Black Diamonds: Treated vs Untreated

[frankiestein]

My partner and I have decided to get married and I get to look for my own engagement ring (woohoo!). I've fallen in love with black diamonds, but I cannot decide it natural, untreated diamonds are worth the price difference. I've found a 1.92 ct pear shaped diamond that is gorgeous and natural. I've also seen a 2 ct color enhanced black diamond for around $500. Do the color enhanced diamonds look cheap? I'm nervous that it will look plastic on my finger. Do any of you have a preference?

 

[Bron357]

Ok, black diamonds are black because they are jam packed with graphite. They can also be full of crystalline flaws which are hard to see because of the opaque nature of the stone. I have a friend (a goth) who chose a black diamond and it cracked after she accidentally banged (quite hard) the ring onto a marble kitchen bench top. I don’t know if that was just a “one off” really unlucky event or whether the nature of a black diamond made it more suspectible to this.
Treated black diamonds might be real diamonds (cooked until they turn black) or even synthetic Moissanite, you cant really tell the difference unless you have proper certification.
Buy from a reputable source with certification if you are buying natural.
I have a pair of “treated black diamond” earrings, and they look just like onyx / jet or even just black glass. Black diamonds don’t do anything except look black and glassy. There’s no sparkle or anything, they are opaque.
There are other gem options, you can also buy natural black spinel or even black sapphires if you are keen on a black gem.

 

[chatoyancy]

Can’t remember who, but someone on here has a gorgeous, sparkly black spinel. I tried looking for one after I saw it on here, but no luck. It is such a cool gem.

 

[Seaglow]

Under magnification, the natural black diamonds will have a salt and pepper appearance. The treated black diamonds are usually annealed and usually done to stones with surface reaching fractures by large-scale graphitization in the fractures. So yes, don't bang your treated blacks!

 

[T L]

Black diamonds are often irradiated to make the black color more uniform. They're still natural diamond, but just treated, and the treatment should be stable. If you want to save money, that's a good route to go.

You could do black spinel, but the luster is not the same as a diamond. A black diamond has a more metallic luster. They do coat some black spinel to make them look more diamond like in their luster. I don't care for coatings because they can come off.

Here's a black diamond, the Orluv, and you can see what I'm talking about with regards to the luster.

 

[Seaglow]

Many articles in the Internet says that treated black diamonds are irradiated. However, I stick with what I learned at GIA (Diamonds Course, In-Campus) that the blacks are annealed more than irradiated. The blues, blue greens, and greens are treated by irradiation.

I think if a "black" diamond is irradiated, it must be a very dark green diamond that appears black, then the irradiated diamond can be subjected to annealing for graphitization.

To produce brown, orange, yellow, pink, and purple, you have to irradiate the diamonds first and then anneal.

Type 1a diamonds can also be turned green and yellowish green from HPHT.

Annealing (controlled heating and cooling) can result to graphitization. I don't think irradiation can do graphitization. Based on my lab experience, diamonds with signs of graphitization in fractures are those that had undergone Annealing or HPHT Annealing.

Also, color-treated irradiated diamonds are sensitive to heat and colors maybe altered with routine repairs.

Another method to change color is coating.

 

[Sunstorm]

I think that black diamonds are a love or hate thing. I used to dislike them for what they lack, the brilliance and fire combo diamonds are so unique in and my faves have always been FCDs for having the best of both worlds from CS and diamonds. Then I accidentally came across a parcel of large natural blacks and bought a pair with ctw of around 12 carats. It was just too good a deal to pass on them. I have since found them tons of fun. Mine are really cool, you can actually see into them and parts of one diamond keep testing metal for the high metal content.

Now, clarity is relative. Clean stones can be found but are almost impossible to today. Mine are not clean, they do have some cracks but I set them in statement earrings and they seem to be safe enough. Now, naturally, my customers often end up buying what I have, so many are buying FCDs and several people wanted blacks.

There are blacks and black. I got a 1.25 natural for a customer last fall and that stone is entirely different from mine. It is actually quite transparent with hints of brown and purple and very very clean. But to find one like that on the market today is next to impossible like I said.

I personally dislike heated. They are cheap and they are completely opaque, a much more uniform black than naturals. You can just tell the difference with the naked eye. Natural blacks will always have a secondary hue, in my case it is a very dark metallic gray, in the other case I mentioned it was a very dark brown/purple secondary tone.

