Diamond is not sparkle after Rhodium Plating

[C915423]

Hi everyone,

I almost had panic attack after I realized that my engagement ring looks gray/dark blue-ish not sparkling white/bright on the way home after my ring got re-sized and rhodium plated.

The sales person said it is because the ring was cleaned but I cannot believe the answer, and I'm really stressed now.

First, my ring used to be really sparkly. 1.5 caret round cut and it is color J but on the top, it reflected light so well, almost white/bright and wherever I go, people asked me if this was 2 caret ring as it looked bigger. Previously, it would show lots of light reflections in the car but today, there was hardly any light reflection and it is just not bright. It looks like glass with gray-ish and I'm just about to cry.

In my humble opinion, lights do not get reflected.. or lights are more likely absorbed (?)

Is it possible that Rhodium plating may have affected this? I did some on line search but mostly it was about platinum/white gold related matters, not about actual diamond stone.

Thanks in advance....

 

[ccuheartnurse]

Sorry about this blip. It could be the quality of the Rhodium. You don't mention having any issues with the ring before the resizing. I would absolutely go back, 1st call & talk to a manager or owner of the store to let them know you are coming back with the ring, that it was much brighter than before the work was done recently & you're not pleased with how it looks period.

I recently changed a 3 stone bezel set pendent to a single solitaire pendent. After the work was completed, the 14K white gold chain needed to be re-plated. I have worn this chain for almost 9 years. The chain looked ok in the shop under the bright halogens, but when I got home, I thought for sure he had switched my chain out! It was grey, flat looking, & almost looked oxidized. I called him & said there was an issue with my chain & point blank asked him if he switched it out. It looked THAT different. He said he must have some contaminated Rhodium & to give him a heads up before I went back so he can have some fresh stuff. I'm not sure about this but I did take it back & it does look a bit better. No where near as bright as it was all these years I've worn it without any issues or colour changes. I want to get a custom pendant made for this stone so I'm not pursuing this further right now but when I do, I'll make sure I check with the jeweller about the quality / colour of their rhodium.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

I don't think rhodium plating affects the diamond at all. Are you sure it is the same diamond? Have you tried cleaning it yourself?

 

[Rockinruby]

It shouldn't change your diamond. I would give it a good cleaning & if there is no improvement call the mgr asap. Do you have photos of before and after? Do you have photos or plot in which you can identify if it is the same diamond? It seems unlikely that a jeweler would risk switching a stone. Some of the experts on PS may be able to possibly comment more if you can show them what you are seeing.

 

[Acinom]

Do you have a certificate for the diamond. Is it possible that the diamond is clarity enhanced?

 

[denverappraiser]

Rhodium will not affect your diamond. Not even if it's been clarity enhanced. Sizing involves a torch, and a torch can damage CE or even non-enhanced stones so that's conceivable that the stone has been damaged, but by far the most likely answer has to do with cleaning and possibly just your memory of what it looked like before. Rhodium plating solution is poisonous and relatively easy to contaminate, so it definitely deserves respect, but it's otherwise not very dangerous stuff.

Damaged CE is easy to spot under a microscope, as is a burnt polish so a competent appraisal would pick up either of these right away. If you're worried about it, get a professional inspection and get to the bottom of it.

 

[Karl_K]

The most likely problem is the ring was polished before it was plated and a bunch of the polish got on the diamond and was not properly cleaned off.
A good professional steam cleaning is needed before panic sets in as that is the most likely problem and easily fixed.

 

[C915423]

Hi everyone, thanks for your posting and I really appreciate everyone's comments.

Here are some other facts.

1. I verified GIA# and it is my diamond.

2. I cleaned the diamond with solution given by my jeweler.

3. The gray/blue ish color is usually shown when I'm outside. This is bizarre but even when I'm outside, if I cover around the ring with my hand, it sparkles like it used to be. Yesterday was foggy and today was sunny day so I don't think this is related to weather. I tried to attached pics to show gray/blue ish color.

Below is my old picture - I sit next to the windows at work.


This is in the car after my ring got re-sized. (windows closed)


Step outside and took a picture.




