VANBRUUN Guide
Girdle reflection
Is your diamond cracked? It might just be a girdle reflection. A horizontal line in a diamond is often a reflection from the diamond’s girdle, not a crack. Girdle reflections occur due to the pavilion facets and are usually visible only from the side. They do not affect the diamond’s clarity, which is always judged from above. This guide explains how to identify a girdle reflection and what steps you can take to ensure your diamond is intact and secure.
Have you spotted a crack in your diamond?
Calm down, it might be a girdle reflection. “It is a crack in my diamond” is something we sometimes hear. Many believe that the transparent line that runs straight through the diamond, which is visible only at some angles, is a big crack. Fortunately, this is probably not the case. The “crack” is a reflection from the diamond’s girdle and is a so-called girdle reflection. This phenomenon is caused by the pavilion facets and is the answer to the horizontal line in the diamond.
As you can see in the image above, the reflection is only visible from the side and not when seeing the diamond face up.
All round diamonds have some kind of girdle reflection, but it may be more or less clear. “What is the purpose of a girdle, anyway?” you may be thinking. The purpose is simply to protect the diamond. A thicker girdle protects better than a very thin girdle. On the other hand, the reflection becomes more visible in a diamond with a thick girdle.
As mentioned before, many mistakes the girdle reflection for an inclusion. A diamond’s clarity is, however, judged from its view face up and not from the side. When looking at the diamond from above you probably will not see the horizontal line, it is only visible when looking at the diamond in profile. It is also too straight and perfect, like a line, to be a inclusion.
The accident may occur where you may drop your ring and it bumps against a hard surface. A natural question to ask for yourself is, of course, “did my ring got hurt?” or “did I get a crack in my diamond now?”. The answer to these questions is that it is incredibly unlikely that diamond would have cracked because of this.What may have happened is that the diamond got loose into its setting. In other words that the claws may not hold the diamond in the same place as before. The ring should therefore be handed in to a jeweler for a review.
Many people think that the diamond might be cracked after a hard bang. There is no need for concern, it is most likely not a crack or an unusually large inclusion that you missed when you first got the diamond. What is likely to happen after losing the ring is that you begin to examine and study the ring more carefully than you have ever done before. The horizontal line has always been there, you have just not noticed it before.
To make you feel calm and make sure that the diamond is not damaged and that the horizontal line is normal we will give you some tips on how to investigate whether it is a girdle reflection in your diamond. You can hand in the ring for a review where you bought the ring. Hopefully you will then feel more calm that it is all normal. You can also check the diamond through different angles so that the girdle reflection should change its position. The amount of reflection depends on the thickness of the girdle. The wider the girdle, the greater the reflection and the other way around.