Old But Still in the Game

Yesterday I was buying a diamond for our second line of diamonds; and of course,
cut weighed heavily on my decision. If you’re a newcomer to diamonds, the term
‘cut’ does not refer to the diamond’s shape; it refers to the execution of the cut for
beauty - defined as a combination of brilliance (light return) and sparkle (the prismatic
breakdown of light produced by facets in the diamond’s top).  A beautifully cut diamond
stands out because it presents a bright and  'colorful' play of light.

The staff had narrowed my choices down to two diamonds that were, in many respects,
comparable; but one weighed in at a carat while the other was a little shy of a carat. The
carat was more expensive by virtue of its ‘cost per carat‘ (just like buying something
sold by the pound); and despite its marginally higher cost, I knew that the its
weight would most likely help it sell faster. On the other hand, I felt (and always
do) that I owe our clientele the benefit of my experience in selecting diamonds.
Unlike the neophyte diamond buyer, who often reads a diamond’s physical attributes
as the key to understanding its price, I had to look at them, without prejudice,
to establish their value - important to me because price and value are two different
things. Price is determined by the market while value comes from within. It is the
emotional content that accompanies a gift or possession; and I am convinced that
beautiful emotions are best expressed by beautiful diamonds. So I looked at them;
and at little more than a glance, I was charmed by the slightly smaller diamond. It
‘popped’ while the larger one did not. Then it was time to look at their paperwork.

The common sense object of cutting diamonds is to take a ‘rock’ and make it beautiful;
their paperwork (Gemological Institute of America Gem Trade Laboratory
grading reports) would tell me whether my old eyes, as a judge of diamond beauty,
had failed me. Nope, I still have it. The smaller had been judged ‘Excellent’ in cut
whereas the larger diamond had been judged ‘Very Good’. The difference may
sound small; but unless you know how to read them, certificates can be deceptive
that way. The GIA laboratory’s cut grade is a statement of a diamond’s brilliance;
that is, its ability to return the light that enters its top to the viewer’s eye. The
smaller diamond’s cut grade of ‘excellent’ is a statement of superior brilliance and vivid display;
the larger’s cut grade of ‘very good’ means that it falls a bit short of the lab’s standards
for brilliance. Notice, please, that I have somewhat qualified, a laboratory’s report
of cut grade. In point of fact, I find two problems with current laboratory cut
grades.

Laboratory statements of cut grade are statements of white light return, only; so
while they do measure brilliance, they say nothing about sparkle. You have to look
at them to see ‘sparkle’. Beyond that, laboratory cut standards have been made in
observance of the best practices of the best diamond cutters, but not of the diamonds
that are the best in cut. You see, more than 99% of the world’s diamonds
are cut on equipment derivative of the very first (about A.D. 1475) diamond polishing
wheel, not the most technically advanced cutting equipment. Using traditional
equipment, the angles of a diamond’s facets are all at slight variance with one another;
using the most technically advanced equipment, the angles are exact. The
difference, when it comes to brilliance, is obvious; but if diamonds are to be sold, it
is equally obvious that gem laboratories have to gear their cut reports to the best
practices of the vast majority of diamond cutters. So it is that diamonds that are
observably the best in cut are lumped together with those that are merely the best
of laboratory standards.

If you’re still curious about the technical difference between the two diamonds, it
is this; the average angle of that smaller diamond’s pavilion facets (the ‘bottom’
ones) is .4º closer to the ‘ideal’ for light return than the average angle of the larger
diamond - a difference you can see. Of course, it is a traditionally cut diamond,
not a ‘high tech’ diamond; so it has to be part of our second line of diamonds. Our
first line of diamonds are our Hearts On Fire diamonds. They are cut on the most
technically advanced equipment in use today; so the angles of its cut are both more
accurate than those of a traditionally cut diamond and far closer to the ‘ideal’ for
light return. They’re so good that looking at them almost causes eye-strain; and
they’re available here at Hursts’ Berwyn Jewelers. Check out our website,
hurstsberwynjewelers.com, then, for nothing less than beautiful diamonds, phone
us at 708.788.0880 for an appointment. We're not a common jeweler.

P.S. If you have diamonds or broken or unworn pieces of jewelry that you would like to sell, come in and we’ll help you establish their market value; and perhaps, we’ll make the best offer to buy them.