Learning to interpret photos..."grazed" facets

[Starzin]

I'm still trying to learn to interpret photos of gems and I often see photos like that below. In particular the facets on the left of the table. Is this something to do with the stone or an artifact of the photography?

 

[Edward Bristol]

That comes from rough handling of gems in small bags.

They scratch each other and the edges get worn out.

 

[Starzin]

Many thanks Ed, they certainly looked like grazed facets but as I said I'm still learning to read photos.

Much appreciated...and I'll definitely steer clear of those!

 

[T L]

Facet abrasion, as Ed said.

 

[chrono]

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with the facet abrasions shown; it's a normal function of wear and tear which can be polished out with minimal carat weight loss.

 

[T L]

There's nothing inherently "wrong" with the facet abrasions shown; it's a normal function of wear and tear which can be polished out with minimal carat weight loss.

If you can find a beautiful colored stone, but it has facet abrasion, it may be worth it to have a lapidary polish it out. Often times, facet abrasion is not visible to the naked eye. In some of the high quality photographs of Elizabeth Taylor's recent Christie's auction, I found many of her colored gems to have lots of facet abrasion, but again, to see that in person, is difficult without a loupe. Some gems may be worth a recut. I personally am more put off by the huge window in that stone, which means it's a shallow cut, and if it were to be recut, you would probably lose a lot of carat weight.

 

[chrono]

Ditto with TL; the huge window bothers me more than the facet abrasion.

 

[Starzin]

Hi Chrono and TL : Thank you both very much. Just to be clear - I wouldn't dream of buying this stone with it's window that as someone here once said, "You could hang curtains in" However I stumbled across it the other day and wondered if they were really grazed facets or I was misreading the photo, so decided to ask. You may wonder why I looked at a close up of that stone with it's window in the first place...it was because I spotted them in the page full of photos and thought it was a good example to use.

Unfortunately I'm only too well aware that facets can be abraded in "normal" wear I have a RHR green tourmaline that I adore the colour and setting of and that I wore everyday at work for 10 years. While I worked in an office, it got bashed on things, caught in filing cabinets and even once accidentally scraped on a cement wall (I was standing too close to the wall when I brought my hand to my face! - that particular incident made my heart pound let me tell you).

When I louped it sometime ago I was aghast at what had happened to the poor little thing and wondered if it could be re-polished. I think I've decide it's far too shallow to do anything with and has a massive window so I need to save my pennies to replace this stone. Unfortunately I can't show the detail because I currently have no way of photographing it - no digital camera, no phone cable..soon though and then I will post a thread of its own, it has quite a story to tell

But I took this with my Mac to give you an idea...get out the magnifying glass you keep in your pencil holder

 

[T L]

I've seen examples of stones in books that were abraded to the point of looking almost like cabochons, and they were still able to be polished and their facets brought back with very minimal carat loss. Of course, a lapidary could best advise you on this, but if they could put the facets back on that one stone, I'm sure it's possible for yours.

 

[Edward Bristol]

As far as interpretation of photos go: The reason that these surface flaws are so very visible is because the gem was shot (over-)exposed to strong light and then the color was digitally enhanced (not terribly a lot, but perhaps too much).

In person, I think, this gem has less color but the flaws are not so disturbing either.

One can easily see the trade-off here: A lot of light gives the gem a better color but also magnifies flaws.

In the other extreme you can make under-exposed darkish photos which will not show many flaws but the color will be more realistic.

This is a multidimensional optimization process a gem photographer has to manage.

Unless they have a sell-and-run strategy, traders are interested to find the right balance so that returns are minimized.

 

[Starzin]

I've seen examples of stones in books that were abraded to the point of looking almost like cabochons, and they were still able to be polished and their facets brought back with very minimal carat loss. Of course, a lapidary could best advise you on this, but if they could put the facets back on that one stone, I'm sure it's possible for yours.

That's good to know TL and I've just recently tracked down the local Gemological Assoc which is open for a few hours a week to the public so I'll be paying a visit sometime soon. However I would still be really reluctant to remove this stone for any hospitalization unless I knew I had a fail safe i.e. another stone (even if a different colour or species) that would fit straight into the setting. The ring has a lot of sentiment attached.

 

[Starzin]

This is a multidimensional optimization process a gem photographer has to manage.

Unless they have a sell-and-run strategy, traders are interested to find the right balance so that returns are minimized.

Thanks for elaborating further and I agree (from what I've read) that photographing gems must be extremely challenging. I'm currently wending my way through the vendor photos sticky to try and get a feel for the different subtleties. Getting it as close as possible can only serve the trader and the consumer in the long run as you point out.

Thanks also for your VERY informative article on gem photos - I have actually read it several times over the last 12 months or so.