European Cut Diamond....HELP!!

[KimLab]

Hi Everyone!

I am new here and I need some advice or some answers....I am at a loss to my situation.

I bought a European Cut Diamond ring...VS1 G 3/4 of Ebay and when I first received it....I thought it was beautiful....now 2 weeks later, it isn''t very sparkley or firey anymore.

So, I took the ring to the mall to get it checked out and they cleaned it for me and it was soooooo sparkley again....I was thrilled....then the next day....dull again!

What gives....how can a diamond do that? I think my husband thought I was crazy until I showed him my ring and then immediately cleaned it with jewelry cleaner and then showed it to him again....he agreed it was sooooo much more full of fire then the minutes before.

Has anyone else experienced this situation. I know I am not crazy...I can see the difference with my own eyes.

I thought getting a EC would be neat, I thought they were more shinier than modern cut, but not my diamond.

Please, please any help you can give will be much appreciated.

I think I am going to ask for a refund from the Jeweler.

Thank you,

Kim

 

[Giangi]

I'd suggest buying an ultrasonic cleaner... Those bransons can be purchased for even less than one hundred bucks.

With an ultrasonic, you'll be able to clean it everytime you think it's dirty...
BTW, what's the mounting like? Diamonds get dirty easily, but should look decent for more than one day!!

 

[KimLab]

I think there is just something up with this diamond....the setting is 6-prong white gold head, yellow gold band. I love the setting and at times, even the diamond.

My diamond isn't dirty....I don't know what the problem is. I have had it to the jewelers and it sparkles like fire when they get done cleaning it and I was thrilled with the results....only if they would stay.

Today I get up and look at it....dull again...it was full of fire last night....oh brother, what to do!

Thank you,

Kim

 

[valeria101]

This isweird...

One thing I know is that diamonds really catch all grease around (for example the steam in kitchens and bathrooms is a real killer). I would try a little experiment: clean it, leave it in it's box for a week and see what hapens! if thee is some magic involved rather than environmental effects, it should show. But this is the strangest story. otherwise, maybe the mounting is not gold, but some metal that gets oxidated periodically and than regains shine when the ring is cleaned? Dull metal would dull off the stone too.

 

[TheDiamondangel]

Diamonds are magnets for grease and dirt. If you are wearing the ring to sleep, most likely you put your hand near your face while sleeping and got it dirty again. ECs don't sparkle like modern cuts do. The light return is chunky, and they perform the best in soft romantic lighting like candlelight and Christmas lights.

Don't put your ring on until you've got your make up on, moisturizer on, etc., and don't wear it to sleep. Are you viewing your diamond when it's still wet out of the cleaner and love the sparkle like that? If so, you'll never be happy with it. Return it, but post a pic first!

 

[Mara]

OEC's have more character and interest for some than modern rounds, but I don't know that they would be considered shinier or sparklier. From a light return perspective, I don't think much beats the RB...so the OEC to me represents more of an interesting look *inside* the stone rather than shine or sparkle. I say this because I just want to be sure that you are not expecting the stone to look like something that it is not meant to be. OEC's were cut using old methods, they are nowhere near as precise as today's methods...so possibly another OEC may have the same problem (from your perspective). I love OEC's as well as RB's but definitely appreciate each for their own type of beauty.




That said...I think your diamond just gets dirty. Mine gets dirty EVERY DAY. I don't like it when I don't clean it. So I clean it daily, it takes all of 2 seconds...not alot of time in order to have the diamond look the way I want it to. Literally if I don't clean it daily, it gets a film especially around the pavilion and just does not look as good as it could. I wear it *all the time* and I put on alot of lotions and play with my hands alot. Even just touching the diamond top with your fingertip puts grease and a film on there. How often do you clasp your hands together in your lap or run them through your hair (with hair products in it) or similar?




At first I thought it was odd that my diamond got dirty so fast, now I just realized how quickly everyday life makes them dirty. I can't imagine those who wear them as I do, daily for 18 hours of the day doing everything I do...and not clean it every day. It drives me nuts when my stone isn't clean...so I just started doing it with my morning routine and now I am happy with it all the time.

On a side note, I am not sure what your eBay return policy was but you noted it has been two weeks. If the return policy was something like 7 days, and you told me (as the seller) you wanted refund just because the diamond requires more cleaning than you thought--I would say no way! So just be prepared for a bit of a fight if the refund policy was anything less than 2 weeks--they have fulfilled their part of the sale and may feel the fault lays on your end for not understanding what exactly you were buying. Just my two cents!

 

[oldminer]

Any diamond requires frequent cleaning to optimize light return. Dirt, grease, etc are attracted to diamond and they decrease light return and cause more light leakage. This is based on the facts of physics and optics. Diamonds work at their best when the surface of the stone is touching air, not a denser medium, such as skin lotion or other materials that it has attracted.

A very finely cut diamond will show less rapid degradation of brilliancy with light accumulation of "dirt" because the eye is not a great detector of slight nuance lessening of brilliancy. An old European stone of the normal cut type, will more rapidly loose sparkle and brilliancy, because, while very pretty, it is not as brilliant to begin with, in absolute terms.

My advice, keep it clean, buy an ultrasonic, enjoy it for the difference in its "look" and have fun with showing something different to those you meet. Not everyone appreciates how nice an old cut diamond can look. It is worth the little added trouble to those who appreciate them.