A DIAMOND SIMULANT EDUCATION

What is a Fake Diamond?

Fake diamond, counterfeit diamond, diamond simulant, call them what you want, the bottom line is that it is not a diamond. However, not all are created equal.

There are many branded diamond simulants on the market. Expert knowledge of cutting and polishing natural diamond tells us that many diamond simulants on the market are of very poor quality and fall short of being convincing as a fake diamond.

Since diamonds moved to the forefront of the gem industry there have been many diamond simulants, from leaded glass to the most convincing and successful simulant to date, Cubic Zirconia (CZ). 

Over the past 50 years there have been other developments in diamond simulants using other mineral materials, such as Strontium Titanate, Synthetic Rutile and even Synthetic White Sapphire. Yet these are no longer in common use as diamond simulants due to their unconvincing optical properties.

A more recent diamond simulant is a synthetic product called Moissanite or Silicon Carbide. It has gained popularity as a diamond simulant, although its high cost and sometimes unconvincing colour properties make it a relatively unimportant diamond stimulant.

If a diamond simulant is to stand the ultimate test you must be able to impress a professional diamond dealer at arm’s length, which we have done many times. At arm’s length most will say they can't be sure, they will then ask if they can use a 10x magnification loupe. If they are professionally trained they will be able see that CARAT* simulants, and Moissanites for that matter, are not diamond. With that being said, how many qualified people do you know walk around with a 10x loupe?