As long as we are talking about color....

[braga123]

Since everyone has been chiming in on color, I am curious to know if you can tell the difference.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Yup. An E is very different from an L. I can tell immediately.

 

[ForteKitty]

Always. I'm still very color sensitive with MRBs and tint bothers me in those. Tint also bothers me in fancy shapes, where the tips or corners tend to show more concentration of color. That bugs the crap out of me!!

 

[arkieb1]

Yes, I am colour sensitive. I not only see the difference in colour within two clarity grades + or - each way but can see the under tints and tones usually as well.

 

[c-k]

As she holds out her hand, I look at her beautiful new ring, I say to my self 'huh, not an E looks like a G' or do I look and see the sparkle of the stone.

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Depends...between a D, E or F? Doubtful.

Saw three huge sparkle bombs in as many weeks--a rarity for me, but folks were out Christmas shopping .....2 out of 3 showed obvious body color....but could I tell you what color grade they were? Again doubtful.

cheers--Sharon

 

[treasurehunter]

If there set in jewellery its a lot harder but with practice its possible to see to one or two grades.
If there fancy cut add a few colour grades to face up look

 

[Circe]

Hee. DEAR GOD NO. If human vision had this capacity under normal viewing circumstances, the job of the appraiser would be 1000% easier.

Is the wearer of the ring ... in a room with white wall?

... yellow walls?

... great northern exposure?

... incandescent lighting?

--- some weird new CFL bulbs?

Is the stone ...

.. old cut?

... with a bruted girdle?

... OLD bruted girdle, or recently dipped in acid bruted girdle?

--- fluorescent?

... blue flour, or yellow, or green, or red, or ...?

Is the wearer of the ring ... the kind to obsessively steam-clean?

or ...

.... the kind of person who, like one lovely lady I know, the sort to hold her hand out to you proudly while telling you that she hasn't taken it off the whole year she's been engaged ... and you can see she's telling the truth via the accumulated soap beneath the pavilion? (BTW, it was a D. It's just that nobody would have guessed unless they were going for D-is-for-DOVE.)

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I can tell under GIA grading conditions. I can tell when the stone is loose. I can tell if there's something ridiculously egregious about it, like, uh, sister, I hate to tell you this, but your diamond is showing adularescence, which is ... highly unlikely.

But in normal life circumstances, when, say, a friend is showing me her decently cut stone in a quick flash at her engagement party? NOPE.

But I guess this question is about a specific set of circumstances that we're all imagining differently. Braga, what kind of scenario are you wondering about?

 

[braga123]

Circe, lmao

Good question, and by the time I thought about revising it, well, it was too late.

So what I want to know is if you can detect color when other people are wearing their rings in general. Maybe it is at work, and it is your colleague, or maybe a stranger is paying at the cash register in front of you, or you are having lunch with a friend and she is wearing her ring and sitting right across from you...color detection in real life scenarios within a relatively close distance.

 

[Daisyoz]

I and my assistant who also loves diamonds, love spotting engagement rings on our clients' hands (of course sneakily ). One time this lady rocked a huge diamond, must be >2 carat, we were so impressed until we got to see it closer and it looked obvious yellow to our untrained eyes (this was before PS) and didnt sparkle. Our room has florescence lights and white walls and later when I got my G colour ACA it always looks white in that room. To this day, I often wonder what colour that could be J or M and whether it was a good cut at all.

 

[GreenBling]

I *THINK* i can tell a range e.g. D-F which are icy white (to me), F-H which are white in general, H-J which have some tint upon closer and longer time inspection. I often peek at strangers' rings but there's just not enough time to take in everything in that 3 seconds. I'd usually run a mental report on size, cut then color in terms of simply white or yellow "that's very white" or "that's some color".

To answer your question, yes between colorless and and J/K/L, I believe I can tell the difference easily.

 

[Paul-Antwerp]

Hee. DEAR GOD NO. If human vision had this capacity under normal viewing circumstances, the job of the appraiser would be 1000% easier.

