Is the Diamond Vendor as
Transparent as the Diamond ?
or
Does your Diamond
Have a Glowing Report ?
~
Oopsy Poopsy !
Itza fizzzzza
~
The traditional convenient 4 C's system of valuing diamonds is now outdated when pricing diamonds.
*
This antiquated system causes diamond consumers to disregard cut grade, transparency and treatments.
*
The transparency of a diamond and NOT it's fluorescence should be considered as a major diamond pricing factor ~
Defining the importance of diamonds' fluorescence ability to influence diamond transparency as a pricing factor has never been considered as a grading qualification on diamond grading reports in the past.
*
The misconceptions that fluorescence should be frowned upon has caused doubt in the mind of the diamond consumer largely because of ignorance, ill equipped and inexperienced diamond vendors who are not trained diamond graders.
*
Many a beautiful diamond has been overlooked and ignored just because of a simple few terms quoted on a diamond's grading report more out of fear than any other reason.
*
Terms on diamond certificates should not always determine or influence the reason for purchase.
*
Often the term " Excellent " may not mean the diamond is excellent because all diamond grading laboratories grade differently according to their own parameters.
*
Considering to buy a diamond from a drop shippers diamond list can cause immense disappointment and can be risky.
*
This is why, if possible, it is always important for the inexperienced diamond buyer to view several diamonds next to each other in order to make an intelligent visual comparison.
*
All our DCLA certified diamonds have a laboratory calculated transperancy grade. Our GIA graded diamonds do NOT but this does not mean the diamond is inferior.
All diamonds should be inspected and assessed on their own individual merit.
*
Diamond Bloggers Imitating Diamond Experts
Some diamond vendors write in diamond blogs about fluorescence with school teacher mentalities seeking to appear as internationally renowned expert mavens while selling themselves and / or their diamonds.
*
Other diamonds bloggers often engage in dialogues with other " leading diamond world experts " who are sucked into the vortex by encouraging responses to make the orginal blogger seem intelligent.
This is why The Diamond Guru does not have a comments section. Discussing diamonds with bored dreaming housewives and tyre kickers in the hope of scoring a sale is undignified.
Talk and write all you want but you have to view a diamond to gauge how fluorescence affects the transperancy of a diamond full stop !
*
The Glow Factor
Fluorescence simply is a measurement of a diamond's ability to glow or shimmer under different forms of light to varying degrees of intensity.
How fluorescence affects the beauty of a diamond is up to the judgment of the buyer with the aid of proper and correct disclosure irrespective of any defined gemmological terms of description that may appear on a diamond certificate influencing your decision to purchase.
*
The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia was the first diamond grading laboratory in the world to introduce a scientifically calculated transperancy grade not to be confused with a fluorescence grade although they may be connected in conjunction with a diamond's clarity grade all combined when determining a diamond's transparency grading.
*
At
Diamond Imports where there is no blind drop shipping ,the prospective diamond buyer can always compare real diamonds because all our diamonds advertised are in stock.
*
Daniel F Katz
GG (GIA ), RFC (Aust.)
Proudly NOT a member of the Jewellers Association of Australia
*
To glow or not to glow ? *
that is the question.
~
" Even a non fluorescent diamond can look hazy,oily or milky "
*
A diamond with strong blue fluorescence can still have a very good lustre and high transparency
*
A diamond with no fluorescence can still be dull, hazy or milky.
*
*
Currently only the Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia has a
transparency grade recorded on it's diamond certificates.
*
This was influenced by the common sense of Renee Newman GG in her
Diamond Handbook and has since been either hijacked or employed by others without any acknowledgment.
*
Traditionally diamonds have been valued according to the the 4C's aka carat, cut, clarity, colour.
*
Renee Newman's diamond pricing factors has proved to be an aid for the serious diamond aficionado.
*
*
ColourThe less colour ( colourless ) or rather the colour of pure water the higher the price except for fancy colours.
The GIA equivalent colour grade " D" is considered the highest and most rare colourless grade.
There is only one higher colour , the extremely rare "D+" Type IIa better known as a Golconda
diamond regionally named after the Indian Golconda mines where many of the large historical diamonds of exceptional transparency are known to have come from.
This descends to the lowest colour grade " Z". Colour increases and the price decreases.
Fancy coloured diamonds commence at "Z+"(fancy yellow) but there are many attractive yellow diamonds between "P" and "Z" that can be purchased considerably less than a fancy yellow "Z+".
* Cut Quality
( Proportion or Cut Grade plus Finish Grade which is further divided into
the two sub categories of quality of polish and symmetry. )
* Cutting Style ( Gemstone Shape)
Diamonds are priced in two groups; round brilliants and every other shape is a fancy ( "fantasy") cut/ shapes.
Round diamonds in similar weight categories, colour and clarity to fancy shapes are usually 20% to 15% higher in total price.
The diamond consumer receives more ba ba bing for their money when buying a unique fancy shape.
* " Degree to which a stone is free from flaws " Renee Newman GG Diamond Handbook 2nd Edition 2008
Higher clarity diamonds command higher prices and although sometimes the most invisible characteristic of a diamond is it's flaws or inclusions it is the reason why diamonds increase in price more so than the colour which is the most visible.
