WHAT DOES AN SI2 DIAMOND LOOK LIKE?

SI2 Clarity Diamonds are always a questionable stone.

They are the dividing line between Diamonds with NO eye-visible Flaws in them (microscopic only), and Diamonds that do have noticeable flaws just by looking at the stone.

Noticeable Flaws are things like Black Spots (that look like Pepper), Fracture Lines, Feathers, Cloudy Areas, Cracks, Knots, Chips… Any Flaw that can be seen without the aid of a hand-held Jeweler’s Loupe or a 10x Microscope.

These visible Flaws fall into the I Clarity Range (Imperfect Stones), which is I1, I2 and I3 Clarity.

Anything on the other end, SI1 or higher, are pretty clean stones and you won’t see any Flaws in them with your naked eye, unless you have a bionic eye! :)

Borderline Stones

So SI2 falls in the middle of these grades. They are the borderline Clarity and take the most scrutiny.

Some SI2’s look great and the Flaws don’t stand out as much, others are REAL obvious as you’ll see in the examples below.

Generally, from the top down view, you WON’T see any Flaws in an SI2… Generally!

These Flaws are normally ONLY visible from the side view of the stone… Like so…

So let’s take a closer look at some real SI2 Clarity Diamonds magnified 10 times so you can see the Inclusions inside the stone. While some of these Flaws look HUGE, I assure you, without the magnification you would probably never be able to see them.

These images are from SI2 Diamonds sold by James Allen. You can really get a better feel of what an SI2 Diamond looks like… It’s very, very interesting!

Take a peek…

As you can see, some of these Diamonds LOOK GREAT, while others, not so much.

What can really help a Diamond of this Clarity is of course the CUT and COLOR of the Diamond. These two things can make an SI2 Diamond look just as good as any VVS or VS stone out there. A Diamond with an Excellent or Very Good Cut will mask a lot of Flaws that a Diamond has. You can certainly get some great looking stones, and some great deals, if you know what to look for.

With SI2 Diamonds I suggest scoping each and every stone just to see what lies inside. Some really do face up more like an SI1, those are the stones to get!

That’s also why I suggest people buying online to buy from James Allen… They are the ONLY Diamond Dealers on the net who actually show you what the stone looks like magnified before you buy it!

And as you can see… It really can make a big difference! :)

Enjoy!