Buying diamond jewelry is fun and thrilling, but authenticity is the first thing that comes into one’s mind. If you put your money in a real diamond nose ring, you want to be sure that you got what you paid for. Luckily, you can find out whether your precious nose jewelry is made of real diamond or just a pretty imitation by using some of the trusted ways, which are simple and can be done at home.
Understanding the Importance of Diamond Authentication
Just before examining different testing ways, the main point of recognition has to be understood. There are the artificial stones, the cubic zirconia, and the moissanite that are the most significant competitors of the diamond. They are much cheaper but are also less durable, less brilliant, and have almost no future value. Knowing exactly what you have in your possession helps you decide on the right amount of insurance, care, or even resale of your jewelry.
The Water Drop Test for Diamond Verification
One of the least complicated diamond authenticity tests is accomplished by water. Real diamonds are heavier, and this changes how water behaves on their surface. Make sure that you put a drop of water onto a flat surface of the diamond with the help of a dropper. In the case of a real diamond, the water drops will retain their shape for quite some time, and water will not spread from a small area quickly. The water might spread out quite fast, or it may not be in the shape of a drop if the stone is fake, which means you are dealing with a fake one.
How to Use the Fog Test on Your Real Diamond Nose Ring
The fog test is still one of the easiest and most widely accepted tests done at home. Just take your nose ring near your mouth and blow the air on it. The air is warm, and the result is fogging the mirror. The diamond that is real allows the heat to escape very quickly, and therefore it is not easy to fog it up. If the fog stays on your stone for some seconds before the clearing step, then the stone is not a diamond. The mistake that many people make is not realizing that diamonds are even better conductors of heat than most metals, which is why the fog disappears instantly.
Examining Brilliance and Light Refraction
Light refraction is something that diamonds have been known for for a long time, and diamonds do it in quite different ways from the other gems. You should first expose the nose ring to a light source and then carefully watch how light gets into the stone. The real diamond is composed of the white and the gray-reddish reflections, making the first one much brighter than the other. If it is the rainbow colors that are coming bouncing out of the stone, then it is either cubic zirconia or moissanite. Also, when a diamond is put on top of some printed text, one should not see the characters through it because of its strong refraction ability.
The Newspaper or Transparency Test
One of the simplest methods to determine if your diamond is a real one or a fake glass is by performing the following test. Put your nose ring on the stone side down on a newspaper or any printed paper. Then try to read the text through the stone. A genuine diamond distorts the light so intensely that it is impossible to read the text through it. In case you can read the text nicely or see some black smudges, then your diamond is most probably a fake one. It is because diamonds split light into many directions that it is not possible to see through them directly.
Checking Under Ultraviolet Light
A lot of real diamonds show the effect of fluorescence when exposed to ultraviolet light. Bring your nose ring to a dark place and see how it reacts to the UV or black light. Most of the real diamonds will show a bright blue glow under this light. However, this test is far from being a decisive one, as not all real diamonds glow, and some fakes may also fluoresce. Therefore, you should not entirely rely on this method and better combine it with other tests.
Inspecting with a Magnifying Glass
While a jeweler’s magnifying glass would be the best, a regular magnifying glass is fine for simple checking. Look at your diamond close up to spot tiny imperfections or inclusions. In most cases, natural diamonds have minute flaws, minerals, or even a bit of color that comes from their long process of formation. Lab-made diamonds usually don’t have any of these things because they are made in a controlled environment. These imperfections don’t lower the value of the diamond; on the contrary, they are proof of the diamond’s authenticity.
The Heat Test Method
One of the most prominent features of diamonds is that they are excellent thermal conductors and can sustain even the most abrupt changes in temperature. Use a lighter to heat your nose ring stone for about thirty seconds and then cool it down by dropping it into the water immediately. A real one will still be fine as it releases the heat very quickly. On the other hand, fakes made of glass or quartz will crack or break due to thermal shock. At any rate, be careful with this test, since it may cause a bit of your jewelry to become damaged.
Professional Verification Remains Essential
These at-home tests can give you a rough idea of the authenticity of your diamond, but they are not as reliable as professional certification. Gemologists use specially designed and expensive equipment like thermal conductivity probes and diamond testers that can give you quick and accurate results. So if your real diamond nose ring has a considerable monetary or sentimental value, then the best thing to do would be to get it professionally authenticated, which in turn would give you peace of mind and an authentication document that can be used for insurance purposes. Always buy diamonds from trustworthy sellers who provide certificates from well-known gemological laboratories such as GIA or AGS.
Jewelry choices informed by knowledge are the best protection for your investment and also your confidence when you wear your gorgeous diamond accessories. By doing these easy tests, you will be able to spot most counterfeit diamonds in no time, which means that you will not need to go to a professional very often for verification.
