In the jewelry industry we throw around a lot
of slang terms like, “Chubbies, four grainers, off-makes and
glow worms” to name a few. Some of this slang terminology is
derived from decades of usage and other terms are technically correct
definitions to describe a diamond like the “65/65 Rule.”
What I tried to do in this article is give definitions of the most
popular slang terms that jewelers, dealers and cutters have been
using for years. Hopefully, it will make it a little easier for
the consumer to understand the secret language we jewelers use on
a day to day basis.
|
65/65 Rule
|
A rectangular diamond whose table and total
depth percentage does not exceed 65% of the diamonds width.
|
|
As Is
|
A diamond that comes with no bonding or
warranties. Its sale is final, no exceptions after the buyer
takes possession from the vendor.
|
| Back Alley |
A diamond that has
had at least one previous owner and is being purchased on the
secondary market. Example: Joe has purchased a Back Alley diamond.
Translation: Joe has bought a used diamond. |
|
Bananas
|
A marquise shaped diamond whose length to
width ratio exceeds 2.25 to 1. The diamond appears to have
been stretched to look like a banana.
|
| Big Brother |
Diamond Trading Company
a.k.a. DeBeers. |
| Bling Bling |
A sparkly valuable
diamond or diamond jewelry. |
| Blue Booked |
The dollar value
placed on a diamond at time of purchase that the seller agrees
to purchase the diamond back at some time in the future. |
| Bonded |
Synonymous with
warranty. All diamonds are either fully bonded, partially bonded
or not bonded. A new subcategory that has been popularized of
late is the fully bonded diamond with an expiration date i.e.
a limited lifetime warranty. The diamond is warranted not for
the life of the diamond or person but for the life of the warranty
itself. Most of these bogus warranty packages (breakage guarantee,
buyback, exchange) run 90 days. A true fully bonded diamond
has no expiration date or restocking fee. |
| Canaries |
A canary diamond
is yellow in color due to the fact it is saturated with nitrogen.
The four main categories of canaries are light fancy, fancy,
intense fancy and vivid. |
| Chubbies |
Diamonds that are
poorly proportioned. Typically, diamonds that have over-sized
girdles or deep pavilions that cause the diamonds to appear
smaller than they should when viewed from the top for any given
weight. |
| Cognac |
A brown diamond dramatized
as attractive and valuable with an appealing title. |
Decorate the
Tree |
How the facets are
arranged on a diamond. |
| Doublet |
A diamond or gemstone
that is made of two pieces. Example: The crown is diamond but
it is epoxied to a pavilion made out of cubic zirconia. |
| Duping |
The con of selling
a diamond with a Lab Grading Report or GIA appraisal that
does not
match the diamond being sold but rather matches a diamond that
was shown loose to make the initial sale and later switched
for the understudy. |
| Estate |
A diamond or piece
of jewelry that has been previously owned and is up for sale. |
| Fancies |
Has two meanings.
1.) Any shape other than a round diamond or 2.) Any diamond
of any particular color of the rainbow but white. These would
include: blues, pinks, violets, and yellows to name a few. The
most famous fancy in the world is "The Hope Diamond,"
which is steel blue. |
| Fisheye |
The circular centrally
dark light pattern that appears in the table of a round diamond
when it is cut shallow. It derives its nickname due to the fact
that the light leakage through the pavilion creates the look
from the crown of that of a fish’s eye. |
| Footballs |
The opposite of a
banana shape marquise which is too long. Rather a football is
a marquise that closely resembles the shape of a football. A
marquise could be described as a football if its length to width
ratio is less than 1.75 to 1. |
| Fully Warranted |
Can be synonymous
with fully bonded. A diamond that has a breakage, buyback, exchange
and market crash guarantee. When it comes with no expiration
dates, it is considered fully bonded, otherwise it is a limited
lifetime warranty |
| Glow Worms |
A diamond that exhibits
fluorescence in the presence of ultra violet light. Fluorescent
diamonds are 20% less valuable than non-fluorescent diamonds. |
| Grade Bumping |
A diamond whose clarity
or color grade has been raised by one or more grades by a lab,
appraiser or salesman to enhance the value of the diamond. |
| Grainers |
In the orient, diamonds
were weighed using grains of rice. (4 grains = 1/5 of a gram
which = a 1ct diamond on a counter balance) Example: a 6 grainer
= 1 1/2ct diamond |
| Grandfather |
An old diamond (Old
Miners, Old European) or a diamond whose paperwork is outdated.
A Lab Grading Report is considered a grandfather when it is
over six months old and an appraisal is considered a grandfather
at
two
years old. |
| Hot Rocks |
Diamonds whose country
of origin (South Africa, Sierra Leon, etc.) is linked to fueling
wars and oppression with the funds acquired from the sale or
barter of diamonds. |
| Illusion Setting |
The placement of
a diamond into a mirrored high polished plate of metal to give
the illusion that the diamond is larger than it appears from
a distance. |
| Laser Drilled |
A diamond whose carbon
has been drilled out with a laser. |
| Melee |
Small diamonds, usually
used to describe diamonds under 1/4ct in size. |
| Off-makes |
Generally speaking,
a poorly proportioned diamond that is either cut too shallow,
too deep or warped. All Class 3 and Class 4 cut diamonds are
considered off-makes. |
| Old European |
A round diamond
popularly cut in the early 1900’s for the public from European
cutting houses. These diamonds had the same characteristics
as an Old Miners (small table, high crown, open culet) with
the exception that they were not squarish round but round in
diameter. |
| Old Miners |
A squarish round diamond typically 75 years or older whose
facet arrangement is highlighted by a small table, high crown
and open culet. Old Miners are also referred to as heavy makes.
|
| Orphan |
A diamond that is
being sold at an auction and has no current owner that is wearing
it. Orphan can also be used to describe a diamond that does
have an owner but the owner no longer wears it. Example: Mary
owns a beautiful 2ct orphaned diamond. She should rescue it
from her safety deposit box. |
| Padded |
See spreads and chubbies.
The cutter kept extra weight on the stone that does not optimize
the optics of the diamond. Only goal is to increase revenue. |
| P.B.’s |
Not peanut butter,
but “Partially Bonded.” A diamond with some warranties. |
| Pegasus, Monarch or Bellataire |
Brand names for annealed
(heated, baked) diamonds introduced into the market by General
Electric and Lazare Kaplan in 1998. |
| Pick Pocketing |
A salesman has been
said to be "pick pocketing" a customer when he uses
the two month salary guideline in order to get as much money
from a client in order to make a larger sale. |
| Plot |
The mapping of inclusions
and blemishes on a paper diagram of the facet arrangement of
any given diamond for identification purposes. Similar to a
fingerprint. |
| River Rock |
A diamond that is
so heavily included (I2 and I3’s) that they deserve to
be thrown in the river. River rock is synonymous with a bad
diamond of little or no value. |
| Rovals |
A poorly proportioned
oval diamond that has a length to width ratio under 1.2 to 1
causing the diamond to look not quite round and not quite oval.
Hence “Roval.” |
| Sandbagger |
An appraiser who
misgrades an appraisal to sabotage a sale in order to recommend
that the client purchase somewhere else. |
| Single Cuts |
Round diamonds that
have less than 16 facets. |
| Spreads |
A diamond that is
purposely cut wide to give the impression that the diamond is
larger than its corresponding weight when viewed from the top.
All spreads are also shallow with less than 38% light return. |
| Warped |
A diamond whose crown
height percentage + maximum girdle thickness percentage + pavilion
depth percentage doesn’t equal the total depth percentage
within .5%. |
