How to Pick a Diamond

(This tutorial only applies to round brilliant diamonds. If you’re looking for a princess cut diamond, please read my tutorial on princess cuts here.) You’ve read all the basics and you’re now ready to start looking for a diamond. What you’ll find once you start looking is that if you just input the 4Cs into a diamond search, you’ll end up with many choices that all look … [Read more…]

Hearts and Arrows

Hearts and arrows (H&A) diamonds have become popular in large part due to the romance associated with it, and it is impossible to deny the connection that is immediately made with the symbol of the diamond ring and a wedding engagement. It’s no wonder the term has been heavily marketed. The diamond industry even refers to it as the “Cupid Effect”. But while many people … [Read more…]

Diamond Light Performance

Light performance refers to how a diamond handles light. A diamond can either return or leak light. I’m going to try to explain this by using the following diagram. Let’s follow a ray of light (in blue) as it enters a diamond with ideal proportions through the crown. First it is slowed down and bent. Inside the diamond, the ray of light is totally reflected off two … [Read more…]

Idealscope and ASET

The idealscope and the Angular Spectrum Evaluation Tool (ASET) viewer are the two most important tools that you need in order to assess light performance. This tutorial is designed to help you understand what these tools are used for, how to use them properly, and how to interpret their results. It’s important that you understand that the handheld versions of the idealscope … [Read more…]

Character of Diamond

The character of diamond can be broken down to brilliance, fire, and sparkle scintillation. The character of diamond is so important that I’ve coined it the 6th C of diamonds, after carat, color, clarity, cut, and cost. Brilliance Brilliance is brightness and contrast. I’m going to try to explain this with a short story from my very first diamond consult. When I first … [Read more…]

Holloway Cut Advisor (HCA)

The Holloway Cut Advisor (HCA) is a piece of software that was developed by Gary Holloway to help you determine the potential light performance of a diamond. The HCA is easy to use. You just simply plug in the information in a diamond lab report and it outputs a score. You can access the HCA tool here. This is what you get from an HCA result: If you were ever … [Read more…]