fluorescence concern

[righthandring]

I have a diamond that the GIA report says it has "faint" fluorescence. I took a photo under black light with my Iphone and it seems more than faint. Hopefully I've managed to insert the photo below. Is the GIA report likely wrong or do they use some special type of black light or particular lab conditions? In regular day light, the diamond seems very white to me and I think I have a fairly sensitive eye for color. It is graded as H and every jeweler who looks at it comments how "clean" it is. It definitely is not cloudy and has a very high clarity rating by GIA. I suppose worse case, if the fluorescence is actually strong blue, that may be a plus in terms of color. But I paid for "faint." Does GIA get it wrong often on fluorescence? Should I mention this to the company that I bought it from?

 

[bunnycat]

That's not strong blue.

Her's a link to what strong blue looks like:

http://www.briangavindiamonds.com/diamonds/diamond-details/0.728-i-vs1-round-diamond-ags-bl-104064190003

I'm just really curious about the people's perceived concern's with fluorescence. It makes me wonder what stories the B/M stores do tell....Does it make you unhappy that it fluoresces at all?

here is another pic showing different levels of fluor, from Very Strong, Strong, Medium, Faint and None. Also, fluorescence is a sliding scale, just like color grading, from what i know of it, so there's bound to be borderline cases that could go either way depending on who does the looking.

 

[ame]

Your stone isn't strong. And most of the blue you're seeing is reflection from that blacklight bulb, not actual fluorescing.

 

[John P]

Your stone isn't strong. And most of the blue you're seeing is reflection from that blacklight bulb, not actual fluorescing.

Agreed. No worries.

 

[righthandring]

Thank you all for the replies. I hadn't considered that it was a reflection. It isn't that I am against fluorescence per se, but I am concerned that the GIA report could be wrong. Because if GIA gets one factor wrong, what else could be erroneous? For someone that isn't in the business of diamonds, there is great concern about making a mistake. Buying a car is something everyone becomes familiar with, diamonds are more mysterious yet the cost is similar and there is less to show for it.

 

[Christina...]

GIA is one of the most accurate labs in the world, I wouldn't worry too much that they made a mistake. However your right that there are labs out there that make a business out of soft grading diamonds and taking advantage of consumers. That's why we recommend that people stick with either AGS or GIA...because of their accuracy and consistency.

 

[bunnycat]

Thank you all for the replies. I hadn't considered that it was a reflection. It isn't that I am against fluorescence per se, but I am concerned that the GIA report could be wrong. Because if GIA gets one factor wrong, what else could be erroneous? For someone that isn't in the business of diamonds, there is great concern about making a mistake. Buying a car is something everyone becomes familiar with, diamonds are more mysterious yet the cost is similar and there is less to show for it.

I totally understand that and as Christina said, I don't think you've got anything to worry about with GIA. They are one of the biggest and best.

I would agree with you that if you bought your stone from brick and mortar stores, in general they tend to make diamond buying a can of "mumbo jumbo". That bothered me a lot when we were looking as well, so much so that we ended up buying online after learning a bit here. Fortunately, there's a lot of information on PS about stones in general to arm yourself with. And many of the most popular vendors on here provide or can give you performance information that you wouldn't get in a B/M store and educating yourselves will certainly take some of the "mystery' out of your next purchase, even if it didn't for this one.

 

[kenny]

Looks like reflection to me too.

Here's something you could try to verify this, or just for fun.
Move the light so it is to the side of the diamond instead of in front of it.
This would drastically lower or eliminate the reflection.
You may see little flashes of reflection from some facets.

If the stone was strongly fluorescent it would keep glowing with the UV light to the side.
(Not that the stone is glowing in the above pic, it's not.)

 

[maccers]

Kenny has a really good point. Also to consider, how closely were you holding the UV light? I recently took some pics of strong blue stone in its setting. When I held the light closely, my melee looked to have fluor as well but I learned that if I held the light further away, the centre stone still glowed like crazy but the melee was no longer looking like it had fluor. At first I was scratching my head because I thought ALL my melee had fluor. But it's just the reflection of the light being too close.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

All stones will look purple with the light shining right on them. But only fluorescent stones glow from within! I actually love it!!!