Green FCD: Amazing Recut Results

[AN0NYM0US]

I received this information on September 23rd. I made a thread on another diamond forum that I frequent and I fully intended to post it here, but for some reason forgot. Then yesterday I saw the diamond on Leibish and it reminded me to do this.

Months ago I decided to focus my FCD collecting to only natural pink diamonds. I traded all (4) natural green diamonds I owned to a vendor for a nice Argyle pink. It was a fair deal that I initiated. They received 2 fancy light blue green, 1 fancy blue green and 1 light green. The light green is the focus of this post. I believe there are more pictures of it in my FCD collection thread, but here is one for reference.



It had a full report from GIA. It was graded...

I1
.55ct
Natural Light Green

Now I should have prefaced by saying the vendor that did the recut was reddiam. I have had at least a dozen transactions with them and consider their sales manager Gidon a friend. If it wasn't for this friendship I would never have known about this and couldn't share this story with you. Thanks Gidon, I guess

After I had traded the diamonds in Gidon mentioned to me that they thought the round green was a great candidate for a recut. I had had a similar idea a few years ago and even made a thread about it on that other forum, but decided not to after realizing how difficult and risky recutting a green diamond can be. I asked him to keep me informed.

A couple of months passed and I had forgotten about the little green guy, until I awoke one September morning to see Gidon's email. He said they had just got the diamond back from GIA (they had to send it 3 or 4 times during the process) and it had received their final approval and grading. It's new grade was...

.48ct
Fancy Intense Green

I don't know what hit the floor faster or harder, my jaw or my heart. The collector in me could only but appreciate the transformation. To go from Light Green and skip Fancy Light and Fancy to go right to Intense is insane. I almost couldn't believe it. The buyer in me was deflated. I hadn't directly lost and monies, but the theoretical dollars lost were depressing. After a couple days and drinks I was ok.

I saw yesterday that Leibish had listed the diamond for sale. I'm guessing the reddiam had sold it to them.

I still can't believe I had in my possession a potential Fancy Intense green diamond. I will probably never really own one. Maybe I'm not quite over it.

Anyway I thought I'd share this little story. It really is amazing what little stories our diamonds/gemstones could tell. I mean this little green guy went from me winning him in an auction on ebay for less than $1,000 to being listed on Leibish for over $20,000. Incredible.

 

[AN0NYM0US]

http://www.fancydiamonds.net/view_diamonds/15578.htm#.UoPcQ-KneSo

 

[minousbijoux]

A truly amazing story - shows once again the critical importance of cutting. That said, I wish it had been the other way around, where you were the owner during its transformation - just think of how many pink fcds you could buy with $20K.

Thank you for sharing that story. It really is a beautiful color in its after condition.

 

[soxfan]

Oh my God! I wouldn't even want to know!

 

[JewelFreak]

I don't know what hit the floor faster or harder, my jaw or my heart.

To say the least! What an amazing story. A once in a lifetime transformation, holy cow. I'm so sorry it wasn't yours through the process, but I'm sure re-cutting it would've been too much risk for almost everyone. Hang on for the next one -- you never know!

 

[Rubeum]

The cut is essential in colored stones, often we do not perceive how; just change the side of the face, tilt, or only the refraction of light to pass through common material to rare material. Remember that the color of the matter is only our perception of light and nothing else.
A similar story can be told for the famous Graff Pink diamond, purchased from Sotheby's by Lawrence Graff. A 24.78 carat fancy Intense Pink. Graff has done simply adjust the cut and is now classified as a Fancy Vivid Pink.

 

[AN0NYM0US]

Minous: or one really nice single pink. oh well, what can you do? I did mention that I would be asking for a super deal on my next purchase

Soxfan: I know. When I first told this story on the other board some members accused the vendor of rubbing it in my face. Trust me I asked to know and I got what I asked for

JewelFreak: Thank you for the kind words. If anything I learned that I probably should have had someone look/appraise the diamond before I sold it. I'm still not sure who in my country specializes in FCD's and could have provided that info, but I will look into next time.

Rubeum: Agreed. Cut is paramount. I still can't believe the original cutter missed out on such an opportunity. I mean he is the professional, I'm just some schmo that happened to come by it. I was told that the color upgrade was due to manipulating clouds near the culet. There were strong colored clouds and I assume the new cut exploits them them to amplify the color.

