bear·ding | ˈbir-diŋ
noun
Small, feather-like cracks along the girdle of a diamond
You may be familiar with the four C’s of diamonds, but do you know what diamond bearding is? This important gemologist process plays a large part in how diamond jewelry sparklers and shines for the person who wears it and those who behold it. Diamond bearding is when a gemologist creates man-made inclusion in a diamond by girdling - or rounding - the elliptically-shaped diamonds before they are set in their final jewelry setting. By bearding diamonds, gemologists create feather-like chips in a diamond, or a scraggly beard, which is where the process gets its name from. Bearding creates a visual effect in high clarity stones that makes it appear rough instead of smooth, so much so that bearding of high clarity diamonds measuring 1.5 carats of more impacts their pricing. Bearding is much less likely to impact the look and cost of lower clarity diamonds of a rating of SI or less.
