Measuring Brilliance

Diamond certificates document the physical properties of a diamond like cut, color, clarity, and carat weight. Modern technology now allows us to go a step further. With Gemex Systems’ Light Performance Analysis, we can now directly measure the brilliance of a diamond. The GemEx BrillianceScope® Analyzer uses patented spectrophotometer technology to measure a diamond’s white light (brilliance), color light (fire or color dispersion) and scintillation (sparkle when the stone is moved).

Our Experiment

We used three diamonds with nearly identical color, clarity, and carat weight. The only difference between the three diamonds was their cut. The first diamond was an average commercial cut round brilliant diamond. The second diamond was a Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut diamond. The third was a STAR 129 diamond. We sent each of these to Gemex for a Light Performance Analysis. The results were as follows:

Commercial Cut

Hearts and Arrows Ideal Cut

STAR 129

Light Performance Ranking

White Light

1. STAR 129
2. Hearts and Arrows
3. Commercial Cut

Color Light

1. Hearts and Arrows
2. STAR 129
3. Commercial Cut

Scintillation

1. STAR 129
2. Hearts and Arrows
3. Commercial Cut

We spent a considerable amount of time examining the three diamonds under a variety of lighting environments. The results of the Light Performance Analysis seemed to correlate strongly with our observations. The STAR 129 excelled in scintillation, perhaps because it has so many facets. The white and color light results were no surprise either. The STAR 129 diamond displays a carpet of white brilliance, but it does not have the large colored flashes seen in the Hearts and Arrows. As we expected, the average commercial cut diamond could not compete with the Hearts and Arrows or the STAR 129 in any of the three categories.

After conducting laboratory analysis of the three diamonds, we conducted the most important test of all – the people’s choice test.