Do diamonds turn brown?

[indigoblue]

I usually hang out in the Colored Stone Forum. One of the current threads is about cornflower blue sapphires. Mine probably wouldn't be considered cornflower blue, but I was taking some pictures today to post there. I rarely wear it because it's a little too big and top heavy, but today is one of those rare summer days when my big rings fit my fingers just fine. While taking the pictures, I noticed that one of the tiny diamonds in the halo is brown. At first I thought it was missing, but examination with a loupe shows a discolored diamond. What happened? I don't remember noticing that when I got the ring a year ago, and trust me, I would have noticed something like that. It is a custom setting by CvB, and I paid an arm and a leg for it. Here are some pictures. You can see the discolored stone at ten o'clock. The last two pictures were taken a year ago. I will definitely contact her but wanted your opinions first.

 

[Ilovecarbon]

Have you tried cleaning it? Because that’s probably step 1.

Absolutely beautiful, by the way.

 

[Garnetgirl]

Bizarrre! Have you tried cleaning your ring ?

 

[Garnetgirl]

Oops, I was posting at the same time as @Ilovecarbon but she beat me to it! There seems to be a bit of brown 'spilling over' to the next prong, so hopefully just some dirt.

 

[soxfan]

How did I miss this ring? It's amazing! Yes, I can tell from the close up it's some kind of food or something stuck on there

 

[LightBright]

I know nothing except that your sapphire is AMAZING!!!

 

[indigoblue]

Cleaning doesn't help. I'm telling you, the diamond is orange. Here's another picture.

 

[Garnetgirl]

Curiouser and curiouser sad . If cleaning didn't help restore your lovely ring, then perhaps you need some professional advice.
I remember watching your thread from when you had the ring made by CvB, as I thought (and still think) it's absolutely gorgeous.
Maybe send her your before and after photos and see what she thinks.

 

[indigoblue]

I know nothing except that your sapphire is AMAZING!!!

Thank you. I was a little disappointed with how TINY the diamonds are. They are so tiny that you can't see the sparkle. I even suggested single cut diamonds but was assured that these would sparkle like crazy.

 

[Gussie]

This is one of my favorite rings! Takes my breath away! I hope you can figure something out about the brown diamond.

 

[OoohShiny]

Is it that colour in all lights or just sunlight? Could it be orange fluor?

 

[meely]

Whatever it is, to me it definitely looks like it's going slightly over onto the prongs on that first closeup.
I think it's beautiful but it doesn't sound like you are that enamoured with the setting. Do you think you will reset? Your sapphire is absolutely stunning btw

 

[indigoblue]

Here are three more. It has been thoroughly cleaned with jewelry cleaner and a soft brush followed by (gasp!) ammonia/water solution and a soft brush with long bristles that went deep into the back of the setting and under the diamonds.

Now back to my original question: Do diamonds turn brown?

 

[soxfan]

That is bizarre. Could it have cracked and something leaked in there? I have no idea. I've NEVER seen that before.

 

[Gussie]

I think you need experts here. @John Pollard @Karl_K @Wink @Texas Leaguer

 

[indigoblue]

Whatever it is, to me it definitely looks like it's going slightly over onto the prongs on that first closeup.
I think it's beautiful but it doesn't sound like you are that enamoured with the setting. Do you think you will reset? Your sapphire is absolutely stunning btw

I guess that was a bad phone picture which misled a bunch of folks. Sorry. I shouldn't have used it, but I had looked at the stone closely with a loupe and knew that it wasn't dirty. Maybe the dark color of that stone was being reflected in the two stones beside it.

I'm glad you like the ring. It really is beautiful, but in my mind the diamonds were going to be bigger than they are in person. And it's an eighth size too big even with the sizing beads. Today is one of those rare days when my fingers are fat and it doesn't become crooked on my hand or roll around my finger. I can actually hold my hand up and admire my ring!

I guess I should have put it on SMTB when I got it but just never did. Now it looks too goofy to put there. ha

 

[indigoblue]

The diamond that is brown today is at 10 o'clock in this picture taken by CvB a year ago. It's the second stone up from the baguette (trap?) at nine o'clock. My sapphire has some color zoning on one side, and I can see it on the right edge of the stone in this picture. The brown diamond is at 10 o'clock on the opposite side of the color zoning.

 

[meely]

I see, don't apologise for the pic I'm sorry if I sounded like I was undermining you, it was not my intention! I haven't any idea why it be brown it's bizarre.
It's such shame about the diamonds not being what you expected, only you know whether you can get over it not being quite what you imagined and enjoy it for what it is instead.
My ring hasn't quite got the proportions I expected - I thought the outer stones would be bigger and inner stones smaller. But it still beautiful and ultimately I can live with it.
Maybe if you got it properly sized down (and the brown diamond sorted!) you could enjoy wearing it.

 

[Luce]

I have never heard of diamonds turning brown. I would take it in to be professionally cleaned just in case it is an extra stubborn stain.

 

[junebug17]

Wow this is the strangest thing...

