Jewelry Care

What To Do With a Chipped Diamond

Bez Ambar · May 12, 2015

A chip in a diamond is alarming the first time you notice it. Before you assume the stone is ruined, understand what you are actually dealing with. Chips vary enormously in severity, and the options are better than most people expect.

First: Assess the Damage

Not All Chips Are Equal

Diamond is the hardest natural material on earth, 10 on the Mohs scale, but hardness and toughness are different properties. A material can be extremely hard (resistant to scratching) while still being brittle (prone to fracturing under impact). Diamond is both the hardest and one of the more brittle gem materials.

Chips occur when a diamond receives a sharp blow at the right angle. The crystal structure of diamond has cleavage planes, directions where the atomic bonds are slightly weaker. A blow along or near a cleavage plane causes the stone to fracture cleanly rather than shatter.

The location of the chip determines your options:

Corner chip (princess/square cuts): The most common chip location. The corners of square diamonds are the most vulnerable because the facets come to a point there. A small corner chip can often be polished away or disguised by prong placement.

Girdle chip: The girdle is the thin band around the widest part of the stone. Girdle chips are common and often repairable by re-polishing, sometimes with minimal weight loss.

Table chip: The flat top facet. Table chips are visible when looking directly down at the stone. More problematic than a corner or girdle chip, but still often repairable.

Culet chip: The bottom point of a brilliant cut. Rarely visible in a set stone.

Deep body fracture: A fracture that extends into the interior of the stone rather than stopping at the surface. These are the most serious.

What You Can Do

Your Four Options

1. Re-polish the stone

For surface chips, particularly corner chips and girdle chips, an experienced diamond cutter can re-polish the affected area, removing the damaged material and restoring a clean facet. This results in some weight loss (measured in points, hundredths of a carat), but the stone is structurally intact.

The weight loss from re-polishing a small chip is typically 0.01 to 0.05 carats. On a one-carat stone, that is not significant optically. On a smaller stone, it may matter more.

2. Adjust the setting

For corner chips on princess cut or other fancy shape diamonds, a skilled jeweler can reposition or extend the prong over the chipped corner, concealing the damage without any alteration to the stone itself. This is the simplest solution when the chip is small and confined to a corner.

3. Re-cut the stone

If the chip is significant, involving a cleavage fracture into the stone’s interior, re-polishing will not be sufficient. The stone may need to be re-cut, which involves regrinding the diamond to a new shape or a smaller version of its original shape.

Re-cutting is a more involved process and results in more weight loss, but it produces a structurally sound, fully faceted stone. A two-carat princess cut with a deep corner fracture might be re-cut to a well-cut 1.75-carat stone that looks better than the chipped original.

4. Replace and reset

For extreme damage, multiple chips, a fracture through a significant portion of the stone, replacement may be the most economical option. A heavily fractured diamond loses both structural integrity and light performance. In that case, Bez Ambar can help you select a replacement stone and design a new setting around it.

What Not to Do

Common Mistakes After Discovering a Chip

Do not keep wearing the ring. A chip creates a stress point in the crystal structure. Continued wear, especially with an unprotected corner or a fracture near the girdle, can deepen the damage or cause the stone to fracture further.

Do not try to polish it yourself. Diamond is the hardest material in the world. Standard jewelry polishing cloths and ultrasonic cleaners will not affect the chip, but they may loosen a stone that is already sitting slightly off in its setting due to impact damage.

Do not assume it is unfixable. Most people who bring a chipped diamond to Bez Ambar’s studio discover that the damage is less severe than they thought, and that their options are better than they expected.

Do not file an insurance claim without an inspection. If your jewelry is insured, document the damage before taking any action, but get a professional assessment before deciding on a course of action. Knowing what you are dealing with lets you make an informed choice about how to proceed.

Preventing Future Chips

How Diamonds Get Chipped, and How to Avoid It

The most common cause of a chipped diamond is impact against a hard surface, a countertop, a gym weight, a car door, at the wrong angle. Unlike surface scratches, which require another diamond-hard material to create, chips come from blunt impact.

Remove your ring for high-impact activities. Gym workouts, yard work, home improvement, cooking, and any activity involving tools or hard surfaces creates chip risk. A ring dish by the sink and a small case in your gym bag solve this completely.

Inspect prong security annually. A stone that is loose in its setting is far more vulnerable to chipping because it can shift slightly on impact. Annual prong inspection by a jeweler, offered free by most serious jewelry studios, catches loosening before it leads to stone loss or damage.

Store diamonds carefully. Diamonds will scratch other gemstones and each other. Store diamond jewelry in individual soft pouches or compartmentalized cases so stones do not contact one another.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a chipped diamond be repaired? Often yes. The appropriate repair depends on where the chip is and how severe it is. Small corner and girdle chips can frequently be re-polished with minimal weight loss. Prong repositioning can conceal corner chips without touching the stone. Deep fractures may require re-cutting or, in severe cases, replacement. Have it assessed by an experienced jeweler before assuming the worst.

How much does it cost to fix a chipped diamond? Re-polishing a surface chip typically runs $100 to $300 depending on the stone size and extent of work. Prong adjustment to cover a corner chip may be included in a standard service or run $50 to $150. Re-cutting is more involved, $250 to $800 is a typical range. Replacement costs depend on the replacement stone. Get a specific quote after your jeweler has examined the stone.

Will my insurance cover a chipped diamond? That depends on your policy. Most jewelry insurance policies (standalone policies like Jewelers Mutual, or jewelry riders on homeowners policies) cover chipping as an accidental damage event. Document the damage with photographs before having any work done, notify your insurer, and get a professional appraisal if required by the claim process.

Does a chip affect the value of a diamond? Yes. A chipped diamond’s resale value is reduced, sometimes significantly, depending on severity and location. A chip that is re-polished successfully restores most of the value; a chip that requires re-cutting reduces value proportionally to the weight lost. A chip that is simply covered by a prong is technically present and would be disclosed in any formal appraisal.

Can a jeweler tell if a diamond has been re-polished? An experienced diamond cutter examining a stone closely under magnification can sometimes detect evidence of re-polishing, a slight asymmetry in a specific facet, for example. For most practical purposes (insurance, resale, personal wear), a well-executed re-polish produces a stone that looks perfectly intact.

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