 

[soxfan]

I would TOTALLY buy a couple more and send them to that cutter!!!!!!

 

[OTL]

The change is really huge. Never would've imagine it's the same stone! What a story!

 

[Venti25]

I admire your ability to post this..amazing transformation! ..but also a little .

 

[pregcurious]

Thanks for the great story!

 

[iLander]

EASILY one of my favorite stories on CS. Ever.

It's amazing what cutters can do to enhance color and saturation.

BTW, We are going to need the name of the ebay vendor.

 

[kenny]

WOW, wonderful FCD saga.
I love reading about this.
You are so much smarter than I.

I'm the idiot at the bottom of the food chain who'd pay $20K for the lower-carat version of what you paid <$1000 for.

No snark, I sincerely admire you.

I wonder whether I could recut my round Fancy Intense Green OEC into a smaller radiant Fancy Vivid Green.
... but I didn't pay $1,000 for it.

 

[PrecisionGem]

Something doesn't look right here. The stone was a .55 round and was recut square and finished up .48 ? I would think it would have lost a lot more weight than that changing shape.

 

[AN0NYM0US]

Something doesn't look right here. The stone was a .55 round and was recut square and finished up .48 ? I would think it would have lost a lot more weight than that changing shape.

I know. I was pretty impressed too. 13% loss. The original measurements were 5.12x5.19x3.27 with a huge 63% table. If you look closely you can see the same feather in the table. They weren't able to lose that.

 

[ohlala]

Something doesn't look right here. The stone was a .55 round and was recut square and finished up .48 ? I would think it would have lost a lot more weight than that changing shape.

I know. I was pretty impressed too. 13% loss. The original measurements were 5.12x5.19x3.27 with a huge 63% table. If you look closely you can see the same feather in the table. They weren't able to lose that.

i love the story as well!! and i want to know where can i find that ebay seller too!

now i'll be examining all my FCDs to see if they can recut. but i highly doubt it as i bought mine from diamond companies that know to cut for color. did you get to at least see the recut diamond in person? i think your diamond is so incredibly pretty (except for the feather/inclusion) on the table.

i think a ct on a diamond is a LOT more (i'm not talking about price) than other stones. i'll often see some gems listed as 6 cts but the size is the same as a 1ct diamond. diamonds are just less dense... a 13% loss is not insignificant. it's just because the carat size is already below 1ct so you don't feel it being a lot. say a 10ct stone...that would mean a 10ct because a 8.7ct.

is that why so many FCDs are radiant and cushion cuts. those cuts concentrate the color and the outer parts where there is no color is sanded off..?? guess that is why round, brillant cut FCDs are more expensive...

besides cutting, setting can make a huge difference too. i saw some beautifully set jewelry that made even light FCDs look intense in color. so nice...

 

[AN0NYM0US]

iLander: Haha. It was a cutter from India that had a store on eBay. I don't think he still sells their, at least not under the old name. This was a few years ago that I won it.

Kenny: DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT OEC. I know you were kidding, but seriously, I've mentioned before your oec is probably my favorite green. More than any other one I have seen. There is something special about it. And really I am not that smart. I profited a bit when I traded it in, but not what the vendor did. They really took the risk, not me.

ohlala: I really wouldn't think this would/could/should happen to other people's FCD's, but I guess you never know. Leibish has recut stones they won at the Argyle tender with some pretty amazing results and they were cut by Rio/Argyle. Again I think this had more to do with the green clouds in the diamond than just cut, but again I have heard of people that bought emerald cut deep/vivid pinks hoping to have them cut into red radiants. I hope people won't start doing this with rounds as well. Soon we'll have nothing but radiants left

And no I didn't get to see it in person, just some pictures they sent me

 

[chrono]

What a story indeed. If we could make such predictions, we wouldn't be on Pricescope saving up our money for nice gems but would have won all sorts of lotteries long ago, making millions of dollars.

 

[minousbijoux]

And no I didn't get to see it in person, just some pictures they sent me

Would it make you feel better if I told you I had seen it in person and it wasn't nice at all?

 

[yssie]

OMG. What an incredible transformation!
And what a story!!!!!!

I can't decide how I feel - - I can't begin to imagine how you must feel!!

 

[soxfan]

EASILY one of my favorite stories on CS. Ever.

It's amazing what cutters can do to enhance color and saturation.

I agree. One of the best stories ever.

 

[Indylady]

Definitely a unique and incredible story.