xbox360's Blog

When it comes to diamonds, there are

numerous scams to avoid. Most scams are

minor, but there are some major ones that

come up from time to time concerning the

buying and selling of diamonds. Scams

occur simply because most people who buy

diamonds – for whatever reasons – don’t

know that much about diamonds. Therefore,

they are easily fooled.

A common scam that most jewelry stores

participate in is the Carat Total Weight scam.

The tag on the piece of jewelry, usually a ring,

only states the total carat weight of all

diamonds in the piece, instead of listing the

total weights separately for each diamond.

This leads consumers to believe that the main

diamond in the piece is actually bigger than it

is. Ask what the total carat weight of the center

stone is. Also beware of fractions. Jewelry

stores are allowed to round off diamond

weights. This means that if the jeweler tells

you that it is a ¾ carat diamond, it is

probably between ½ and ¾ carat – but

closer to ¾.

Jewelry stores often run ‘fluorescence’

scams to varying degrees. Referring to a

diamond as a blue-white diamond is such a

scam. A blue-white diamond sounds very

unique and special, but in fact, this type of

diamond is of lesser quality – even though

the jeweler will try to make you think you are

getting something special. Jewelry stores

also like to show their diamonds in bright

lights. Lights make diamonds shine. Ask

to see the diamond in a different, darker

type of lighting as well.

Some truly unscrupulous jewelers target

those who want appraisals on diamonds

that were given to them as gifts or that were

purchased elsewhere. They will try to tell you

that the diamond is worthless, or worth less

than it actually is worth – and offer to take it

off your hands or trade it for a much better

diamond, along with the cash to make up

the difference. This is called low balling.

Get a second, third, and even a forth opinion

before taking any action.

Another common dirty trick is to switch the

diamond you have chosen and paid for with

one of lesser quality and value when you

leave it to be set in a piece of jewelry, or

leave a diamond ring to be sized. The only

way to avoid this is to do business with one

trustworthy jeweler. Avoid jewelers that you

have not done business with in the past.

There are many more scams that jewelry

stores commonly pull on unsuspecting

consumers. Just use your best judgment,

and purchase your diamonds with the

utmost care and consideration.

In their most natural form, diamonds are –

well – quite ugly. They have no luster or shine,

and in fact, look like nothing more than

broken glass. A diamond must be cut, and

then polished before it actually becomes a

thing of beauty.

Diamonds are cut with saws, into round

shapes. From the rounded shape, other

shapes may be cut, such as heart shapes

– but the shape is less important than the

quality of the cutting that is being done. If

the diamond is poorly cut, it will lose light,

and it will not sparkle and shine very well.

Each facet of the diamond must be

carefully cut into the geometrical shapes

that allow the diamond to sparkle and

shine, then the entire diamond is cut into

a specific shape, such as an emerald cut

or a princess cut diamond.

Once the cut is done, the diamond is put into

a dop, which resembles a cup with another

diamond – only a diamond is strong enough

to smooth the edges of another diamond.

Once the diamond has been cut and shaped,

and had the edges smoothed in the dop, it is

polished on a scaif or a diamond polishing

wheel.

Argye mine located in the Kimberley region

in the far north east of Western Australia.

Owned by Rio Tinto, this mine is the world’s

largest single producer of volume of

diamonds. However, due to low proportion

of gem quality diamonds it is not the value

leader. It does produce 90-95% of the

world’s supply of pink diamonds.

Diavik is also owned by Rio Tinto, located in

Canada it is a very large mine. It is located

north of Yellowknife and south of the Artic

Circle on an island. The island is connected

by an ice road. It is also an important part of

the regions economy employing more than

700 people and producing more than 8 million

carats annually.

Ekati diamond mine is owned by BHP

Billiton and located south of the artic circle

in the Northwest Territories of Canada.

The Ekati is Canada’s first operational

diamond mine. Diamonds mined here

are sold under the Aurias trade name

Authenticity is verified through Canada

Mark service. CanadaMark service is also

owned by BHP Billiton Diamonds, Inc.

Baken diamond mine is located along the

lower Orange River in South Africa. It is

owned and operated by Trans Hex. The

average size stone for 2004 was 1.29

carats. In 2004, this mine produced a

78.9 carat D color flawless diamond that

sold for more than 1.8 million dollars (US),

as well as a 27.67 pink diamond that was

sold for over 1 million US dollars.

Merlin is the second of only two diamond

mines in Australia. No longer operating it

was owned by Rio Tinto and sold to Striker

Resources, who has explored the

possibilities of reopening the mine.

Orapa is the world’s largest diamond mine.

It us located 240 Km west of

Francistown. The mine is owned by

"Debswana" which is a partnership

between DeBeers and the government of

Botswana. This mine operates 7 days a

week. It maintains pre primary and

primary schools for its employee’s children.

There is also a 100 bed hospital and game

park. This mine began production in 1971

and is the oldest mine owned by the

Debswana Company.

The Premier mine located in Cullinan, South

Africa produced the largest gem diamond

ever in 1905. The Cullinan Diamond

weighed 3,106.75 carats. This mine also

produced the Golden Jubilee diamond

which weighed 545.67 carats. This mine is

owned by the De Beers Company and was

renamed The Cullinan Diamond Mine in

2003 in celebration of its centennial.