What Stone Am I Holding?

Start with what you can see and feel: the colour in daylight, how much light passes through it (transparent, semi-transparent or opaque), the type of shine on its surface, how heavy it feels for its size, and any special effects like a star or cat’s-eye line. Our free identifier asks these simple questions one at a time and narrows down the possibilities across 80+ stones. It is an educated shortlist — a laboratory test is still needed for a definitive result.

American Diamond (cubic zirconia) is much heavier than a real diamond of the same size — roughly 1.7 times — so it feels noticeably weighty. It also shows more coloured "fire" but less crisp brightness, and is almost always perfectly clean inside, whereas natural diamonds usually contain tiny crystals. Moissanite, another look-alike, shows doubled facet edges when you look through it with a loupe. Diamonds do not. Our tool separates these three using weight, inclusions and the doubling test.

Transparency is how much light passes through the stone — can you see through it, only see a glow, or nothing at all. Lustre is the kind of shine on its polished surface: glassy, diamond-like, pearly, waxy or metallic. An optical effect is a special phenomenon seen when you move the stone under a single light, such as a star (asterism), a moving eye-line (cat’s-eye), rainbow flashes (opal’s play-of-colour), or a colour change between daylight and bulb light.

Yes. The database includes all nine Navaratna gems — Blue Sapphire (Neelam), Yellow Sapphire (Pukhraj), Emerald (Panna), Ruby (Manik), White Sapphire, Red Coral (Moonga), Pearl (Moti), Hessonite (Gomed) and Cat’s-Eye (Lehsunia) — along with their common substitutes and imitations, so you can tell a genuine stone from a look-alike before you buy.

A visual identifier gives a well-reasoned shortlist, not a certificate. Even professional gemologists confirm identity with instruments — a refractometer, specific-gravity test and microscope — because several stones can share the same colour and appearance. Use this tool to learn what your stone is likely to be, then bring it to us for professional verification and lab certification.

It covers every major family: Diamond, Corundum (ruby and sapphires), Beryl (emerald, aquamarine), Quartz and Chalcedony (amethyst, citrine, agate, onyx), Garnet, Opal, Spinel, Feldspar (moonstone, labradorite), Pyroxene and Amphibole (jade), Chrysoberyl, Tourmaline, Topaz, Zircon, Peridot and organic gems like coral, pearl and amber — plus man-made imitations such as cubic zirconia, moissanite, glass and synthetic spinel.