One Sunday after church, Don and I stopped at the grocery store in town to pick up a couple of items. As he got out of the car, something on the ground caught his eye. He bent down to pick it up. "Here's a diamond for my honey," he said, and handed me ... a diamond.
I'm no expert on gemstones, but I'm guessing maybe 10 carats in size?
I chuckled at the thought of finding someone's lost glass or cubic zirconia gemstone ending up in the parking lot of a small-town grocery story. I tucked the diamond in my purse without much thought.
Much later, Don asked to see the diamond. He found a source online to determine the difference between glass or CZ vs. a real diamond. On the remote possibility this truly was a 10-carot diamond found in the parking lot of a small-town grocery store (hey, stranger things have happened), we would of course make a sincere effort to reunite it with its owner.
Of the many possible tests to determine a real vs. fake diamond, we used two. One is called the "Read-Through Effect":
"To test the diamond’s refractivity, gently place the stone flat side down onto a page of newspaper in an area with lots of lettering. Ensure the lighting is bright and that no objects or people are casting a shadow on the diamond.
"If you’re able to read the letters of the newspaper – even if the letters are a bit blurry – the diamond is fake. If the diamond is real, its facets will refract the light in different directions, rather than in a straight line. Because of this refraction of light, you won’t be able to see clearly through the diamond and make out the letters on the paper."
So we put a newspaper down on a table, and put the diamond flat-side down over the newsprint. Yep, easy to see the lettering through it.
The other test we used is called the Dot Test:
"Place a white piece of paper on a flat surface and draw a small dot with a pen. Lay the stone onto the dot with the flat side down. Through the pointed end of the diamond, look down onto the paper. If you see a circular reflection inside the gemstone, the stone is fake. If you cannot see the dot or a reflection in the stone, then the diamond is real.
"Because a true diamond has powerful refractive qualities, light will bounce in different directions instead of a straight line. This is why you won’t be able to see letters or dots through a natural, real diamond."
So we drew a black dot on a white piece of paper...
...and put the diamond flat-side down over it.
Perfect circle. Yep, fake diamond.
I'm sincerely glad someone didn't lose a real diamond, and I also sincerely hope no one applies these tests to their own diamond jewelry and learns they were snookered.
Well, that was interesting!
ReplyDeleteI lost a real diamond on the beach in front of my house. My mom gave me my great-grandmother's engagement ring, and the diamond slipped out one day. You know what's impossible? Finding a diamond on a sandy beach. Still upset about it years later.
ReplyDeleteTherefore: if anyone reading this inherits fine jewelry, take it to a reputable jeweler to be evaluated. How strong are the prongs? Etc. Learn from my mistake.
What an informative post! Had no idea of these methods! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWow, the stuff ya learn in this blog. Just when we thought we had Patrice kinda figured out...
ReplyDelete(I'm sure Don came to this same conclusion, long ago.)
That's definitely like me:
ReplyDeletea diamond in the rrrough:
♡ nrg2xtc.blogspot.com ♡
GBY
Dontcha hate how our 'Prez'
ReplyDelete(which he wouldnt be if the
OWG hadn't gottn in the way)
loves to abort without a thot
of how that's gonna effect his
eternity??? Pray for him. I do.
GBY