Quality Cut
Ideal-Scope
Do your diamonds leak light?
MOST DO, BUT OURS DON’T & YOU CAN PROVE IT!
This is a simple test you must perform on every diamond you are considering – Even a high-graded GIA diamond can leak light and look dull.
Since 1986, Holloway Diamonds have used an Ideal-Scope to gauge the light return of diamonds and reject those that have high leakage and in return are dull with reduced sparkle.
Anyone can intuitively gauge a diamond’s brilliance; white areas in a diamond show light transmitted from behind the diamond which we call leakage – the enemy!
Through an Ideal-Scope The blackness of the lens mimics the light obscuration of an observer’s head and body; too much is bad and too little indicates the diamond will have poor scintillation. The lens creates the star pattern which indicates the symmetrical quality of the diamond. Symmetrical round diamonds are sometimes sold as Hearts and Arrows (H&A) but a H&A’s viewer does not show the leakage which is often present in many H&A’s diamonds.
The most brilliant diamonds look bright pink/red with a black star and minimal white or pale areas except for the small ‘V’ shaped white leakage areas near the edge of the stone.
More online diamond companies are now using Ideal-Scope images for their best cut diamonds.
When buying our diamonds we use this simple process every time and reject over 95% of the diamonds presented to us
Step 1: Light Return & Leakage
Firstly each diamond parcel is viewed with an Ideal-Scope; We assess the stone for good light return and minimal leakage – a few diamonds can be assessed in a minute. This usually results in an initial rejection of 60% – 90% of all supposedly well-cut diamonds.
Step 2: Colour Examination
Then each stone is examined for Colour (we reject everything below a H master stone) and Clarity (rejecting eye visible and diamonds with reduced transparency). The outcome is that we will secure maybe 5% of GIA excellent diamonds presented to us in the initial package.
On a buying trip, we will examine more than 1,000 diamonds a day.
Get your free ideal-scope Here!
The idea behind the Ideal-Scope was used to develop the ASET scope which Garry Holloway makes under license for the American Gem Society. AGS use the ASET as the basis for their Princess and other ‘fancy shaped’ diamond cut grading system. OctoNus developed a software visualization program with Moscow State University that incorporated Ideal-Scope and ASET views into their DiamCalc software. The diamond cutters we work with use this software in the planning of the cutting of larger Holloway diamonds.
Test it at home for yourself with your own Ideal-Scope card. Simply click the link below, leave your details and we’ll mail one to you.