Our definitions of "Brilliance" for your consideration:

First definition :

Brilliance is the characteristic of a diamond, which remains when we "take" all its appearance and "subtract" Scintillation and Fire. The human eye will see Brilliance as combination of white, gray and black zones for motionless diamond ( i.e. colored zones are eliminated).

Second definition :

The phenomenon called Brilliance consists of two parts. The first one is based on comprehension of primary/initial/incipient brightness and contrast of diamond image (motionless photo-shots taken from different positions), and this part can be called "primary approach". The second part consists of posterior/subsequent traditional comprehension of some phenomena in diamond. HUMANS seek to DEFINE WHAT WE OBSERVE AS SIMPLIFIED AND UNDERSTANDABLE CONCEPTS. THIS LED US TO ATTACHING CONCEPTUAL LABELS based on phenomena that are currently described and viewed as being negative or positive (like «Fish-Eye», «Nail Head», «Leakage», thick girdle, symmetry deviations, Tolkowsky pattern, «Ideal Cut» etc.). This can be called "the expert approach".

This "expert approach" evolved after attempts to grade the characteristics used to describe brilliance and to interpret it by viewing many diamonds. Professionals in the contemporary market have established in their minds standard images which are labeled and associated with positive or negative values that evoke specific tastes and emotions.

The equivalent expertise is however are quite rare among the general diamond buying populace. What is even more disconcerting is that those with the greatest diamond experience and expertise generally examine suet diamonds in flood 'office' lighting because it is difficult to grade the clarity of a diamond in the same environment that diamonds are commonly purchased in by consumers. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that it is common for trade 'experts' to carry out a complete assessment of a diamond based on its appearance as seen through a loupe in this flood and back lit dealer environment.

Perhaps to evaluate Brilliance objectively the "primary approach" would be adequate, but it would not be enough for a human subjective evaluation because a human mind could hardly grade/calibrate it even if the correct assessment method for end consumers was used. It is easier for a human brain to grade/evaluate Fire or Scintillation because under fixed illumination conditions one can easily count "two flashes" or "four bright sparkles during motion". More recent attempts to replace "Brilliance" by "Light Return" is bound up with the very need to provide a quantitative grade.

Comprehension of the first part of Brilliance depends on sex and age of people. Comprehension of the second part of Brilliance depends on the environment/culture where people grow. A person develops an ability to evaluate the quality of wine under the influence of different social factors like advertisements, expert opinions, friends advice, etc., even if he thought he tastes vine by himself. The appreciation of brilliance has similar tendencies. These activities are motivated by the same reason: people wish to join an elite social group. As a consequence the comprehension of the second part of Brilliance will vary for different nations, times, social groups, etc. Vine is only one example and other examples can be preferences of clothes, women, men, pets, cars, books .... etc.). Here it is important to note that a person can choose vine among all vines what society offers to him. He can not choose a vine what is not available today, or in his socium. This is important selection and it defines regional preferences for example.

Besides the practical value, any technology has its limits of validity. Nowadays, scanning systems (manufactured by Sarin) have certain accuracy. This limits the capabilities of quantitative and qualitative analysis of diamond cut, which can be performed. Diamonds graded by sight as super-symmetric cannot be distinguished from just well-cut diamonds. The classical distortions of symmetry classified as «Minor symmetry» at GIA cannot be at all analyzed on the basis of scanned models. We think that starting from a certain magnitude, the symmetry distortions will be so weak that they will not affect the appearance of the diamond, though during certification at GIA these distortions might be noticed and classified as «Minor symmetry». As an example, Eightstar stones can be reminded that are symmetric for the observer, are symmetric according to a Firescope, but not always get the Excellent symmetry rating from GIA. We believe that the present level of technology allows one to produce an inexpensive commercial scanner and corresponding software, which would build a diamond model with accuracy required to correctly analyze the appearance of the diamond. To achieve the best price/quality ratio it is necessary to combine two technologies: projection-scanning and independent diamond facet junction building topology.