The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Measure of resistance to scratching and abrasion. Diamond is the hardest material on earth, a 10 on Moh’s Scale; however, it is not the toughest. Hardness and toughness together determine the durability of diamond.

Refers to the wider, rounded end of a pear cut diamond.

Diamond cut or shaped into a heart, with a cleft in the wide end, and a softly tapered point at the narrow end.

Describes a pattern that appears in some round brilliant cut and square cushion cut diamonds that have a certain parallelism and symmetry. When viewed from above through the crown, the pattern is a series of eight arrowheads. From below through the pavilion, the pattern appears as eight heart shapes. Hearts & arrows does not mean that a diamond is ideal cut, only that it is symmetrical.

The use of a laser beam to write a number or customised personal message on the girdle of a diamond, generally for identification purposes. Hot laser machines operate at a higher wavelength, and unlike cold laser inscription can penetrate into and thus damage the diamond; penetration can result in chips and fractures. Click here to learn more about diamond laser inscription.

Treatment to change or artificially enhance the colour of a diamond. Certain types of diamonds are subjected to extreme heat and pressure conditions in a laboratory, which rearranges their atomic structure and thus alters their colour. Click here to learn more about HPHT treated diamonds.

Occasionally ‘colourless’, or Cape Series diamonds will have a visible negative tint of brown or grey. These diamonds are graded on the same scale of color saturation as Cape Series diamonds, but will state the hue on the certificate. Diamonds with brown, grey, or ECG hue are of lower value than those with no hue. Click here to see where to find hue on a Diamond Certificate.