Diamond or Glass?

[kwselke]

I walk quite a bit every day and find things that others have dropped, mostly small change. Today something sparkly caught my eye as I was walking home from my gym. I reached down, picked it up, and stuck it in my pocket. My first thought was that it was a piece of glass that had fallen out of a piece of costume jewelry. Once I got home and put my reading glasses on it appeared to be pretty neat.

I do not know how to tell glass gems from cut diamonds. I'll take it to a jeweler sometime this week for a determination, but figured some here may have some comments.

It weighed in at 3 grams on my food scale. It has no color. Lots of sparkle. Is it real or is it Memorex?

 

[sheepdawg]

Most diamonds do have a color however faint. Drop it in a glass of water, glass will drop very slowly or even float, a diamond will sink rapidly. Breathe on it, a real diamond will clear quickly, glass won't, it will stay fogged. Scratch it on some smooth steel, a diamond will scratch steel, glass won't.

 

[billwill]

Hurry up and try the above.....Enquiring minds want to know

 

[vt_shooter]

A long time ago I read about a guy who bought a large and very expensive diamond (not set in anything, just the cut stone). Knowing it was the hardest thing on earth, he thought it’d be cool to place the diamond on an anvil and give it a good wack with a heavy hammer so he could then see the cool diamond shaped indention that would result in the anvil. It was a very expensive lessen that hardness does not equate to strength; he was left with worthless dust. So don't wack it with a hammer!

 

[pawngal]

Jeweler or pawnshop for testing is the only way to be certain.
If I lost a diamond that big I'd be retracing every step I had made.

 

[kwselke]

Most diamonds do have a color however faint. Drop it in a glass of water, glass will drop very slowly or even float, a diamond will sink rapidly. Breathe on it, a real diamond will clear quickly, glass won't, it will stay fogged. Scratch it on some smooth steel, a diamond will scratch steel, glass won't.

It sank like a rock in a glass of water and clanked when it hit bottom. It put a scratch on the flat side of the stainless blade of a cheap chef's knife. The scratch is visible and will catch my finger nail. The fog test with central a/c inside and 98% relative humidity outside is too difficult for me to attempt. Thanks.

 

[rwsmith]

your can read....

Most diamonds do have a color however faint. Drop it in a glass of water, glass will drop very slowly or even float, a diamond will sink rapidly. Breathe on it, a real diamond will clear quickly, glass won't, it will stay fogged. Scratch it on some smooth steel, a diamond will scratch steel, glass won't.

You can read fine print through a fake, you can't read through a diamond.

 

[kwselke]

You can read fine print through a fake, you can't read through a diamond.

Holding it just right I can read through it. Oh well, I'll still stop by my neighborhood jeweler for an expert opinion.

 

[2152hq]

Hold the suspect diamond w/a tweezers in a gas flame (stove is fine) for a few seconds (20 seconds is good). Get it good and hot.
Then drop it in a bowl or cup of cold water.
A real diamond won't be effected by the heat nor the drastic change of temp in the quench. It'll be just fine.

A phony stone will crack/fracture (you'll have to closely check for the cracks w/a loop sometimes depending on what the material is.
Some will crack and shatter into pieces in the bottom of the container.
Other materials won't make it out of the flame in a solid piece.

 

[Sevens]

This interesting, I can't wait to hear more.

I saw some segment of a news type program that claimed some people in really latge cities with colossal pedestrian traffic (like downtown NYC) sweep up sidewalks daily searching for bits of gold and diamonds, the kinds of small bits that fall from jewelry.

Seems like a heap of dirty work for a small payoff but what do I know.

 

[pawngal]

Hold the suspect diamond w/a tweezers in a gas flame (stove is fine) for a few seconds (20 seconds is good). Get it good and hot.
Then drop it in a bowl or cup of cold water.
A real diamond won't be effected by the heat nor the drastic change of temp in the quench. It'll be just fine.

A phony stone will crack/fracture (you'll have to closely check for the cracks w/a loop sometimes depending on what the material is.
Some will crack and shatter into pieces in the bottom of the container.
Other materials won't make it out of the flame in a solid piece.

I wouldn't advise trying that method. If a diamond happens to have an internal flaw that can cause it to crack. I had a friend that worked in food service, went from working at hot stove into walkin freezer and her diamond cracked with just the slightest bump.

 

[BC38]

...It weighed in at 3 grams on my food scale. It has no color. Lots of sparkle. Is it real or is it Memorex?

3 grams? If it is a diamond it would be 15 carats.
If you found a 15 carat diamond that's like winning a lottery.
I'm betting on cubic zirconium - a.k.a. man made diamond.
Chemically the same, and all the same physical properties (cuts glass/steel, sinks in water, etc.) but not nearly the value per carat of natural diamonds.

 

[soFlaNative]

 

[Crossfaced]

Give it to my ex wife. If she pawns it and buys 2 one way tickets to Florida for her and her boyfriend, it was a real diamond.

 

[pawngal]

3 grams? If it is a diamond it would be 15 carats.
If you found a 15 carat diamond that's like winning a lottery.
I'm betting on cubic zirconium - a.k.a. man made diamond.
Chemically the same, and all the same physical properties (cuts glass/steel, sinks in water, etc.) but not nearly the value per carat of natural diamonds.

Not to be critical but CZ (cubic zirconia) is NOT a man-made diamond. It does sink in water and will scratch glass.
And it is not the same chemical composition as a genuine natural diamond. There are man-made diamonds currently in the marketplace but the cost of them is generally 75-80% of a similar natural diamond so they are not cheap.

I know, more info than you wanted to know.

 

[Onomea]

I, too, am thinking if it is a real diamond and weighs three grams... 15 carats...

Whoa!

(You got any blinged out NBA players in the neighborhood....)

 

[BC38]

Not to be critical but CZ (cubic zirconia) is NOT a man-made diamond. It does sink in water and will scratch glass.
And it is not the same chemical composition as a genuine natural diamond. There are man-made diamonds currently in the marketplace but the cost of them is generally 75-80% of a similar natural diamond so they are not cheap.

I know, more info than you wanted to know.

I stand corrected.
I'm still betting on that being is what it is though
There just aren't that many 15 carat real diamonds around and the chances of anyone loosing one and not realizing it quickly enough to go back and find it just seem really small.
But stranger things have happened...

 

[Fishslayer]

Not to be critical but CZ (cubic zirconia) is NOT a man-made diamond. It does sink in water and will scratch glass.
And it is not the same chemical composition as a genuine natural diamond. There are man-made diamonds currently in the marketplace but the cost of them is generally 75-80% of a similar natural diamond so they are not cheap.

I know, more info than you wanted to know.

I have a fairly cheap CZ earring a bit over a carat that I wear all the time. The fire from it is simply blazing. When people ask if it's real I tell them it is... a real CZ!

My wife's engagement diamond is about the same size and has nowhere near the fire.

 

[JSR III]

Mail it to me, if its glass I will mail it back................

 

[pawngal]

I have a fairly cheap CZ earring a bit over a carat that I wear all the time. The fire from it is simply blazing. When people ask if it's real I tell them it is... a real CZ!

My wife's engagement diamond is about the same size and has nowhere near the fire.

Being that I am in the pawn shop business, I have plenty of jewelry, both real & fabulous fakes. One of my favorites is a fake
like this, 2ct center 1/2 ct sides CZs