Diamond Jewelry King » emerald

Diamond known since antiquity

King of diam — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 09:15:45 +0000

The diamond seems to have been known from the most remote period of antiquity. We find it was associated along with the emerald and the sapphire in the second row of the twelve precious stones on which the names of the children of Israel were engraved, ” every one with his name according to the twelve tribes,” and these were set in the breastplate of judgment worn by the High Priest. What the Urim and Thummim (Urim, Lights. Thummim, Perfections) were, which also adorned the breastplate, when he went into the ” holy of holies,” we have now no accurate means of ascertaining, but as the terms imply what is luminous and perfect, it is by no means unlikely that these were diamonds of great beauty and splendour, which reflected the glories of the symbol of the Divine Presence.

Thus we know distinct names were given to the two pillars that were reared in the porch of the temple at Jerusalem ; and the two chief diamonds belonging to Persia are hyperbolically termed, in the language of the east, ” the Sea of Glory,” and ” the Mountain of Splendour.”

The ancients seem to have been well acquainted with the use of the diamond in etching, and it is even stated that the figure of Mars, or of Hercules surmounting the Hydra, was engraved on it. The diadem, which is more ancient than the crown, was not worn until after Constantine, in the lower empire. This was a fillet, tied in a knot behind, and adorned with pearls and diamonds, either in a single or, a double row, which empresses were also permitted to wear. The diadem thus decorated may be observed on some of the coins of Constantine and Jovian.

There is in the British Museum an ancient Roman gold ring, with an octahedral diamond set in it: and in the clasp of the mantle of Charlemagne, still preserved at Paris, there are four diamonds, natural crystals. It was sometimes considered a talisman, and when under the planet Mars, esteemed favourable.

In former times it was supposed to cure insanity, and to be an antidote to poisons; notwithstanding which, Paracelsus was said to have been poisoned by diamond powder :* we believe it to be as inert in the one case as it is harmless in the other.

The Greeks called this gem “unconquerable” and AdaMant was given to it in consequence of this suppositious virtue, in that it was esteemed victorious over fire, and to resist the hardest things.

Ancient Greek writers describe it as only found in Ethiopia, between the island Meroe and the temple of Mercury. The notions of the ancients about it seem to be altogether confused and indistinct.

According to Pliny, there existed between the diamond and the magnet a natural antipathy. ” There is,” says he, ” such a disagreement between a diamond and a loadstone, that it will not suffer the iron to be attracted ; or if the loadstone be put to it and take hold of it, it will pull it away.”-)
- It is needless to observe, no such antipathy can now be discovered in the case; and if the grand test of inductive truth, ” experimentum fiat,” had been then applied, it would, like the witty monarch’s problem propounded to the Royal Society, have been found an equally gratuitous assumption. We, at least, have found no diminution of the attractive powers of the magnet, when we interposed between a magnet and a fine needle no less than five fragments of diamond.