Is the wearer of the ring ... in a room with white wall?

... yellow walls?

... great northern exposure?

... incandescent lighting?

--- some weird new CFL bulbs?

Is the stone ...

.. old cut?

... with a bruted girdle?

... OLD bruted girdle, or recently dipped in acid bruted girdle?

--- fluorescent?

... blue flour, or yellow, or green, or red, or ...?

Is the wearer of the ring ... the kind to obsessively steam-clean?

or ...

.... the kind of person who, like one lovely lady I know, the sort to hold her hand out to you proudly while telling you that she hasn't taken it off the whole year she's been engaged ... and you can see she's telling the truth via the accumulated soap beneath the pavilion? (BTW, it was a D. It's just that nobody would have guessed unless they were going for D-is-for-DOVE.)

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I can tell under GIA grading conditions. I can tell when the stone is loose. I can tell if there's something ridiculously egregious about it, like, uh, sister, I hate to tell you this, but your diamond is showing adularescence, which is ... highly unlikely.

But in normal life circumstances, when, say, a friend is showing me her decently cut stone in a quick flash at her engagement party? NOPE.

But I guess this question is about a specific set of circumstances that we're all imagining differently. Braga, what kind of scenario are you wondering about?

I totally agree, Circe.

 

[CharmyPoo]

Circe triggered some thoughts ... I was at a party this past weekend. Someone comes up to me with her husband and sticks her hand in front of me "Your husband tells me you are a diamond girl. How do you like my diamond?" My response "it's lovely and of course your fiancé did well - he picked it just for you and you said yes!" Now, if she was asking me if she should buy it - I thought it was heavily included in that I saw a black spot with my naked eye at 12 inches and poorly cut. It was likely in the J/K/L range (I knew my diamond looked like in this setting). The setting was a Tacori. But this isn't my

Anyways, my mind set with the question asked - I was only imagining me looking at diamonds in a room at peace where I am well aware of the lighting conditions. I was not imagining a scenario where someone comes up to me and flashes their ring. That usually never happens and it is not how I look at diamonds. I like to look at diamonds in peace by myself.

 

[chrono]

Very likely, yes, if given the opportunity to "study" the diamond. Doesn't mean I mind it or don't mind it, colour is what it is. Highly unlikely if just looking at passing rings.

 

[dk168]

I cannot tell the difference of just one grade, however, I can tell between a E and a G/H.

DK

 

[baby monster]

I'm not color sensitive so I focus on how well the stone sparkles. Most of the time the stones are dirty or lighting is off so it's impossible to tell.

 

[TC1987]

Between colorless and J/K/L? Are you kidding? Only if it's sery mall would I not notice the tint right off the bat. I can never forget the HoF princess that was I color, and I could see tint in that thing from 3' away. LOL

 

[Laila619]

Are you asking if you can tell the difference between, say, a G and a K sitting side by side? Yes. But guessing the color of a stone by itself without other stones next to it? No.

 

[insured]

I cannot tell the difference of just one grade, however, I can tell between a E and a G/H.

DK

Ditto this. I am very sensitive to colour and can see it in a G every time. Wish I couldn't!

 

[dkata]

I am also very color sensitive, and I see a tint in my G color princess! I also wish, I could not see it!

 

[pyramid]

I can see color starting at G but I still like it, I don't like what I start seeing at H though but could live with it if it had been bought to me.

 

[yennyfire]

I cannot tell the difference of just one grade, however, I can tell between a E and a G/H.

DK

Me too!

 

[pyramid]

Surprised by Paul-Antwerp's reply. As he is a diamond cutter.

Maybe it is just seeing strangers rings he is speaking about, but if I see a ring for a minute I can see it is a different color. Or at least I think I do.
Now I am wondering after Paul writing he agreed people could not see

 

[Rockdiamond]

+1 Circe- and Paul

Pyramid- no doubt you might be seeing color differences in diamonds on people's hands- but they might not be what you think they are due to the lighting environment- as well as the type of setting the diamond is in.

