victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info???

[GraceAva]

hi everyone, well after much deliberation and information from ps i took the risk and bought an 1ct oec SI1 G-H solitaire, with .38 SI1 G-H tapered baguette side stones from Ebay. when i received it i was pleasantly surprised as its a truly stunning ring and one of the most fiery sparkly diamonds ive ever seen, i really never thought with the budget me and my fiance had (hence the ebay risk!) that i would ever own a diamond like it! i took it to my jeweler and without telling him anything about who i had bought it off he said the diamonds from hong kong and is victorian but in a new setting (and not an OEC) the seller i bought it off was indeed of chinese origin although he lives in the USA. He then said that diamonds from Hong Kong are better than our diamonds (western diamonds i think he meant!) so does anybody know anything about diamonds from hong kong? if and why there better than other diamonds? and how could he tell just from looking at it? (he was too busy for me to ask him all these questions!!) thanks!

 

[kelpie]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

That is really strange...he was probably just going off anecdotal evidence like he saw a diamond from Cantonese family's heirloom collection with a similar cut once. Was he saying it was mined in Hong Kong? To some extent you may be able to guess origin by the growth structure and impurities but I highly doubt he had the equipment to look for that. I don't think there was ever a mine there.

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

thanks for your reply, he didn't actually say it was mined there, his exact word were 'its a Hong Kong diamond'. and he was looking at it with a standard jewelers loupe. i took it to 2 other jewelers the day i got it and one said it was a modern diamond and the other said it was a 50's or 60's but they both seemed to be a bit baffled by the cut and were just guessing i think. i only took them there as i had to go to another town to pick it up from the depot and just wanted to make sure it was real as soon as i could but the jeweler that said its a hong kong diamond is my local trusted jeweler.

 

[LGK]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Huh. Never seen or heard of any antique diamonds cut in Hong Kong. I got nothing for you. I don't really know how the jeweler could be so certain on that one.

 

[dinamit]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Grace,

Could we please see a picture of the ring? I am really puzzled by this. I presume the diamond tested to be natural, and if it as on OEC, how on earth would the jeweller know it's from Hong Kong?

I would be so curious, that I would phone the jeweller

dinamit

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

i cant post a photo now as its with the jeweler being resized, but as soon as i pick it up on wednesday i will.

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

also he said its not an OEC!

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Can you link the ebay listing page so we can see the vendor pictures? I am curious to see what the cut is like. It obviously was the cut that tipped him off, but I have never heard of a Hong Kong cut, either!

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

i don't know how to put a link on here but this is the number, 200578354196.

 

[cartea01]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Here's the link

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI...RRENCY=0&_sop=10&_dmd=1&_ipg=50&_fvi=1&_rdc=1

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Wow, that is a spectaular stone and the rings are beautiful, too! That was an unbelievable deal!!!

 

[Circe]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Maybe an off-the-wall supposition, but any chance your jeweler is of Chinese extraction himself? I know jewelers are as prone to patriotism as anybody else: once in a while I've seen Russian dealers proclaim high-quality diamonds as Ural goods just because they're nice stones.

 

[LoveStarlet]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

I don't know anything about the "Victorian" diamond and have had a hard time finding ANY antique looking cuts in Hong Kong BUT, as a New Yorker who grew up near the diamond district in midtown, now living/doing business in Hong Kong for the year, I can absolutely confirm that Hong Kong has some of the best diamonds in the world, and with a few exceptions, much better than the U.S.

The main difference is that in Hong Kong, there are very few badly cut/lower color/lower clarity diamonds. Period. But there is also much less diversity. They carry mostly rounds, a few princess cuts and the occasional Emerald cut. Very very few cushion cuts, antique cuts etc. If you want a round, Hong Kong has the most amazing selection I've ever seen.

My fiance had a set of earrings and lost one. He wanted to trade in his remaining diamond earring to put it toward our stone for my engagement ring. The cut and clarity of the stone were phenomenal, but it was lower color, somewhere around L,M I think. We went to maybe 5 jewelers and all of them said the same thing, "In Hong Kong, buyers are very very picky and strict and have extremely high standards for diamonds". They weren't very interested. Back in the U.S. there was no problem selling the stone.

We compared pricing from back home and the prices are better for higher quality diamonds in Hong Kong. Period. Of course, New York Diamond District jewelers have some gorgeous diamonds and they are as good as Hong Kong, but there are just SOOOOO many jewelers/mall shops/chain stores in the U.S. that sell poor quality diamonds and Hong Kong doesn't have this.

So IMO, its more of a quality vs quantity issue. The U.S. has SO many crappy diamonds that it totally dilutes the quality whereas Hong Kong may have less diversity available in cuts but there are diamonds on nearly every corner and they are freaking AMAZING.

We now only buy our jewelery here and probably always will

 

[jgny]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

LoveStarlet - sorry to be OT here but do you have any recs in HK as to where to go to buy stones? The big chains (Chow Tai Fook, etc) seem to be over-priced (of course, that's before the "negotiating") and one time I went into one of the chains with my IS and they were a bit freaked out. There is a huge selection of rounds but I've seen a lot that are poorly cut (mainly b/c I think the market overly focuses on carat, color and size). That being said, I've seen some SUPER HUGE stones here, just in the window displays!

 

[artdecogirl]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

GraceAva, I am sorry I do not have any insight for you about the origin but I did want to say that set is GORGEOUS!!!!! What a great buy and I love the band with it, very very nice! Hope you get it back from the jeweler soon .

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

thanks for the compliments everyone, only 2 days and i can pick it up. im soooooooooooo excited!!!!!!!!!
the jeweler was not of chinese origin, but i am going to ask him how he knew when i go to pick it up. hand shots coming weds/thurs!

 

[Ninama]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Ooohhhhh, man! Gorgeous! What a smokin' find - SCORE!

If it's not an OEC, what is it? A transitional? It's really, really beautiful...

 

[GraceAva]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Ninama, i love your ring!!!! ive just realised that its yours, lucky girl!!

 

[Ninama]

Re: victorian diamond from Hong Kong, anybody have any info?

Thank you, GraceAva It's a girly-dream-come-true ring (with a ton of sentiment attached). I'm crazy about it!