It might come as a surprise to find out that clarity enhanced diamonds are being sold in NZ both on-line and by your local jeweller, in fact they have been for a number of years.
Clarity is one of the four c’s you consider when you are purchasing your diamond. It is a pretty important one too as inclusions or natural flaws can impact on how well a diamond can refract light; “sparkle”.
Clarity enhanced diamonds usually started out as an I1 or I2, the lowest grades on the clarity scale. A laser is used to clean out the inclusion, a resin; molten glass and boron solution, is then injected into the flaw. The diamond is then re-polished so you are unable to see where the enhancement has been done. The diamond then appears to be a higher clarity grade.
Although the grade may appear to be higher to the naked eye, a trained gemologist will be able to see the resin with their specific equipment. But what you can see with the naked eye, is a diamond that may now be labeled as VS2, but that does not sparkle as nicely as what you would expect it to. This is because the resin, although hiding the inclusion, does not allow for any more light refraction than when the diamond was I2 perhaps even less.
A jeweller who is selling these diamonds must disclose that the diamond is clarity enhanced and also is obliged to advise of the cons that go along aside purchasing one of these diamonds. The most common and most annoying of which is enhancement reversal. But it seems that many of the unhappy purchases of these diamonds are completely unaware of enhancement reversal.
Clarity enhancement is NOT permanent, even though many jewellers will claim it to be so. If a jeweller is advising you that clarity enhancement is permanent then they are purposefully misleading you and breaking consumer laws.
The resin does not like strong UV rays, so sunbeds and even bright sunlight can reverse the enhancement over time. The resin also does not like acid, chemicals or hot steam. So washing the dishes, entering a spa pool and nail varnish cleaner will all reverse the process. Even a knock to the ring can break the glass now embedded inside the diamond.
If you have a clarity enhanced diamond you must advise your local jeweller, if they are unaware and trying to repair or clean your ring the enhancement can reverse. Diamonds with enhanced clarity have reversed just by being placed in a jewellers ultrasonic cleaner!
No matter how well you treat your diamond over time the resin will change to have a greyish tint giving the diamond a very unpleasant appearance.
I do not recommend anyone purchase these diamonds. Although the lower price for a larger stone might seem attractive in the first instance, this is a false economical view.
The only option for the many disappointed consumers we have had in-store wanting to know what their options are now is to request a refund. These clients have bought these diamonds off dodgy jewellers. They have not had the true nature of the enhanced diamonds explained to them and would never have considered buying one if they had. A couple have had to pursue the matter through the small claims court in order to get the seller to pay up.
The Gemological Institute of America will not issue a grading report for clarity enhanced diamonds. This to me this says it all! It is with out reservation that I recommend customers never purchase enhanced diamonds, they just end up being a huge disappointment to everyone involved, but especially to the person wearing the ring!
If you have a limited budget please contact us and we will be able to have a really good search for the best diamond we can for you. We like to have happy customers and you can be assured we will find you the best diamond for the best price!
www.nzdiamonds.co.nz