Good luck and I do recommend searching for a natural stone if you have the source for it.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I have a 2ct irradiated black diamond with white zircon side stones. It is opaque, but I enjoy it and wear it more often than many others I have. I just enjoy having a 2 ct diamond on my hand. I'm not bothered by the treatment. The stone takes a beautiful polish, but does not sparkle. In the movie version of Sex and the City, Carrie gets a 5 ct diamond from Big. I think black diamonds became more popular.

I looked on Leibish at their blacks and did not find any that were transparent or translucent. Looked much the same as mine. Only lots more expensive. If you can find natural, sure you should buy that, but they are not so available that I can see.

Annette

 

[arkieb1]

Can’t remember who, but someone on here has a gorgeous, sparkly black spinel. I tried looking for one after I saw it on here, but no luck. It is such a cool gem.

What do you want I literally had to buy a parcel of them to get the two that I wanted for myself they don't work out to be that much per stone at all.

 

[GliderPoss]

I also suggest checking out black Spinel - Doug cuts some beautiful ones. Very uniform smooth black, lovely gloss on them. Much nicer than black diamonds in my opinion....
https://www.bespoke-gems.com/SacredGeometrics_Gemstones_BlackSpinel.php

 

[chatoyancy]

What do you want I literally had to buy a parcel of them to get the two that I wanted for myself they don't work out to be that much per stone at all.

Was it yours? It was so unusual and beautiful! Do you have the link to the thread? Unfortunately, I just blew my entire gem budget at the gem show in Hickory yesterday. I’m super happy with what I purchased and proud of the fact that I got two gems set, but I have no money left at the moment.

 

[arkieb1]

Was it yours? It was so unusual and beautiful! Do you have the link to the thread? Unfortunately, I just blew my entire gem budget at the gem show in Hickory yesterday. I’m super happy with what I purchased and proud of the fact that I got two gems set, but I have no money left at the moment.

No I don't think so but I literally have a stash of black spinels various different cuts in decent sizes that would work out between $10.00 and $30.00 each (at cost or lower) depending upon weight so if you ever want one let me know. I set aside two largish ones to make rings ie add diamonds and make something with one day, and the only way I could get the ones I wanted for myself was to buy a parcel of them....

 

[the_mother_thing]

OneGarnetGirl (on Etsy) also has some black spinel rings; her design vibe seems more organic than mainstream. Our diverse taste is what keeps the colored stone forum interesting, so get what you love, enjoy it, and post lots of pics of it!

I bought this ~2ct dark gray cushion rose-cut diamond from OGG a few years back - before they were being crazy-marked up and marketed as “salt & pepper”, and I liked it because it kind of reminded me of granite which I thought was cool. It is natural (untreated), and it has flecks of browns, light & dark grays. I have yet to set it, and still have thoughts about a fun, edgy type RHR ring or pendant setting for it if/when I ever get around to it. I don’t think it looks ‘cheap’ but I fully expect to get some ‘what kinda stone is that’ type questions whenever I do set/wear it. And I look forward to seeing their faces when I say it’s a diamond because it is unusual ... but I also appreciate having things that aren’t ‘run of the mill’.

 

[valeria101]

.

DEEP GRAY is essentially transparent black ... LINK

This has unusually nice 'crystal' (not murky) - which hardly ever happens ... It is smaller, but ... there are never many around.

___

Nb. 'GREEN-GRAY' versus 'BLUE-GRAY' - or violet-gray ...

 

[chatoyancy]

No I don't think so but I literally have a stash of black spinels various different cuts in decent sizes that would work out between $10.00 and $30.00 each (at cost or lower) depending upon weight so if you ever want one let me know. I set aside two largish ones to make rings ie add diamonds and make something with one day, and the only way I could get the ones I wanted for myself was to buy a parcel of them....

Thank you. I will let you know.

 

[Acinom]

This is not mine. It belongs to a pricescoper. Black diamond with white diamond halo

 

[LD]

That's mine! I love it. It is 4.1ct and has a slight salt and pepper look but only in certain lighting conditions. It also has bright blue fluorescence which is really cool. It's an awful photo of it because the light really does bounce off the faces but it looks a bit flat in the photo.

 

[LD]

I also have a grey diamond and although they're much much more expensive, the look for a grey is really quite unique. What's really interesting with my grey is that the facets show all different colours (something I really didn't expect).