Access To Sarin Machine? (boston area)

[Noah]

I want to use a sarin machine to get exact measurements of my diamond (im in the boston area)

But I cannot find someone who has one.. and I refuse to *send* my diamond to some lab or some jeweler to use the sarin machine on it. I spent way to much on it. This makes it harder for me I''m sure, but who can tell me pavillion angle, crown height, etc?? its for a diamond i am buying.. The GIA cert does not include this.

I asked if an appraiser at shreve crump & low uses a sarin machine and the lady responded with "No, hes doesnt use a sarin machine, but he''s a certified gemologist" WhOOOAH! watch out now... He''s still not as accurate as a machine, is he? Somehow I get the feeling that I''ll still be wondering even after the appraisal. I feel like somethings missing unless I can get angles and percentages..

and.. why doesnt the gia cert have this? As if the pavillion angle or crown height wasn''t important? It could mean everything to a diamond. I dont get it.

Any advice?

 

[newenglandgemlab]

Hi Noah,

I've been on a fence about buying a Sarin machine and I still might just do that, but the reason I am hesitating is quite honestly, whomever is selling the stone should supply that info. They are the ones making the profits!

I do have three proportion analyzers and am happy to supply the measurements as accurately as humanly possible. Our measurements are pretty accurate. The only time there may be a problem is trying to estimate an average over a stone that is way off in symmetry.

Cindy

 

[oldminer]

The proportion analyzers mentioned above are way better than nothing, but they have only about a 2 degree range of accuracy. Not really sufficient for the electronic age. The offer is a good one for someone having a difficult time in getting some advice. The eyes of the grader may be better than the devices.

The foremost diamond experts in the world really don't need a Sarin to tell them when a diamond is well cut. However, they can't guess the numbers for the various crown and pavilion angles just by eye. They use a tool like an Ogi or Sarin to do this task. These divices are not foolproof. They are difficult to calibrate and do not always give identical results on a given stone. Why? Because they do have a degree of machine error. They are not perfect, but just very good at what they do.

Reliance on the numerical readout of a Sarin or Ogi is understandable and very useful. It is not the finest way to measure, but it is adequate for the task. You will find very few retail stores have these costly devices. In order to sell diamonds to the consumer there seems to be only a very limited demand at that level.

It is a shame you can't find someone with the equipment up your way. Surely one or more of these machines is in the Jewelry Trades Building on Washington St. Why not go there and ask around. Maybe someone would be willing to do this for you. The real problem is they might not let you into see them doing it and so you'd lose sight of the stone for a few minutes. Can't say I recommend that, either.

 

[Noah]

Ah thank you for the great advice. I brought the diamond back to my dealer after getting the appraisal at shreve.. to have them put it in the ring for the final phase of my ring buying experience. What they told me is that they can send the ring to Lazar Kaplan (where it was bought) to have them do a sarin analysis
(iddn't that nice of them? )

...then its on its way to Jabel to be set! After all these experiences, I'm not sure the sarin does anything for me but satisfy curiosity...
thanks all!