Nobody remembered to lift the hood to check out the engine!!!

This is EXACTLY what's happening today to 99% of the diamond buyers in stores, malls and YES most of all ... the Internet.  How exactly can we lift up the hood of a diamond and check it's engine you ask?  Quite simple. Through the use of a device I've put together which runs along the idea of of an instrument called the FireScope™ and another instrument gaining popularity on the internet called the Ideal Scope I can see with incredible clarity not only light return vs light leakage but also the the intensity of that light return and how much of it is present within the stone.  What I've made is kind of similar to both though I believe is a bit more advanced in the quality of information it gives for a number of reasons that will be demonstrated further on in this report.  As of this writing I have not devised a name for the instrument I have made so for all sakes and purposes I'll simply refer to it as "DiamXray".

A true 2nd generation instrument

As you are browsing the images on this page and also in our For Sale section you'll be viewing images I've taken with DiamXray.  Other websites are beginning to pop up who are attempting to copy my work (I'm flattered) and while the efforts are noted they are still back in 1st generation technology.  Take for example these 2 images which are of the same diamond yet under different viewers.  These first 2 images, while looking very nice are similar to 1st generation FireScope™ images.  All the reds appear to be of the same saturation and the pics are definitely more friendly to leakage in that all reds appear to be rich and dark.

Here is the same diamond under DiamXray.

Take note ... all these pics were taken under the same resolution, with the same camera and are UNRETOUCHED original photo's.  As you can plainly see the quality of the optics and the science into developing our DiamXray was not an overnight experiment. The lens used is custom made by a medium format camera company and only the highest precision optics are used and custom made for our photo setup.  In the DiamXray pic you can plainly see the high contrast between the dark red vs the light reds and every shade in between.  This is crucial to interpretation since light reds are telling us something completely different than the dark reds.  You'll learn more about this below and why this is important.

Looking at an image that's giving you the illusion of all dark reds can be deceiving when making critical gemological analysis.  Especially when it involves thousands of your hard earned dollars.

A definition of terms

• In this article I will be limiting my use of the word brilliancy, brilliant & brilliance to refer strictly to white light return as it is reflected *internally* within a diamond.  Although the word "brilliance" can refer to the overall brilliance of a diamond encompassing TOTAL light reflection, I am, for simplicity sake using it to ONLY refer to white light return from internal reflections as a direct result of observation under direct or strong lighting such as halogen bulbs or the sun.  

• I will also be using the words "colored light return", (also known as fire) & "dispersion" interchangeably although GIA has defined a difference between the 2.  When I mention either of the 2 I'm talking about the diamonds ability to break down white light and disperse it into the colors of the rainbow (which we all like to observe in the most beautiful diamonds).  

• Scintillation, simply as the movement of the white and colored light within the diamond as either the light source is moved over the diamond, or the viewers head over the diamond or both.

Basic principal & use

A diamonds facets are functioning in either one of 2 roles.  They're either functioning as mirrors or windows.  The primary facets that should be functioning in the role of "mirror" are the pavilion facets, which when coupled with the proper crown angles will reflect beautiful rainbows, white light and sizzle (or scintillation) we all love to observe in fine diamonds.   While the DiamXray itself cannot interpret "white light return/colored light return/scintillation", nor can it attribute numerical data in quantitative results like the BrillianceScope can, it does show it's observer some very interesting information about the light return of diamonds which I will attempt to educate you on.

The basic principal and use of the DiamXray is to encapsulate and surround a diamond with 2 solid colors (red and black).  Have a contrasting color beneath the diamond (white) and observe how nicely or poorly the diamond reflects the colors being transmitted into it.   So ... in basic principal there are 3 primary colors one will observe. Black, red or white.