Are Cloudy Diamonds Worth Anything? Patience is your best friend when planning to buy diamond rings because the market offers many confusing options, and you could easily get ripped off if you don’t know about the different types of diamonds.
While you will be told to look for the eye-clean diamonds with the lowest clarity grade as the measure of the best quality diamonds, there is a hidden flaw in this suggestion, and going by it without knowing what else to expect from the market can be disastrous.
There is the imminent risk of ending up with diamonds that have sapped out brilliance, and that hidden flaw could result in a significant devaluation of the diamond.
The reason why this hidden flaw is something you need to keep in mind is that there is a class of diamonds with large clouds, going by the name cloudy diamonds.
But what exactly is a cloudy diamond, and since it looks pretty much like the perfect diamond, how do you tell it apart from other diamonds.
What does it mean when a diamond is cloudy?
Theoretically, when you look at a diamond without assisted visual tools like a microscope, you will see a perfect diamond. However, there is a lot that goes into determining the perfect diamond, and you need to be able to assess things like the diamond’s brilliance to determine the actual value of the diamond before you spend all your savings on that ‘perfect’ diamond.
The main reason for this assessment is that diamonds come with imperfections, including noticeable flaws, but there are many cases where the blemishes in the diamonds remain hidden.
Then you also have the diamonds with some sort of hazy effect, and these are the cloudy diamonds.
Like all inclusions common with diamonds, the cloudiness in the cloudy diamonds often creates a problem, even though there are cases where the clouds are unproblematic.
So, what are cloudy diamonds?
When someone mentions that a diamond is cloudy, what it means is that the diamond contains inclusions that make the diamond appear a little hazy in some parts.
It might have small inclusions in clusters, and these will give the diamond a dull or a foggy.
Unfortunately, you won’t know the reason for the cloudiness without looking that the diamond, specifically under a microscope. Generally, the nature and the extent or the severity of the cloudy inclusions will affect the cloudiness of that diamond.
It’s important to note that inclusions are not the only reason for cloudiness, and diamonds that are made with at least three crystal inclusions will make the diamond hazy.
Other types of inclusions that cause haziness in the cloudy diamonds include twinning wisps or feathers.
Why do diamonds look cloudy?
1.Low Clarity-Grade Under 1 Carat Diamonds
If the diamonds you are looking at is less than 1 carat, you need to know that the certificate for the diamond from either the AGS or the GIA won’t feature a clarity plot or a mapping of all the imperfections in the diamond, and without the clarity plot, you won’t really know how big the cloudy inclusions are or their locations on the diamond.
So, if the diamond you are buying is below 1 carat and in the SI1 clarity grade or even lower, you might want to pay more attention to the diamond.
Generally, the clarity-grades based on the clouds will not be shown, and there is often a large cloud on the diamond.
This large cloud is a red flag. You might even come across diamonds with numerous tiny clouds and many smaller spots, all warranting their classification in the lower-clarity grade.
2.Diamonds with fluorescence
Fluorescence is the other factor that improves the clarity of gold, but there are cases where the fluorescence causes the cloudy effect.
You need to keep an eye out for the diamonds that come with a very strong or just strong fluorescence in the D-I color grades, and the medium fluorescence will be in the D-G color grades. In most cases, the level of fluorescence will result in a milky or a hazy look.
As mentioned above, the cloudiness is invisible from the screen or even under the store lights, which is why you need to view the diamond under daylight, especially when you are buying the diamond in person.
On the other hand, if you are shopping for the diamond online, you might want to avoid the fluorescence combinations (mentioned above) to avoid the risk of buying poor quality, but expensive diamonds.
Confused? Let’s clear things up a bit.
Faint or slight blue fluorescent diamonds will never appear hazy.
Also, the medium blue fluorescent diamonds hardly appear hazy. However, deep, strong, or very strong blue fluorescent diamonds often have an apparent haziness.
So, if you are looking at a diamond and it has very strong blue fluorescence, it’s highly likely that the diamond will look hazy. It could also look oil in the D-I color range. The haziness is the reason why the diamond looks less transparent.
To avoid running the risk of buying cloudy diamonds, you should consider buying the diamond from a reputable diamond vendor, and if you are shopping for the diamond in person, it would be a good idea to check out the diamond under normal or UV lighting.
Note that the other reasons why diamonds look hazy have to do with cracks and dirt. Obviously, dirt will make your diamond hazy, and it will lose its sparkle.
And though diamonds are very hard given the high-pressure manufacturing process they undergo during the manufacturing process, diamonds will crack, and a cracked diamond will be milky white – you don’t really need UV to see the cloudiness.
Are cloudy diamonds bad?
The cloudy diamonds aren’t bad all the time, but before you determine whether the cloudy diamond is bad or not, you need to first look at the severity of the cloudiness.
Generally, if the cloudiness only takes up a part of a small portion of the diamond, say the table, then that diamond will still be a beautiful stone.
At the same time, the beauty of the diamond will not be lost if the cloudiness is on the edges rather than the center of the stone.
The cloudy spots on the edges of the stone are not easily noticeable, and in most cases, the cloudy spots will be covered by the ring’s setting.
However, a large cloud affects the transparency of the diamond significantly, altering its beauty, and this is a bad case of diamond cloudiness.
Are cloudy diamonds worth anything?
The value of a cloudy diamond will depend on the severity of the cloudiness, but the cloudy diamonds are priced lower than the non-cloudy diamonds.
The reason for this is that the brilliant and clear diamonds are more eye-catching, unlike the cloudy diamonds, which will have lost some of their brilliance, hence priced lower.
Of course, the low pricing for the cloudy diamonds translates to a lower value for the diamonds.
If you are looking for valuable diamonds, opt for the lowest clarity diamonds that offer that eye-clean and a more transparent look.
Conclusion
The last thing you need to know is that you cannot fix a cloudy diamond, and though you can remove the cloudiness in case of a diamond whose cloudiness is the result of grime or residue, a clean diamond with cloudiness isn’t fixable.
So, you are better off with a clean, high-quality diamond which boasts more natural brilliance and a natural fire because it is capable of reflecting light off the table.
For more diamond ring posts, please read here or here. See you guys in the next post!
Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.