Burnt diamond?

[soxfan]

I can definitely see the film on it. Have you taken it anywhere to inquire about an acid bath? What did the seller say???

 

[OcnGypZ]

Grandma, auntie and I have been cleaning Granny's 1910 diamond engagement ring for 108 years. Equal parts ammonia and hot water. I use a sable water color brush...I dip the ring in, 30 sec.. take it out, rinse it off.. loupe it. IF it's still dirty, I take my watercolor brush and get in underneath the stone with the solution and "wash it" with the brush. Then rinse. Ammonia and water - likewise rubbing alcohol and water will remove hairspray. Don't know what I got into last week, but the stone was dirtier than I can ever remember. Took me awhile with the brush to get "Minnie" nice and clean again.

 

[diagem]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I'm not gonna be able to see the jeweler until Mon so I'll know more then. From reading, it sounds like acid bath might be what I need, then worst case repolish.

Some more macro photos today. It DOES look like the center stone may have been removed at some point, just based on what the prongs look like compared to original photos from Niel? I'll ask the seller, but any reason why resizing (went down from 7.25 to 5.25) would require touching the stone/prongs? Just wondering since sizing was pretty drastic and setting had pinched prongs (I was concerned about resizing originally but seller's jeweler said no problem)

I think you can better see the "film" I'm talking about.



Side photo as requested.

It appears like burn marks in both red circled areas (1 on the crown area 1 oclock, and below the girdle on the pavilion area 5 o’clock). It’s hard to confirm through the image itself but many times such marks appear from overly heated processes like polishing and/or torching.

If this is the case, I am afraid re-polishing burned areas will be required. It can be achieved without any weight loss IF given to a capable cutter with excellent polishing experience. (Not easy to find but they are around).

Hopefully I am wrong and it’s just some film which can be boiled clean...

What doesn’t make sense is, if the jeweler needed to pull the Diamonds for the significant resizing then there was no reason for torching the Diamond at all.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have. There are great eyes on this thread that can undoubtedly help.

 

[Matthews1127]

It appears like burn marks in both red circled areas (1 on the crown area 1 oclock, and below the girdle on the pavilion area 5 o’clock). It’s hard to confirm through the image itself but many times such marks appear from overly heated processes like polishing and/or torching.

If this is the case, I am afraid re-polishing burned areas will be required. It can be achieved without any weight loss IF given to a capable cutter with excellent polishing experience. (Not easy to find but they are around).

Hopefully I am wrong and it’s just some film which can be boiled clean...

What doesn’t make sense is, if the jeweler needed to pull the Diamonds for the significant resizing then there was no reason for torching the Diamond at all.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have. There are great eyes on this thread that can undoubtedly help.

Great catch, @diagem!!! I do hope this can be resolved without much hassle or cost!!!

 

[soxfan]

Ok, so it's burned Did the seller offer you a refund? Are you interested in returning it or polishing it? I'm so sorry you have to deal with this- what a pain!!!

 

[the_mother_thing]

In addition to what @diagem noted, there is also an odd dark spot at about 11 o’clock, and there appears to be what looks like a chip under the one prong (both items circled in blue.)

@Babyblue033 I’m sorry that the feedback you are getting isn’t more ‘comforting’ and positive. The only other thing I might suggest trying at home is a Sunshine polishing cloth on the diamond, if you have one. I have read a few testimonials to those taking off stubborn stains on other stones, so it may be worth a try if it’s only on the top surfaces. Hopefully it is something that can be remedied easily. Otherwise, I would suggest finding an independent appraiser in your area who can assess these issues in person for you ASAP to confirm the diamond matches the cert and opine on the speculated damage, and get that in writing. I hope that you have some sort of return period from the seller, and/or used PayPal, your credit card, etc. to afford you some protection if there is confirmed damage to the diamond and/or setting from what you thought you were buying. In fact, just to CYA, if PP was used, I might be inclined to go in and document the concerns now while you schedule having the inspection done so that there isn’t any lost time on a return period, etc. Did the seller disclose any damage (e.g., a chip, other work done on the setting besides sizing, etc)?

As beautiful as the overall ring is, I would really be inclined to just return it for a full refund. You likely won’t ‘unsee’ this as time goes on if left as-is. And as noted earlier, there IS risk associated with polishing that which could leave you without a center stone for this beauty, and that would not exactly come cheap to replace, in addition to the cost of the process itself. And while the overall piece is beautiful, the ‘main attraction’ doesn’t appear to be performing to your expectations since you noticed it right away. Unless you got it for such a bargain that the cost & risk to repair/replace the setting/diamond would overall be negligible...that’s what I would do. Good luck and do keep us posted.

 

[Babyblue033]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have some updates.

So I was finally able to bring the ring to local jewelers today, 2 separate ones. Bad news is, I apparently have your run of the mill average MB jewelers near me and neither of them could confirm what exactly is wrong with the stone. They both initially said stone is just dirty and popped them in the ultrasonic, one did "polish" it with brush on one of those fancy wheel things in his work shop. When it came out still looking the way it did, one couldn't really tell me what it was and the other tried to tell me they're inclusions inside the stone. When I shared some of the suspicions/recommendations you guys told me, they both kind of dismissed it, one even laughed like I googled it and found some cra cra solutions online

Good news is, I spoke with the seller and she told me to ship it back to her so she can get it looked at by her jeweler. She showed the picture to her jeweler and their suspicion at this time is that it might be some dirt or grime stuck under the prongs that is reflecting off the stone. She's going to have him unmount it, clean it, acid wash if needed, etc. She seems eager to make this right and I'm hoping we can still salvage this somehow.

