The Diamond Academy
Learn the language. Keep your own eye.
A comprehensive curriculum from first principles to expert gemological analysis. Search a question, follow the chapters in order, or explore by topic.
- What a diamond actually is
Carbon, crystal structure, light, and the difference between hardness and toughness.
- Natural and laboratory-grown
The same gem material, formed by different routes—and why clear origin language matters.
- The four Cs, without the shorthand
Cut, color, clarity, and carat are a shared language—not a recipe for one perfect diamond.
- What a grading report does—and does not do
How to read identity, quality, proportions, comments, and laboratory limits in the right order.
- GIA, IGI, and the laboratory landscape
How the major report issuers differ—and how to compare the document in front of you without relying on reputation alone.
- How to look at a diamond
A disciplined viewing method for separating first impressions from useful evidence.
- How proportions shape light
Table, crown, pavilion, depth, girdle, and facet relationships—read as one optical composition.
- Shape, size, and face-up presence
Why equal carat weights can look different—and how outline, ratio, and facet style create personality.
- Fancy shapes: what the report can’t show
Bow-ties, windows, ratios, and points—the appearance questions a fancy shape leaves to your own eye, one shape at a time.
- Old mine cushions, Old European cuts, and the culet
Two antique cuts, the proportions that define them, and the small facet at the base of every diamond that sets them apart from the modern round.
- Clarity, without overbuying
What the laboratory records, what the eye notices, and when an inclusion deserves a structural check.
- Color, in context
How shape, size, metal, and viewing position change what a D-to-Z grade looks like in a finished ring.
- Fluorescence, without the folklore
What ultraviolet light can reveal, when it affects appearance, and why the report line is not a verdict.
- Beyond the cut grade
Why one laboratory label can contain many proportion sets, patterns, and visual personalities.
- Reading proportion combinations
How crown, pavilion, table, depth, minor facets, and girdle work as one optical system.
- ASET, Ideal-Scope, and light-performance imaging
What reflector colors can show, what they cannot, and how to read images without turning them into scores.
- Inclusions at the expert level
How type, position, relief, extent, and surface reach matter more than an alarming name.
- When a diamond looks sleepy
How to distinguish ordinary dirt or lighting from reduced transparency and low-contrast performance.
- The setting as architecture
Solitaire, halo, bezel, pavé, cathedral, and three-stone designs considered through daily life.
- Prongs, protection, and maintenance
Four or six, round or claw, exposed or guarded: the small metal decisions that secure a stone.
- Precious metals: 10k, 14k, 18k gold vs. platinum
Purity, density, color, wear patterns, and skin sensitivity compared for long-term wear.
- Where to buy and how to buy a diamond
Online sellers, independent jewelers, established design houses, and makers who cut to order, compared by selection, pricing, inspection, and aftercare.
- A more considered purchase
A calm sequence for comparing the stone, the setting, the seller’s terms, and the questions paper cannot answer.
- Verifying the stone, not just the paper
A real report and the right stone are two separate facts. How to confirm both before payment—and what to do when the record is old, hidden, or unfamiliar.
- The policy behind the piece
Homeowners, renters, scheduled coverage, and specialist jewelry policies—compared by what they promise.
- The appraisal, in its proper place
Why a grading report is not a valuation, why purpose changes value, and what a credible document should explain.
- Care that protects the piece
A practical routine for cleaning, inspecting, storing, and knowing when to stop wearing the ring.
- The nonlinear economics of diamond pricing
Why small changes in weight or grade can produce much larger changes in asking price.