Black Inclusions and Tiffany Diamond

[Diamond 4 Ever]

Just checked out the Tiffany website. Tiffany''s says that none of their diamonds will have black inclusions (be it eye clean or not). They didn''t pin point any other inclusions to exclude from their diamond selection. My question is: Are the black inclusions so awful in quality terms that a company would namely exclude diamonds with them inside? Are black inclusions a taboo if inclusions in diamonds? Can any body please help clarify? Thanks.

 

[valeria101]

There is nothing worse about black inclusions than about white: they get visible at smaller sizes, that's all. Transparent inclusions are less visible when big... so this is why heavily included diamonds with "white" ("white means translucent or transparent, really) inclusions only have an excuse to be considered "eye clean". Aside this rationale, nothing I can think of. Also, I suspect that Tiffany or not, no one would care about the color of inclusions as long as they are invisible. Aside the customer-targeted announcement on the Tiffany site, I wander whether they’d be crazy enough to get their VS1 and better stones under 60X magnification to try and detect what color those pinpoint inclusions are! It would be POINTless, of course...

EDITED to add: I was curious how could such a claim be on the carefully worded Tiffany site - It ain't. The blanket statement that "Tiffany will never accept black inclusions" is quickly refined to indicate what they reject. They say that all visible inclusions are rejected and, in the very explanation of what "black inclusions" are about, that YOU will nerver find a black on in their rings (when "you" means customer, and customers do not do grading, just see things, I guess). So saying that Tiffany rejects black inclusions rgardless of their size (= wether they are visible or not) is not word by word what they say. It would be an unsustainable statement anyway.

 

[Nicrez]

Inclusions whether black or clear are there. Luckily a black inclusion is small and not in the eye of the stone. I have seen some lovely stones with small balck inclusions, and some uglier stones with white "clear" inclusions.

Depends on the stone, the inclusions size, and the stone size... A 3 carat with a tiny black inclusion is nothing, versus a .5 carat with the same size inclusion...

The uniqueness of each stone and it characteristics need to be weighed and seen before you can rule out any of them. Paying attention to the mapping the inclusions is a good way, or just plain checking it with a naked eye and a 10X magnification.

 

[Diamond 4 Ever]

Thanks for the thorough analysis. I also got the impression that black inclusions will command a bigger discount vs. white (colorless) inclusions with all things being equal such as the size, cut, and location of inclusions, etc... Can you correct me if my understaning is wrong?

I am not familiar with how diamond pricing works, but I do notice that some diamonds same color, clarity, and similar cut will have different prices and the only differece I see is the location and type of inclusions between these diamonds. Is it true then that the type and location of inclusions will have some effect on the price with all other parameters being equal?