The higher the clarity grade the rarer the diamond .
Clarity or purity grades can affect transperancy
*
Transparency
" Degree to which a diamond is clear, hazy or cloudy "
" Degree to which a gemstone transmits light" : Renee Newman GG
Is the gemstone transparent, semi-transparent, translucent, semi-translucent or semi-opaque or opaque?
In The Diamond Ring Buying Guide 6th edition Revised 2005 by Reenee Newman GG Page 85 Renee says: " When transparency is treated as a separate [price] factor, you learn the importance of examining diamonds visually, instead of just relying on lab reports and grades.There are no grades on lab reports that measure diamond transparency, even though it has a major impact on value ."
*
The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia, an International Diamond Council diamond grading lab, has since been the first recognized diamond grading laboratory to introduce a tested grading mathematical formula calculated for judging transperancy grades and it is a credit to both DCLA and Australia to do this.
*
Fortunately for us at Diamond Imports the majority of Australian retail jewellers are insular single cell organisms with the average intelligence of bullants unable to grasp the significance of having an International Diamond Council diamond grading laboratory on their doorstep because they falsely believe they actually understand diamonds.
Those who pretend to be experts have their heads in the sand and can not accept hearing this truth but I am always delighted to remind them that their ignorance only surpasses my contempt. A fine example of such specimens are members of the
Jewellers Association of Australia, a toothless tiger that never enforces it's own members to abide by their own code of ethics time and again.
*
Treatment status ( Untreated or treated and what type of treatment?)
Unlike coloured gems most diamonds are untreated but this is changing rapidly.
Treated diamonds are worth considerably less than untreated diamonds.
"Attractive UNTREATED diamonds are still readily available and pose the fewest potential problems" ( Renee Newman GG ) for the diamond consumer.
These are the most common known treatments:
1) Fracture Filling . Diamond clarity and transparency is improved by filling cracks with a compound that makes the crack almost invisible.
2) Laser Drilling. Dark inclusions are eliminated to improve clarity enhancement by laser drilling a narrow hole then bleaching or dissolving the inclusion with acid.
3) Coatings to improve the diamond's colour grade.
4) Irradiation & Heating is used to create coloured diamonds.
5) High Pressure High Temperature ( HPHT) treatment used to improve the colour of diamonds with more expensive colour grades but have very little commercial value.
___________________________________________________________
The traditional convenient 4 C's system of valuing diamonds is now outdated when pricing diamonds.
This antiquated system causes diamond consumers to disregard cut grade, transparency and treatments.
*
The transparency of a diamond and NOT it's fluorescence should be considered as a major diamond pricing factor ~
~
GIA Adds Fluorescence Info to Diamond Reports
JCK-Jewelers Circular Keystone, 7/7/2009 9:57:00 AM
Effective immediately, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) will include a description of a diamond’s ultraviolet fluorescence in its GIA Diamond Grading Reports and Diamond Dossiers. The Institute will use in their newly revised diamond grading reports to help better educate the public on this “common, but little understood phenomenon in diamonds,” the Institute said in a recent press release.
A separate, four-color insert chart will explain the properties of a diamond’s fluorescence in consumer-friendly terms and includes comparison images of diamonds in both natural and UV light to illustrate varying intensities of fluorescence.
The five terms GIA uses to classify the intensity of the fluorescence are: None, Faint, Medium, Strong, and Very Strong.
A sample fluorescence chart. “Some diamonds show fluorescence and some don’t,” said Thomas Moses, GIA’s senior vice president of Laboratory and Research. “Fluorescence is the emission of visible light by a diamond when it is stimulated by invisible ultraviolet (UV) rays. It is a common characteristic of diamonds. The diamond simply glows under the UV lights, usually a blue color, which most often stops when the energy source causing it is removed.”
For more than 50 years, GIA has indicated the presence of diamond fluorescence on its diamond grading reports, but described it on the report as an “identification characteristic only – not a grade,” Moses said.
“This insert will help the public better understand diamonds in general, which gives them more confidence and knowledge when making a decision about a diamond,” Moses added.
GIA has additional information on fluorescence on its website, including a scientific article, “A Contribution to Understanding Blue Fluorescence on the Appearance of Diamonds,” by Thomas M. Moses, Ilene M. Reinitz, Mary L. Johnson, John M. King and James E. Shigley, which appeared in the Winter 1997 issue of GIA’s Gems & Gemology.
Additional Reading :
GIA GTL's Colour Grading Of Fluorescent Diamonds
Breakthrough Toward Industrial Production Of Fluorescent Nanodiamonds
Napoléon Diamond Necklace
Bluff Diamonds
Read more here about fluorescence here
Coloured Diamond Fluorescence
New Diamond Handbook Now Available There’s an entire chapter on diamond fluorescence.
First CVD Synthetic Diamond Submitted for Dossier Grading to GIA Lab Fluororescence can assist in gemstone identification.
The Paradox of Fluorescence by Daniel F Katz GG
Diamond Grading Ownership & Ethics
***
Diamond Imports
~
Kiss Her With A Diamond
~
Subscribe in a reader
To glow or not to glow ? 
" Even a non fluorescent diamond can look 
~
.jpg)
