Color treatment losing color? Blue turning green.

[christy1865]

Hello all,

In February, I picked out my engagement ring from a small, local jewelry store. I wanted to include my favorite color in the ring and opted to have four color-treated blue diamonds set around the main stone.

When I first received the ring, the four stones were a brilliant Robin''s Egg Blue color, but now, in April, there has been a significant change. One stone for sure has become a dark sea-foam green, another greenish, one less blue, and one maybe as blue as the day I received it.
With some internet research, I have discovered that there are different kinds of color treatments... my jeweler never discussed what kind of color treatment the stones had undergone. I guess I just assumed they had been irradiated.

When I approached the jeweler about the ring, I was told that the color stones can look different in all sorts of lights, but I''ve looked at it outside, inside, with a flashlight, etc... and there''s no denying that the stones are no longer the same color, nor are they really blue.

Does anyone have any advice about what may have happened / how I should handle this situation? I feel like the engagement ring my fiance and I purchased from the jeweler should have lasted more than two months.

Thanks,
Kristen

 

[motownmama]

Do you have any pictures of this ring for us? Might the jeweler replace these treated diamonds with sapphires so you have a stable situation?

 

[LD]

I'm so sorry that you're having problems with your special ring.

Have you investigated the possibility that they're coated diamonds? Rockdiamond posted in another thread a few days ago about the warnings that came along with coated diamonds - the "do's" and "don'ts". I don't recall there being anything about fading but you never know. Hopefully he'll be along to comment but in the meantime do you have any photos? I understand that some irradiated diamonds (and I believe this as the older type of irradiation) was more unstable but again, I don't know enough to know whether fading could be the result.

 

[christy1865]

This is the picture the jeweler gave me with his own appraisal.

 

[christy1865]

This is a picture I took today.

 

[christy1865]

This is a picture I took on the first day I picked up my ring from the jeweler. Sorry it''s blurry... I never thought I''d have to publish it, but I thought it might be useful to post a picture that had been taken earlier with the same camera.

 

[AprilBaby]

That seems a pretty big color change. What will they look like in a year?

 

[arjunajane]

Well, I think its ridiculous for your jeweller to try and deny that colour change - its as clear as day!

I would print out these photos and ask him to look at them, look at his own appraisal photo and the ring as it
is now, and go from there. At least then he can't try to debate lighting (hopefully!).

I'm sorry I don't have more technical info, but personally I like the suggestion of replacing
the diamonds with sapphires - a much more elegant solution imho.

If you are going to have the same jeweller do this, I would be seeking a large discount on the sapphs
and cost of work to replace them. And please make sure you have the sapphires they offer you checked out
somewhere else before you pay for them, as they can have lots of treatments too

ETA: oh btw, what does it say about them on the appraisal? If it's worth then paper
its on, it should have the type of treatment listed.

 

[jstarfireb]

Wow, I know there are color variations with lighting and all, but I can clearly tell the difference...how could anyone not? Furthermore, I can tell from the picture that not all the greens are the same green. I can''t believe such a change happened in 2 months!

I like the idea of asking your jeweler about exchanging them for blue sapphires. The color would be stable, and they wouldn''t be nearly as expensive as natural blue diamonds.

 

[MMT]

I love your ring that''s really beautiful. I see what you mean there is a color change. Have they looked at the pictures?

 

[Moh 10]

Lighting (rather, the camera's white-balance setting not being set for the light source used) can change the appearance of color in pics.
To see examples of this go to Pricescope's Show Me the Ring forum where you'll see lots of pics of D, E, F diamonds that look yellow and K,L,Ms that look white or even bluish.

But clearly that is not the reason for the color change of the diamonds in the pics you posted.
You can tell by the color in the metal, and the white background and the flesh tone.

If the entire pic had a greenish cast then I'd blame the lighting for the diamonds looking green, but that's not happening.
I'd say these pics document a clear case of color change in the diamonds.

Are treated diamonds guaranteed to not change color?
I think not.
I think this is one of the reason people pay the big bucks for naturally-colored stones.

Still, even if treated stones were not the best choice for such an important ring perhaps the seller will reach some compromise with you if you handle this well.

That said, I personally think the green looks much better than the blue, but that's just me.
That shade of blue screams out treatment while that green looks closer to a possible natural diamond color.
Green also fits well with the leaf-motif of the design.
Even if the green color of the four stones did not match exactly, that's the the way natural leaves could vary in color.
I'd seriously consider leaving well enough alone and seeing this as the stones changing into what was actually a nicer choice.

 

[LD]

Date: 4/12/2009 9:11:57 AM
Author: Moh 10
Lighting (rather, the camera''s white-balance setting not being set for the light source used) can change the appearance of color in pics.
To see examples of this go to Pricescope''s Show Me the Ring forum where you''ll see lots of pics of D, E, F diamonds that look yellow and K,L,Ms that look white or even bluish.

But clearly that is not the reason for the color change of the diamonds in the pics you posted.
You can tell by the color in the metal, and the white background and the flesh tone.

If the entire pic had a greenish cast then I''d blame the lighting for the diamonds looking green, but that''s not happening.
I''d say these pics document a clear case of color change in the diamonds.

Are treated diamonds guaranteed to not change color?
I think not.
I think this is one of the reason people pay the big bucks for naturally-colored stones.

Still, even if treated stones were not the best choice for such an important ring perhaps the seller will reach some compromise with you if you handle this well.

That said, I personally think the green looks much better than the blue, but that''s just me.
That shade of blue screams out treatment while that green looks closer to a possible natural diamond color.
Green also fits well with the leaf-motif of the design.
Even if the green color of the four stones did not match exactly, that''s the the way natural leaves could vary in color.
I''d seriously consider leaving well enough alone and seeing this as the stones changing into what was actually a nicer choice.

Most are guaranteed to be stable. The newer irradiation process is most definitely stable.

I agree with MOHS10 that the green does actually look lovely. My concern is I wonder if they are reverting to a yellow diamond? If you look at the diamond on the right, it is showing quite high levels of yellow (more so than the others). That may well be the colour the diamonds started off before being irradiated or coated.

There is a huge change in colour from when you bought the ring. The blues are definitely irradiated or coated - you can tell from the colour.

Print out the photos and take them to your jeweller again. There''s no way he can deny the change. Good luck.

 

[Rockdiamond]

I''ll have to ask a few people we know specializing in color treated stones.
The blue diamonds used for irradiation always start out brown- so the fading to yellow is not possible if they are only irradiated.
But there are other treatments.
As LD mentioned, we''ve seen some "coated" stones.
They start with a white diamond and coat it with a substance that is alomst like paint.
There''s a lot of ways to remove the coating, such as steam heat, or abrasive cleaners.....so that sounds possible.

I''m far from an expert on this process, and the one we saw was pink.
I''ll be glad to ask tomorrow about what happened to your stones.
A shame- it might be difficult to replace those stones without a lot of work on the ring.
Still, the person who sold it to you certainly has the responsibility to make this right in this case, from what you''ve written.......

 

[DiamondFlame]

A shame indeed cuz that is one helluva gorgeous ring! ''Color treated'' or ''color enhanced'' is not always the same as ''irradiated''.
Perhaps you could have these stones replaced with natural colored gemstones of your choice.