I have emailed the sales person who told me that this blue/gray ish color was due to cleaning. My question was, shouldn't the ring reflect more lights (or should I see more light coming out) if the ring was cleaned? The ring's surface looks clean, polished. I'm not asking about "cleanness" but why sudden blue/gray/not reflecting light?

I will try to read more about CE as I didn't know jeweler would do CE without asking me when I simply asked to be resized.

I will also ask my jeweler to steam clean the ring.

 

[ecf8503]

I will try to read more about CE as I didn't know jeweler would do CE without asking me when I simply asked to be resized.

They didn't clarity enhance your diamond - we were just wondering if it had been in the past, but even if it was the rhodium process shouldn't have affected the diamond.

I'm wondering if perhaps your stone was somewhat dirty with a slight film on it BEFORE it was resized, and you were just used to looking at it that way. A diamond will "go dark" in some lighting, so I wouldn't be concerned about that. but that effect may be more evident after a good cleaning since the film that was blurring the light has been removed.

Does your stone have fluorescence?

 

[C915423]

Per GIA repot, fluorescence is none.

There is no mention about clarify enhanced in GIA report.

The GIA report is dated December 2014.

I just have not seen blue/gray color so profoundly. When I drove, it used to be so bright and people would joke that I shouldn't blind other drivers but now it shows that color shown in the picture. Just FYI, my stone is J color so from the side, I have seen little yellowish, which is fine and most of time the reflection was so great, I have seen almost campaign (?)/white sparkle from the top side. I think I got used to that.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

Can you post the GIA report # - some insight into the overall dimensions of the diamond may help.

 

[ccuheartnurse]

I completely misread your 1st post. I thought it was because the metal might have been plated a darker grey by mistake. I'm perplexed after seeing the pictures you posted of the diamond. Between the old & the new, there is a significant difference. I would follow the advice of a thorough clean & go from there.
I'm following your thread with interest. Hope there's a positive outcome.

 

[Karl_K]

3. The gray/blue ish color is usually shown when I'm outside. This is bizarre but even when I'm outside, if I cover around the ring with my hand, it sparkles like it used to be. Yesterday was foggy and today was sunny day so I don't think this is related to weather. I tried to attached pics to show gray/blue ish color.

Below is my old picture - I sit next to the windows at work.


This is in the car after my ring got re-sized. (windows closed)

[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/darkness-in-ideal-cut-diamonds-revisited.150108/']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/darkness-in-ideal-cut-diamonds-revisited.150108/[/URL]

 

[C915423]

Hi Karl and everyone,

Thanks for the replies.

This is someone else's ring with mine. Same light (I tried various angles indoor/outdoor lights) and mine was professionally cleaned few days ago, and steam cleaned yesterday by another jeweler, hers, hasn't been cleaned and you see my ring is darker.

I also got a comment from jeweler who has been jeweler more than 30 years that my ring wasn't diamond.. but he confirmed it is after he used some touch point equipment says it is diamond. Other people have asked me if it was moissanite. That's how I feel after re-sizing. Can heat damage can do this?

 

[Victor Canera]

Sorry to hear you've had this bad experience OP.

The rhodium platinng process can't really damage your diamond but you mentioned that it was re-sized as well. Is your ring made of platinum or gold ?

Diamonds can definitely be burnt. Their burning temperature is about 850° C.

Working with platinum, you treat a ring with diamonds differently than one without. For example, the typical soft platinum solder has a melting point of 1100° C which is already well past the burning temperature of a diamond. In fact, you can pull up some interesting (or nightmarish depending on your perspective) YouTube videos of some scientists burning diamonds so in a laboratory environment.

It sounds like the only person that can make a definitive statement for you is a knowledgeable and independent appraiser here.


Good Luck.

 

[Diamond_Hawk]

Below is my old picture - I sit next to the windows at work.

Just for apples-to-apples, can you re-create this picture now?

 

[thecat]

If your diamond is ideal cut, it should turn dark under the sun. Your original photos show your diamond in different lighting environment so that set of photos aren't conclusive. I can't comment about the one with your friend's stone as I don't know if her diamond is ideal cut or if non ideal goes dark under sun. I think the post asking for you to recreate your first photo at your work desk is in the right direction.

I know you just had the diamond professionally cleaned yesterday. But could it be still not clean enough if the polish left behind was too much?