#Proportion Scanners Diamond Glare Diamond Grading Report (Cert)
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            Diamond Tutorial Brilliance, Fire and Scintillation
                                Basic 4C's
               [empt.gif]            Introduction
               [empt.gif]       Diamond Grading Report
               [empt.gif]        Diamond Carat Weight
               [empt.gif]            Diamond Cut
               [empt.gif]           Diamon Clarity
               [empt.gif]           Diamond Color
               [empt.gif]            Fancy Shapes
               [empt.gif]            What to buy?
                              Advanced Info
               [empt.gif]        Tolkowsky Ideal Cut
               [empt.gif]         Crown and Pavilion
               [empt.gif]        Holloway Cut Adviser
               [empt.gif]           AGS Ideal Cut
               [empt.gif]      Firescope & Ideal-Scope
               [empt.gif]     Hearts and Arrows Diamonds
               [empt.gif]             Table Size
               [empt.gif]              Fish-eye
               [empt.gif]               60:60
               [empt.gif]               Spread
               [empt.gif]      Diamond Girdle Thickness
               [empt.gif]           Diamond Culet
               [empt.gif]          Diamond Symmetry
               [empt.gif]           Diamond Polish
               [empt.gif]        Diamond Fluorescence
               [empt.gif]        Proportion Scanners
               [pntr.gif] Brilliance, Fire and Scintillation
               [empt.gif]           Diamond Glare
               [empt.gif]          Pricing & Lab's
               [empt.gif]      Treatments & Synthetics
               [empt.gif]             Investment
               [empt.gif]           AGA Cut Charts
               [empt.gif]          Round Brilliant
               [empt.gif]              Princess
               [empt.gif]         Emerald & Radiant
               [empt.gif]    Marquise, Pear, Oval, Heart
               [empt.gif]              Glossary
               [empt.gif]             References
               [empt.gif]             Disclaimer
                             Further Reading
               [empt.gif]           Diamond Prices
               [empt.gif]          Engagement rings
   Brilliance is an essential attribute of a beautiful diamond and has 2
   components; brightness and contrast. Bright diamonds return lots of
   light from the surroundings back to a 'face up' an observer. If light
   from above leaks out the back of a diamond, naturally it has less
   brightness. But light that enters and leaves in the face up direction
   is wasted because your head blocks lights from that direction.
   Diamonds that are too deep or very shallow do this they have areas
   that act like a mirror back to the viewer; they return less light and
   so they have less brightness.
   But to be brilliant, a diamond needs more than just brightness from
   light return. Consider the contrast of a chess board, although it has
   only 1/2 the light return of a sheet of white paper, it appears
   brighter, especially when it is moved because it 'scintillates'.
   Fire or dispersed light appears as flashes of rainbow colors. You see
   more fire in darker environments like restaurants that have just a few
   point light sources or a flickering candle.
   Diamond experts have known for a long time that steep crown angles and
   small tables (like 'old cut' diamonds) produce more fire. But this
   combination also produces less light return. Less light return makes
   it easier to see firey flashes that might otherwise be swamped by
   bright white sparkles; that one reason is why old cut diamonds and
   some fancy cuts appear to have a lot of fire.
   Scintillation is the intense sparkles in a diamond as it moves. Black
   and white sparkles of scintillation show well in flood lit or office
   lighting environments where fire can be totally absent. Under pin
   point or spot lights fire also adds to scintillation. Ideally a
   diamond has many pleasing flashes spread across the surface of the
   stone, with few dull dead patches
   Discuss Diamonds in the Pricescope Forum
   Next Diamond Article: Diamond Glare »
   [brill1.gif]
   A moving chess board appears 'brighter' than a sheet of white paper
   that has only half the light return
   [brill2.gif]
   There are 2 causes of diamond contrast. Leakage can contribute to good
   contrast, e.g. the small leakage areas that are commonly seen around
   the girdle of a diamond with an ideal-scope (on the left). Secondly
   the observers head and body obstruct light sources and can cause the
   contrasting star (on the right) as a result of the relative darkness
   of the observers head (mimicked by the lens of the ideal-scope).
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