b'T his past summer, diamond dealers, manufacturers, and designers were presented with a rare opportunityto see and experiment with more than a dozen diamond testing instruments in one room. Held at 580 5th Ave. in New Yorks Diamond District, theDiamond Technology Showcase featured instruments from De Beers,Alrosa, the Gemological Institute of America and other manufacturers, pieces of equipment that are vital for any fine jewelry business today.Lifelong diamantaire Matthew Schamroth, a vice president of the Diamond Manufacturers & Importers Association of America and head of the DMIAs Diamond Integrity Committee, likens the necessity of these instruments to something as simple as a scale.You cant open your doors without a diamond scale. You have to know the weight of what youre sending to somebody. Dealers, wholesalers, designers, manufacturers, and retailers today also need to know: Exactly what do I have in front of me? Is it a natural diamond, a lab-grown diamond, or a diamond simulant? They are straightforward questions but, unfortunately, there is no one machine that can provide all the answers.When National Jeweler did a roundup of diamond testing devicesThe diamond accuracy rate refers to the ratio of natural di-in 2018, several of the experts interviewed noted there is no magicamonds correctly identified as natural. Overall, a higher rate is bullet, meaning one device that does everything and is relativelypreferred, although it is worth noting that this rate does not factor in compact and affordable.the false positive rate. The same holds true today. Companies often use a combinationThe majority of instruments listed also have a referral rate. The of machines in concert and, in some cases, have to submit stones to areferral rate is the percentage of stones that cannot be positively grading lab for final verification.identified as natural diamonds; the higher the percentage, the more What device you use depends on what your needs are, Schamrothstones that will require further testing.told National Jeweler when one of its editors visited the showcase in July. Companies can use the Assure tested sticker on their devices for Companies need to ask themselves: How do goods flow throughtwo years. the office? What technology, if any, is the company currently usingAfter that, manufacturers need to submit them for renewal of to screen diamonds? And, if the company has multiple devices, is ittheir certification in order to keep referring to the machine as As-incorporating all the technology thats out there? sure tested, NDCs Head of External Affairs and Industry Relations Its also worth pointing out there are very few detection devices onRaluca Anghel explains. the market today, meaning instruments that give the user a definitiveShe says some instruments were up for renewal earlier this year, result of a natural or lab-grown diamond.but their manufacturers were granted an extension in order to allow Most instruments are screening devices, meaning they screen outthe Assure Program time to open a second lab in Antwerp (testing potential lab-grown diamonds, diamond simulants, and/or treatedwill continue at the Underwriters Laboratories facility in Canton, material that require further testing.Massachusetts), and to update its sample of testing stones to reflect Again, there are no easy answers. the latest lab-grown diamond manufacturing technologies.What follows on these pages is a breakdown of the devices Na- In addition, updated sample sets will be tested in triplicate for tional Jeweler was introduced to at the Diamond Technology Show- the first time, uncertainty ranges will be reported for all metrics, case along with a summary of what each machines does, what type ofand Assure will introduce jewelry testing with a mounted stone company uses it, and its cost.sample set. Also listed are three rates measured by the Assure Program, theSome manufacturers confirmed to National Jeweler their plans for Natural Diamond Councils testing regimen for diamond verificationsubmitting, or resubmitting, their machines for Assure testing this instruments.fall; those are noted in the text. As defined by Assure, the false positive rate measures the ratio ofRates included in the description of each machine reflect the results lab-grown diamonds that are mistakenly identified as natural by eachof the original round of Assure testing, unless otherwise indicated. machine. A rate of 0% is most preferable; the higher the percentage,Updated information on their performance will be available on the the higher the risk of passing a lab-grown diamond as a natural dia- Assure website, as well as in the digital version of this story. mond or simulant. B Y M I C H E L L E G R A F FNATIONAL JEWELER 65'