Rubis

King of diam — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:05:44 +0000

Ruby is a specie of corundum and ranges in color from orange-red to purple-red. It is medium light to very dark in tone and quite strong in saturation.
Chemical composition of a ruby is Al203 It is a hexagonal crystal that often comes in six-sided prisms, terminated by flat faces.
Ruby registers a 9 on the hardness scale and is quite tough, unlike the emerald, and not nearly as subject to breakage. Under long wave ultraviolet, a ruby will fluoresce red or orange-red to inert and under short wave should fluoresce moderate red to orange-red.
Rubies come from a number of areas including Burma, which is usually considered as the finest source of rubies in the world. The best Burma stones are medium dark and vivid red.
Thailand produces stones which are a bit dark in tone and range from purple to brownish red because they have a slight bit of iron in them. Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) produces stones that are normally highly included although reminiscent of Burma in color. Sri Lanka has occasional rubies but more often sapphires that often mask as rubies.
In the U.S.A., North Carolina and Montana produce a few stones. Australia produces fairly poor quality stones as does India and Colombia, Nepal and Pakistan.
Rubies tend to be valued partially by the country of their origin. Some rubies now come with authenticated certificates of origin and the word Burma will bring a characteristically premium price even when considered next to a Thai
ruby that may appear identical to the Burma ruby under incandescent light.
Under fluorescent light, the Burma ruby will appear to fluoresce slightly and take on a deeper saturation. This is a highly sought after quality. Burma rubies also have some fine rutile needles that are commonly referred to as “silk” that add rather than detract to the attractiveness of the stone and further establish it as a Burma stone.
In order to establish a country of origin, a certified lab such as the American Gemological Laboratories in New York, has to study the ruby for body color under various conditions, fluorescence and inclusions. If a ruby is certified
as a top Burma ruby, the price may be 1 1/2 or twice what it was as an unknown or as a presumed Thai ruby.
Rubies from Thailand tend to have a brownish or purplish overtone. Those from Sri Lanka are generally very pink in color and more correctly referred to as pink sapphire.
There are a number of ways to treat rubies to improve their color, clarity and ultimately, their value. The quick fix method is to dye or oil the ruby which will help hide fractures, inclusions and improve the color of the stone.
A further refinement of this is a diffusion process where stones are immersed in a chemical bath which contains a number of chemicals including chromium which gives the ruby its color in the first place. This color is carried in
the skin of the ruby by the chemicals and actually penetrates the skin. This generally produces a light tone and the tone is only a skin which will disappear upon repolishing.
The next common treatment is a heat treatment. Rubies stand heat far better
than emeralds do and it is fairly Gommon to heat both rubies and sapphires which tends to improve the color by driving out bluish or brownish tints and will tend to dissolve the transparency, lessening the “silk” inclusions on heavily included stones.
These treatments all are dependent upon temperature, time and cooling rate, but they will bring about a permanent change in the stone leaving no chemicals or treatment to be removed.
In top ratings, rubies are rarer than diamonds but the actual supply of top stones may vary greatly because of political situations. Many stones reach the world markets because they have been smuggled out of places (especially
Burma) through Thailand and other friendlier countries. There is a fair amount of profit to be made in the smuggling of rubies.
Smaller, included or industrial strength stones, are cheaper than their diamond cousins because they are more easily available.
The rhodolite garnet often approaches ruby in color, although tends to be more purplish than the ruby and less saturated but still are sometimes sold as rubies.
Tourmaline also occurs in many color ranges including ruby red and is sometimes sold as ruby.
A new stone called red spinel has a remarkable resemblance to ruby and is not often seen on the market because it is generally sold as a ruby.
Rubies have been synthesized since the late 1 800′s. There are two primary methods of synthesizing rubies – the fusion method and the pulling method. In the 1950′s, several manufacturers began flux growing rubies which takes considerably longer than the other methods and produces a stone much closer to its natural version. Flux grown rubies tend to be extremely clear and transparent with an orange overtone.
Fusion stones tend to be strikingly flawless looking while the flux methods may actually produce a number of inclusions resembling silk.
One clue to synthetic rubies is the cut. Because the material is cheaper and waste is not as much a problem, machine cuts such as square or rectangular cuts are more prevalent.

