudy piece darting it’s way into your stone like a fault line in an earthquake. But sometimes you’ll just chip the edge and actually take a chunk out of the side, those type of breaks you can actually feel with your fingertip if you run it along the girdle, the diamond’s edge.

So now that we’ve decided what you have is not a crack, What now?

Clean your diamond!

Buy an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.

Simple as that. If you clean the dirt and debris off the bottom of the diamond, get rid of that grudge and grime and fingerprints, it will shine like the day you bought it.

If it makes you feel better, take it back to the jeweler and scope it. Chances are, a good cleaning will make everything alright.

So what about the people that believe the jeweler really did sell them a cracked diamond? Now that you see this “cracked” inclusion and know it’s there, you will always see it. I would truly believe that when you bought the diamond, you probably weren’t too concerned about scoping the diamond and looking for inclusions inside it.

Also meaning…

You get what you paid for!

The diamond you bought is probably an SI2 clarity or an I clarity diamond. The jeweler wasn’t pulling the wool over your eyes, they were not ripping you off, they were selling you a diamond that at the time, you didn’t pay much attention to.

This is true.

People buy diamonds that are broken, chipped or cracked everyday…

And it’s usually because they were looking for a deal. A cheap stone, regardless of price…

Until the inclusion reared its ugly head…

Sadly, it’s not a wonderful position to be in. You bought too quickly before you knew better.

Here’s how to resolve the issue:

Take it back to the jeweler, explain to them that you are not happy with the clarity of the diamond because you can see the inclusions with the bare eye. Ask them if you can view other diamonds, of similar clarity to find one that does look better. You may have to upgrade, or trade it towards a diamond with a better clarity.

Now that you know about the clarity and visible inclusions, you’ll probably want to spend more time and money looking at stones closer. It’s a tough lesson to learn, but most people are hasty in choosing a diamond, and only open their eyes when they feel jilted.

Upgrading your diamond

I would advise spending a bit more money and upgrade to a higher clarity diamond, like an SI1 clarity diamond (the most popular clarity because of looks and price). The inclusions in an SI1 diamond are small and you won’t be seeing them with the eye no matter if the diamond is sparkling clean or not. You’ll be saying goodbye to cloudy cracked-looking inclusions and hello to a clean diamond.

Microscope the diamonds…

Always microscope a diamond BEFORE you buy it. That way the unexpected flaws won’t be showing up when the brilliance and sparkle settles down. This isn’t something a new bride-to-be wants to worry about. Plus she’ll be sad that the diamond she was proposed with is ugly and full of inclusions and had to be exchanged.

Don’t make that mistake!

Buy a good clarity FIRST, like these SI1 clarity diamonds, and you’ll save yourself lots of grief and woes later on.

Cheers! :)