Glossary of some interesting diamond terms

We use excellent quality diamonds in our Claddagh rings therefore we are constantly commited to providing diamond education to our clients to help them understand the high quality of their diamond claddagh purchases. The following is an interesting glossary of some diamond terms which many people may not have come accross before. Hopefully some of the terms may spark your interest to investingate the subject of diamonds and diamond quality and diamond sources.

ALLUVIAL DEPOSITS: - deposits of diamonds laid down on land with subsequent erosion by constituents such as water, wind, glaciers and gravity. They contain not only diamonds but often many other types of gemstone as well.
AMBER: - A shade of yellow coming near to the colour of amber in which diamonds sometime occur.
BAGUETTE: - A style of step cutting employed for small, rectangular-shaped diamonds.
BANDING: - Different colour zones sometimes found in diamonds.
BLUE GROUND: - The rock that may contain diamonds and which occurs in some extinct volcanoes. Once it has been weathered (affected by exposure to the weather, the breaking down of rocks, soil and minerals) blue ground changes colour to yellow and is known as yellow ground. Also called 'kimberlite'.
BLUE WHITE: - Ideally a diamond with a faint tinge of blue; in reality the term is used to describe a colourless diamond. It is also sometimes employed incorrectly to describe a diamond with a faint tint of yellow.
BOART: - The lowest quality of diamond, so badly flawed and constructed that it is suitable only for being crushed into abrasive powders for use in a variety of industrial applications. among them being the polishing of gem-quality diamonds.
BRILLIANT: - The round shape into which diamonds are cut. The modern brilliant-cut possesses 57 facets (a flat surface which has been polished on a diamond or some other gemstone). Sometimes a polished cutlet on the base of the stone into which diamonds are cut.
BRIOLETTE: - A drop-shaped gem with a circular cross section covered entirely with triangular facets. A style of cutting rarely encountered today.
BRUTING: - Also known as 'girdling', the process whereby a stone is given its circular shape. It entails turning the diamond to be bruted round and round on a lathe while another diamond is is held against it, thereby causing both stones to chip and grind until the desired shape is obtained.