Whiteflash-Diamond Playground

It depends on what you’re looking for. Well-cut diamonds look wonderful in many places but a diamond shows different performance qualities depending on the lighting, how it’s held, your surroundings and even the clothes you’re wearing.  First, let’s define diamond performance qualities:

• Brightness is the overall return of light from the diamond.
• Fire is where the diamond breaks white light into spectral colors.
• Scintillation is white & colored sparkle associated with movement.
• Contrast is the pattern of light and dark areas (which shifts with sparkle during movement).

To see brightness, view the diamond under diffused fluorescent lights, holding it very still in a position where your head and body block a minimum of light.  A well-cut diamond will have great brightness.  As you move closer to the diamond and block more light with your head you will see its contrast pattern become more apparent (areas of light and dark which compliment each other). Diffused lighting does not produce fire or scintillation so it’s good for judging color and clarity; visible inclusions that may be masked by performance are seen here. If you’re analyzing color be sure to keep a white wall in front of you and wear a neutral colored shirt (white, grey or black) since a diamond picks up and reflects the colors around it. This is also a good environment in which to “loupe” the diamond and examine it under magnification.

Fire is best-produced by small bright spotlights like those found in elevators or on gallery track lighting. All diamonds naturally disperse light but certain geometric relationships in the faceting enhance this quality more than others. A well-cut diamond, regardless of shape, should have a healthy balance of colored sparkle in its performance, especially in direct spotlighting. At the turn of the century diamonds were advertised with fire as a selling point.  Showrooms were kept dim, with low-hanging electric lights to maximized dispersion. Today’s jewelry store showrooms are brighter overall, but still use spotlights to exaggerate the effects of fire.  Use of modern LED and directional fiber-optic lighting at close range can create even more intensity.  Most people find the suite of chromatic colored flares erupting from a well-cut diamond under direct spotlights captivating. 

The dazzle of scintillation is the quality many people are drawn to in diamonds. Scintillation is best produced by a mixture of overhead diffused or reflected light accompanied by strategically placed spotlighting. High-end jewelry stores such as Cartier often have bright lights reflecting from walls, small directional spots and additional pinpoint LED or fiber-optic lighting positioned inside the case. In such an environment you can see sparkle just by changing your position relative to the diamond. If you rock it back and forth in your hand a well-cut stone will put on a fireworks display of bright colored and white sparkles, enhanced by shifting contrast. Such lighting schemes are great for oohs and aahs. You may get a bright room at home with recessed canned lighting to generate this effect (particularly in modern kitchens or rooms with track lighting) but the number of places outside a jewelry store with strategically located reflected and directional light are few.

Lighting has changed in the last 100 years and some aspects of diamond cutting have shifted to reflect this. Modern round brilliant and princess cuts are well-suited for many of today’s public places, especially those that are brightly lit. Office lighting remains diffused, which is good for the performance qualities of brightness and contrast but not fire or scintillation.  In addition to the above there are three additional environments I consider classic:

Rough sorters still use ambient northern daylight to make decisions because it shows the true nature of the crystal. You will not see high dispersion or scintillation in diffused light, but the brightness and contrast observed in a well cut diamond on a bright day with cloud cover is crisp and clear. On that note, people are sometimes surprised about diamonds and sunlight:  Well-cut diamonds don’t look their best in direct sunlight. While you will see crazy surface sparkle the inside of the diamond appears grey or dark. Many people find the most appealing natural daylight environment to be a sunny day with no clouds, holding the diamond under a leafy tree with the wind blowing slightly. The alternating brightness, fire and scintillation in such filtered daylight can be incredible. Last but not least, there is no substitute for the world’s oldest illumination scenario.  Nothing captures the subtle and unique character of a polished stone as well as fire produced by fire.  Many sources of fire, near and distant, bring forth the enchanting life of a diamond. If you fill an average room with 100 candles or so, burning at all levels - floor, tables, mantle - it will bring out shifting, dancing fire and an old world flavor from a diamond reminiscent of what cutters at the turn of the century saw under the gas lamp. If you want to save on the candle budget (or avoid setting the cat afire) a restaurant with multiple wall sconces and a few well-placed candles at the table will serve well. Sometimes the restaurants will also have small, recessed spotlights above. If so, plan to stay for dessert.  You may find it hard to pull away from such a fantastic diamond “sweet spot” as you discover your world in a new way. 

Have fun exploring and - most importantly - clean your diamonds every day!