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La Luna | Believed to be about 200 carats, the La Luna diamond is a D colour Heart shaped stone.
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Large, Largest | The largest diamond known is a star 'Lucy' discovered in February 2004 by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Largest on earth are listed on Large & Famous Diamonds.
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Laser, Lasered, Lasering | Diamonds with a dark inclusion caused by iron oxide or other salts in internal cavities can be laser drilled, then the offending material leached out using acid. An acceptable method of clarity enhancement, providing the drill hole is not re-filled with glass to disguise it. Should be disclosed to purchasers. Diamonds can also have inscriptions etched by laser, usually onto their girdle.
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Lazare Kaplan | A major (U.S.) diamond sightholder, cutter, and wholesaler of diamonds. Caused a considerable stir when it announced in March 1999 that it was to market HPHT enhanced diamonds which were almost indistinguishable from natural ones, through their Pegasus Overseas Limited subsidiary.
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Leo | The Leo cut is another of the proprietary hybrid cuts, made by Leo Schachter. In the UK, Leo appear to have an exclusive distribution agreement with Ernest Jones.
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Leveridge Gauge | A proprietary brand of micrometer gauge for measuring diamonds.
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Liberia | There is still a United Nations ban on export of diamonds from Liberia, due to civil war. Conflict diamonds are probably smuggled out.
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Light | Because of its high dispersion and refractive index, diamond handles light in a characteristic way.
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Light Brown | Light brown diamonds, not intense enough to be considered as fancy brown, often appear quite white.
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Light Cape | A diamond colour grade between "silver cape" and "cape", now becoming obsolescent because of the GIA system of grading by letters.
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Light Yellow | A grade of fancy yellow diamond.
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Light, Standard | For viewing and appraising diamonds, a standardised light source is desirable. There are lamps which are sold as diamond lights, and at least one specification a standardised light source, and colour temperature.
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London | Home to one of De Beers main offices, also to Hatton Garden. Previously a fairly important diamond cutting centre.
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Lonsdaleite | A rare form of diamond with a hexagonal atomic structure discovered in meteoritic diamonds from Canyon Diablo Arizona, named after the British mineralogist Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, who helped advance the study of natural diamond crystals.
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Loose | Unmounted diamond.
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Loudspeakers | Accuton make audio loudspeaker membranes of diamond because it is the best material for the job.
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Louis IX, King of France | Thirteenth century king of France who passed a law restricting ownership of diamonds for the king.
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Loupe | French word for magnifying glass, universally applied to the version used by most jewellery professionals, with a 10X magnification, although other powers are used. Diamond loupes are normally high quality, colour corrected (achromatic).
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Loupe Clean | Indicating that a diamond contains no visible inclusions when using the industry standard magnification of ten times (10x).
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Lower Girdle Facet | A diamond facet adjacent to and below the girdle (on the pavilion).
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Lucy | The largest known diamond is now 'Lucy in the Sky'
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Luminescence | Some diamonds luminesce (emit light) when exposed to sunlight or other ultraviolet-light sources. The light the diamonds emit is usually light blue, but yellow, orange, and red luminescence occurs in some stones.
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Lustre, Luster | The lustre of a diamond is its highly reflective surface sheen due to its high refractive index combined with the highly polished surfaces.
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There are currently over 600 entries in this table.
Over 90 of them have page links to a page on this site. Eventually, we intend to add a more complete description for most entries, each on its own page.
Please watch this space!