To be able to make a valid comparison, you'd need to see the diamonds, and know the GIA grading.
IOW- although you might think one diamond looks darker, it might not actually be darker.

Diamonds definitely react to things in their environment- and your eyes do as well.

 

[0-0-0]

If the stones are side by side and the cut quality is comparable, then yes. If the cut quality is not comparable, I wouldn't be so certain that any perceived color difference is due to any actual differences in graded color.

I recently compared 2 similar sized GIA E color emerald cuts side by side and the less well cut one faces up noticeably more tinted. In fact, I ended up selecting a better cut GIA K color emerald cut that faces up less tinted than the less well cut E.

 

[Circe]

Surprised by Paul-Antwerp's reply. As he is a diamond cutter.

Maybe it is just seeing strangers rings he is speaking about, but if I see a ring for a minute I can see it is a different color. Or at least I think I do.
Now I am wondering after Paul writing he agreed people could not see

I would not presume to speak for Paul ... but I think it might be because he's a diamond cutter, has seen a lot of rough and finished goods alike, has seen the occasionally unpredictable results the labs will give, or the variation in effect that a minute difference in cut can make, unexpectedly, when you're trying to work around some random inclusion.

I think that being a really good hobbyist can give a false sense of confidence. Seeing things after GIA (or whoever) has given the standard makes for less in the balance if it's a personal purchase, or if it's under circumstances that don't matter financially, like internally judging a friend's new purchase. Ain't nobody going to sue, ain't nobody going to return goods for a refund just when rent's due and blacken the name into the bargain, ain't nobody going to scold about having invested in the wrong thing for profit only to wind up with funds being tied up indefinitely. Being in business means having to hew to a much higher standard for accuracy.

As it should, no? I mean, I want my doctor to know more about asthma than I do, even when I have a vested interest and do as much research as I can and have a lot of anecdotal evidence. If it was so easy to treat, I'd feel a tad bitter about paying mucho bucks per visit!

 

[pyramid]

Yes, that is what I was meaning, that I put more authenticity into what Paul was saying because he is a professional a skilled cutter and obviously has seen and understood more diamonds than I have or ever will do as I know I could never have the abilities Paul has ever.

I still though like the purity (even if that is an old word to sell it to us) of the diamond even if just seen face down, the face up
view doesn't matter the same to me as long as it looks white and sparkly. I like the rarity thing too and would hope it is true but believe Paul too when he says it may not be.

Although I want the colorless grade or a G, I still want the technology to be so good that the lower colors can look the same with great cutting or even if they do look as good to those who prefer the lower color look. Not lower just more color. The prestige of the D color costing more maybe does have an effect in my head somewhere too mind, after all it has been fed into us through advertising since we started looking at diamonds as teenagers or below.

Also being in America you maybe cannot really fathom what a diamond is to a UK person, we don't have many 1 carat stones, so maybe the fact the diamond is expensive at half carat and even more expensive for a higher color half carat, NOTE SAME SIZE, makes it seem much much better to us over here because size for years until maybe the last 5 or so, was never really a choice, diamonds did not have reports so whiter must be a D maybe it was just better cut with more sparkle we were really seeing and clarity was never mentioned either. In a way the UK is not as educated about diamond reports unless amongst the very rich maybe in London. As there will be other nationalities on here maybe their view of diamond color is different too. So if not educated maybe only one of the C's sticks in our mind as others were not an option to find out about or have

 

[Dreamer_D]

So what I want to know is if you can detect color when other people are wearing their rings in general. Maybe it is at work, and it is your colleague, or maybe a stranger is paying at the cash register in front of you, or you are having lunch with a friend and she is wearing her ring and sitting right across from you...color detection in real life scenarios within a relatively close distance.

My answer to this is "No" for most normal humans.

 

[pyramid]

Maybe it is a subconscious thing as until I really thought about it, I never realised maybe I was only looking at one of the four C's.

 

[braga123]

Thanks, Dreamer. I wonder if many people who voted in the poll didn't get around to reading that part of my question?