I had a diamond band resized and afterwards I noticed some of the diamonds had a brown tint - didn't notice at first due to jewelry store lighting - I asked another jeweler and he said what probably happened is there was dirt/debris on the diamonds and the heat from the resizing burned the dirt.

This doesn't seem to be the case with your ring though - I'm sure that stone could be switched out - but I'm so sorry about this! Can't imagine what happened.

 

[Rfisher]

At the risk of upsetting you- I have to agree with previous posters that it looks like something has splashed on the ring. It's not a reflection from the one stone on to its neighbors. It sure looks like the liquid ran down the metal and dried there.

It's just something that's not very water soluble that would come off with a cleaning like you've already done.
Tree sap maybe? It flies around in the air here at certain times of the year.
Anyways- if you can't get a professional cleaning done local to you - for sure call the rings designer for advice. I have no personal experience with that designer- but hearing various reports on them, you may not get far /get help if you start off by suggesting the melee turned color on its own. Especially since you already have stated publicly here that you may be not so in love with what was created for you, that you were led to expect a different outcome.
Your ring is lovely though. Don't hesitate to get it sized to a correct size if that indeed hampers wear or your "feel" about the ring. Look into a sizer that is not permanent maybe?
Best wishes. Hope you come back to let us know what it is and how it was resolved.

 

[WinkHPD]

I think you need experts here. @John Pollard @Karl_K @Wink @Texas Leaguer

Thanks for invoking me here Ceg.

Please could me in the get it professionally cleaned and let's see what this is all about. It clearly seems to be something that spilled onto the top of the diamond. It is most likely something that is resisting your home treatments, but perhaps your local jeweler will be able to remove it for you.

Wink

 

[Karl_K]

I agree with Wink.

To answer the question there are things that can cause a diamond to change color, but orange would not be the color I would expect and for it to happen to one melee would not be likely for anything but something on the diamond.
They are burning, radiation, fracture or something on the diamond.
If it went gray then it could be fractured but orange does not seem logical for being fractured.
That leaves something on the diamond as the most logical answer.

 

[MissGotRocks]

It is a beautiful ring!!! I really love it - the color of blue is just stunning!

I hope you get this resolved quickly and please keep us posted. Would love to know the outcome!

 

[indigoblue]

OK, I took it to my local jeweler who cleaned it. Twice. Because the first cleaning didn't change anything. Neither did the second, longer cleaning. Now I have a clean amber colored diamond. He can't explain it and says the only way to know is to remove the diamond.

I came home and blasted it with my waterpik using HOT water. Nothing changed. I used an artists' brush with stiff, slender, pointed bristles and tried to clean under and around the stone. It's still amber colored. It's clean, and it sparkles, but the color hasn't changed. The diamonds on each side have no color change at all.

I haven't heard from the vendor who created the setting. Apparently expressing any public displeasure with a custom setting is a big no no. Lesson learned. In the future I will only lavish praise on whatever is created for me and will keep my opinion to myself.

So now I'm planning to take it back to my jeweler and have him remove the stone. If it only needs further cleaning, he can simply reset it. If it indeed has become discolored, he can replace it.

 

[whitewave]

Add me to the people who can’t see how a diamond could change colors. Honestly I was thinking soy sauce but that obviously would have come off by now.

If it is sap or resin a cleaning isn’t going to do it. I would think it needs a solvent or a chemical. Taking the diamond out is probably the right thing to do as a next step,

 

[dtnyc]

I definitely see that the orange is confined to the one stone in one of the pics you posted.
I am sorry it wasn’t something that could be resolved by a very thorough cleaning.

I have never heard of a diamond changing color! Hopefully your jeweler can remove the stone easily and figure out what the i
I am sorry you aren’t happy with your ring. I didn’t care (to put it mildly, I had an 8 point list of details I wanted changed!) for my original e-ring setting and only after wearing it for 12+ years did I finally have it re-done. I am so happy with my reset, and can only imagine how frustrated I would be if I wasn’t happy with it, especially if I had paid top dollar (those French cuts don’t come cheap!)

There are plenty of PSers who are serial re-setters and there is also a pretty decent market out there for selling nice settings- something you may want to consider.

Also I just had a thought- did your jeweler test the stone?

 

[baby monster]

This is very odd. Can your jeweler test if it's a diamond? I'm not implying that the vendor who made the setting has done anything wrong but could there be problems in the supply chain?

 

[daintyG]

Strange! Do you have pictures of the ring from when you first got it? It's beautiful by the way.

 

[bludiva]

The diamond that is brown today is at 10 o'clock in this picture taken by CvB a year ago. It's the second stone up from the baguette (trap?) at nine o'clock. My sapphire has some color zoning on one side, and I can see it on the right edge of the stone in this picture. The brown diamond is at 10 o'clock on the opposite side of the color zoning.

i hope you get your mystery solved soon, how frustrating. it might be my eyes playing tricks but the 2nd diamond up from the 9'oclock station looks darker to me in this original photo as well, do you have other pics from when you first got the ring?