Ruth150|1482804718|4109753 said:Thank you for the reply! The stone is over 5 carats and it produces beautiful fire similar to diamond. I'm so afraid to send it to the lab since it's a colored stone. Which lab is the most trusted for colored diamond? - Ruth
denverappraiser|1482878245|4109908 said:Pretty.
How did you decide it was 5 carats? Specifically, did someone weigh it or did you look it up on a chart based on the 11mm+ diameter?
Ruth150|1482977423|4110223 said:By the way, the stone is not glass. Furthermore, I just concluded a resarch online about “girdle fringes.” The finding is a diamond inclusion called “bearding.” This inclusion is caused by the girdler applying to much pressure against the diamond being rounded. I learned that if you have beardings then the specimen stone is a diamond. I will keep it until I’m ready to send it to the lab for proper testing. Thank you all for the responses! - Ruth
lovedogs|1482981923|4110239 said:Ruth150|1482977423|4110223 said:By the way, the stone is not glass. Furthermore, I just concluded a resarch online about “girdle fringes.” The finding is a diamond inclusion called “bearding.” This inclusion is caused by the girdler applying to much pressure against the diamond being rounded. I learned that if you have beardings then the specimen stone is a diamond. I will keep it until I’m ready to send it to the lab for proper testing. Thank you all for the responses! - Ruth
I am fairly sure the bolded part isn't accurate--or at least that it doesn't necessarily apply to your stone. I understand that you would prefer it to be a diamond, but that is fairly unlikely.
VRBeauty|1483045037|4110470 said:Many jewelers or reputable pawn shops will give you a professional opinion for no charge. I've used a pawn shop near my office that I trust - it's a long-time, family-owned business - to ID colored stones at relatively low cost. As I recall, they charged me between $25 and $40 to test a stone (I think with a spectrometer, but I'm it was a while ago and I'm just not sure anymore). An independent appraiser would run more than that, but still less than the cost of getting a lab report. Anyhow, as several others have mentioned, a full lab analysis on a 5 carat stone will cost you quite a bit, when you consider the lab, shipping, and insurance costs. If the stone does turn out to be a diamond, a local appraiser can give you some idea of how much insurance you should consider before shipping your stone off to GIA or AGS, as well as the documentation you might need if something happens to the stone en route to the lab.
Unless you have good reason to believe that what you have is a real, natural diamond, it might be worth your while to try one of these less expensive options before shipping your stone off to a lab.
BTW - GIA's grading fees are available here: https://www.gia.edu/gem-lab-fee-schedule. I don't know how you they would handle it if you submit a stone for analysis as a natural or synthetic diamone ($400+ fee), and it turns out to be a natural colored stone ($100+ fee).
denverappraiser|1483065166|4110572 said:There’s kind of a cool ‘test’ for bigish diamonds. Hold the stone in your fingers and touch it to an ice cube. The heat from your fingers will conduct through the stone and melt the ice. It’s really pretty dramatic, almost like touching the ice with a soldering iron but, of course, it needs to be a big enough stone to get some decent skin contact. Below a couple of carats is a bit difficult but if any of you have a an appropriate stone, it’s a fun magic trick.