What Makes a Diamond Sparkle?

I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do over the holiday season is window shop. Stores are kicking their marketing campaigns into high gear trying to get me spending every last penny I have on items they have deemed I absolutely can’t live without. Every year, in my knit scarf and mittens, I make my way down the Magnificent Mile enraptured by hundreds of tantalizing displays jumping through neatly pressed panes of glass. Right when I feel I’m about to enter into sensory overload, there is one window that always stops me in my tracks and brings my attention back in full. It is that of the jewelry store. So many shiny, bright objects tantalizing my taste for the luscious – I can’t take my eyes away. There is something about that deep and lustrous shine that steals to my soul for a brief moment. But what is it that makes a diamond sparkle?

 

A big contributor to a diamond’s effervescence is its clarity. The clarity of a stone is defined by the absence or presence of tiny

blemishes called inclusions. Quite often these inclusions are not visible to the naked eye; none the less, the fewer inclusions a diamond has, the more sparkle it will produce. Clarity is important, however, a diamond’s cut is the key to its vivacity. A consistent and well balanced cut allows a stone to capture and reflect light evenly. It is this undeviating reflection of light that causes me to stare, mouth open, mittens pressed against the glass, every time I pass the store front.