Of course if her jeweler can't "fix" this either then I'll have no choice but to return it for refund. But I'm relieved it's not up to me to try to figure out what the problem is and try to fix it on my own, with all the risks you guys outlined.

I'll come back and update everyone once seller's jeweler has the ring back.

 

[Lisa Loves Shiny]

Very glad the seller is trying to make this right and hope this all turns out well.

 

[the_mother_thing]

Ditto @LisaRN ‘s comments! Hopefully it’s an ‘easy’ fix, and it doesn’t sound like you’ll be stuck with a potential dud. Fingers crossed it all works out for the best for you!

 

[WinkHPD]

It appears like burn marks in both red circled areas (1 on the crown area 1 oclock, and below the girdle on the pavilion area 5 o’clock). It’s hard to confirm through the image itself but many times such marks appear from overly heated processes like polishing and/or torching.

If this is the case, I am afraid re-polishing burned areas will be required. It can be achieved without any weight loss IF given to a capable cutter with excellent polishing experience. (Not easy to find but they are around).

Hopefully I am wrong and it’s just some film which can be boiled clean...

What doesn’t make sense is, if the jeweler needed to pull the Diamonds for the significant resizing then there was no reason for torching the Diamond at all.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions you may have. There are great eyes on this thread that can undoubtedly help.

I kind of chuckled when I read the text now marked in red. When it comes to burn marks and knowledge about what might have caused them, I would consider diagem as one of the good eyes on this thread.

I have seen some burn marks over the years, and I agree with diagem that these look very much like burn marks, but it is not possible to identify them positively from the pictures. Sadly he is also correct that if they are burn marks, they will need to be polished off.

Wink

 

[Rfisher]

Thank you everyone for your feedback. I have some updates.

So I was finally able to bring the ring to local jewelers today, 2 separate ones. Bad news is, I apparently have your run of the mill average MB jewelers near me and neither of them could confirm what exactly is wrong with the stone. They both initially said stone is just dirty and popped them in the ultrasonic, one did "polish" it with brush on one of those fancy wheel things in his work shop. When it came out still looking the way it did, one couldn't really tell me what it was and the other tried to tell me they're inclusions inside the stone. When I shared some of the suspicions/recommendations you guys told me, they both kind of dismissed it, one even laughed like I googled it and found some cra cra solutions online

Good news is, I spoke with the seller and she told me to ship it back to her so she can get it looked at by her jeweler. She showed the picture to her jeweler and their suspicion at this time is that it might be some dirt or grime stuck under the prongs that is reflecting off the stone. She's going to have him unmount it, clean it, acid wash if needed, etc. She seems eager to make this right and I'm hoping we can still salvage this somehow.

Of course if her jeweler can't "fix" this either then I'll have no choice but to return it for refund. But I'm relieved it's not up to me to try to figure out what the problem is and try to fix it on my own, with all the risks you guys outlined.

I'll come back and update everyone once seller's jeweler has the ring back.

Any updates?

 

[soxfan]

Any updates on this?

 

[partgypsy]

This is certainly a mystery. Any way for the jeweler to confirm this is the original stone as well? Because it looks like the prongs were worked on for the center stone.

 

[Babyblue033]

Sorry for a delayed update. It's been a rather drawn out process and by the time everything was done I was a bit "done" with the whole ordeal too But I've been meaning to come back and update everyone as I think this was a rather interesting and rarely discussed topic.

Short answer to the burning question (you see what I did there? ) is, yes, diamond can be burnt. I suspect seller's jeweler removed and reset the stone during resizing (still not sure why) and didnt take proper precautions and left burn Mark's on the stone.

Seller agreed to pay for the repair so I ended up keeping the ring, and had the center stone removed, polished, and reset. Because the prongs were touched so many times already (2nd time it was removed for acid bath) they couldn't be salvaged which means they needed to be retipped as well. One surprise after another and it took awhile to figure out exactly what was wrong and then sort out how to get it corrected, but I finally got the ring back about 2 weeks ago.

Polishing made all the difference, it went from oily looking fuzzy diamond to sparkling stone with sharp contrast. Change really is night and day to me but I havent had a chance to take good photos of it yet.

I'm still in shocked that all this happened, what are the odds, but also that it was so difficult to get a clear answer on what was actually wrong with the diamond. If it weren't for this board I wouldn't have even known this was a thing, and my local jewelers certainly were no help at all. Made me wonder how often this happens, and how many people just don't even notice it (seller didn't seem to) because outside of PS people just dont have discerning eyes for details

I want to say it was all worth it in the end because the ring is so beautiful, which it is, but I could've done without the emotional rollercoaster of this journey

 

[Rfisher]

Glad it all worked out so that you are happy with the end result.

 

[ccuheartnurse]

What an ordeal! I'm sorry this happened to you. You have been much more patient than I would have been that's for sure! Glad it all worked out in the end. Of course, we'll want to see pics when you have time. Who doesn't like a transformation picture?! LOL

 

[WinkHPD]

Glad to hear it worked out so well. It is a relatively rare thing, and sometimes it is nearly impossible to see. Other times, like this one, it affects the entire appearance of the diamond.

 

[metall]

Wow! This was quite an epic diamond story! I'm sort of glad I was on a PS vacation when you first posted it because i was able to follow all the way through to the happy conclusion! Can't wait to see the final results!

 

[mrs-b]

@Babyblue033 -

I'm so glad you persevered! This is a stunning ring, and I hope you get many years enjoyment from it.