Cut grading diamond

King of diam — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:15:55 +0000

Bear in mind also that a good diamond cutter can cut a colored stone in order
to make it appear whiter than it is WHEN THE STONE IS MOUNTED by doing a
shallower cut that’s more spread on the point where the facets come together.
This will make the stone appear less yellow, again only after it’s mounted.
This is another reason one should never judge a stone that is in a mounting
of any sort.
The cut of a brilliant diamond may be the most singular important consideration
in buying a stone within a set price range. Unless one is an expert and feels
his knowledge is good enough to override general public consideration, there
is only one cut to consider and that is the “brilliant” cut. Brilliant cut is
a modern cut that is a completely round stone designed with 58 facets to
maximize light reflection and “fire” within a diamond.
There are a lot of stones still around which have what is known as a European
cut. This cut was done in the 1920′s and before and does not compare in value
to the modern brilliant cut. The old cut or European cut stones were cut
before exact ratios and angles were established and understood by the gem
cutting society and, as such, do not maximize the reflecting and refraction
qualities of the stone. European cut stones such as those purchased at pawn
shops and estate sales, are much harder to resell and do not offer the
liquidity of a brilliant cut diamond.
There are other popular modern cuts such as the marquise, the oval and the
pear which attract some buyers when designed for jewelry, due to their unique
appearance. These cuts do not reflect as well as the brilliant cut and are
rarely seen in investment quality jewelry. Again, the fancier cuts will be
on the average much harder to sell (definitely harder to sell to a dealer)
than is the round brilliant cut stone.
Fancy cut diamonds have fewer angles cut to what is known as the “critical
angle” and, as such, cannot be as brilliant as a round cut stone. The fancier
a stone is, the more it differs from a brilliant cut, the greater the loss in
light reflection will be.
Another phenomena to be aware of in fancy cut stones such as pear shapes or
marquise shapes, is something called the bow tie effect. This is a dark,
cloudy area across the upper portion of the table on these stones. It is a
quality inherent in the cutting and looks like a cloudy bow tie across the
reflecting portion of the table. This obviously lowers the value of the stone
considerably and, if one is thinking about a fancy cut stone, this effect
should be taken into consideration.
Fancy cut stones have only two bottom facets as opposed to the eight found in
round cut stones to reflect the light back. While they still may appear to be
fairly brilliant, the refraction, the fire of the stone, will suffer
critically. This loss progresses from the marquise cut through the straight
cuts such as the emerald cut diamond. These straight cut stones suffer a great
light and fire loss and are not nearly as valuable as the same stone would be
cut in a brilliant cut.
An uncut diamond is normally sawn or split into two or more stones as decided
by the diamond cutter. It just takes a simple error here to completely ruin a
valuable stone and turn it into nothing but dust. Now you can understand the
hypertension rate among diamond cutters and airport controllers…
Once a rough diamond is split, the diamond cutter then decides how the stone
will be laid out and cut. This operation means that a certain portion of the
diamond will be ground off and lost and so this cut plan becomes an important
step in finishing the final stone.
The first step taken by the diamond cutter is to girdle the diamond. This
process of girdling establishes the size of the stone and puts a “waste” on
the stone (see the diagram). If a stone is poorly girdled, it will not appear
completely round when viewed with the jeweler’s loupe or microscope. A round
brilliant cut stone should be perfectly round and symmetrical.
Other mistakes in girdling will produce flaws that manifest themselves as a
razor thin girdle which is prone to chipping or breaking (even though diamonds
are extremely hard, they are brittle and can be chipped or shattered in thin
areas). A too thick girdle takes away from the brilliance and fire of a stone
and indicates a poor job on the part of the diamond cutter.
A diamond cutter cuts (in a brilliant cut) 58 facets all done on exact angles
in exact positions in order to let the diamond reflect as much light as is
physically possible. The brilliant cut stone has 16 facets on top and 16
facets on the bottom that reflect the light and give the stone its cut. Each
facet is cut on a unique angle and is exactly straight when viewed with other
facets in order to maximize light reflection.
When you view a brilliant cut stone, around the table of the stone you’ll see
the kite and the topmain facets. These facets are the areas that allow the
light to come through to the viewer. Beneath these you have eight star facets
and then 16 upper girdle facets before you reach the girdle itself. Beneath
the girdle you have an additional 16 lower girdle facets. All these ancillary
facets contribute to the light reflection through the kite and top main facets
and the table portion of the stone.
What is the advantage of the 58 facet brilliant cut stone? What does one
expect to see when viewing a diamond? There are two qualities that make a
diamond attractive to the eye. The first one is known as life and indicates
the amount of light that is reflected back from the diamond to the viewer.
The second quality is known as fire, which is an indication of the amount of
refraction from the facets and split into colors as in a prism effect.
Besides the 58 facets, a number of other factors contribute to the perfectness
of a brilliant cut stone. The stone’s table should be 53% of the area of the
stone. While the ratio between the depth of the stone or the length of the
stone if you view it from the side, to the spread of the stone which is the
maximum diameter of the girdle, this ratio should be 60% depth to spread.
The angles on a stone must be cut exactly to critical angles. Any deviation
will produce a less than perfect reflection of the light waves entering the
stone. A jeweler will have special gauges to measure these angles. These
gauges are available but they are expensive. Or one can buy a loupe that is
marked with angle markings.
When angles are viewed through this loupe, they can be accurately measured .
The first measurement to take is the degree of the angle from the table to the
girdle of the stone. This is known as the top critical angle and should be 34
1/2 degrees. Underneath the girdle, the bottom angle from the girdle to the
point of the stone is also a critical angle and should be cut at 40 3/4
degrees. A further measurement is that the girdle should be about 1% as thick
as the diameter of the stone, although this is not quite as critical as the
other measurements and can be judged by the eye after a bit of practice.
A stone which is not cut with the critical angles in the right degree, will
either be shallow cut or deep cut and will not reflect the light back through
the center of the stone (the table of the stone) with the same brilliance as
a stone that is cut to the correct angles.
If the stone is shallow cut, the light will reflect off the edges of the stone
but not through the middle. If it is cut too deeply, the center of the stone
will appear to be dark and it is called “heavy.” In the past some cutters cut
the upper angles at a less than 30 degree cut. This “spread cut” helps hide
deficiencies in a stone but makes the girdle angles sharp and likely to be
broken or chipped and the stone is not as valuable as a normally cut stone.
If the correct tool for sizing angles is not available, one can estimate that
if the table appears to be larger than it should, and the width to height
(that is the depth spread ratio) is below 60%, one can assume that the
critical crown angles are shallow.
It is possible to polish a diamond to a high degree to compensate for shallow
or deep cut angles at first glance and make the stone appear to be more
brilliant than it, in fact, is. If the stone is chosen for investment quality,
a measurement of these angles is almost essential .