Question for Kenny

[sphenequeen]

Hi Kenny,

I am curious to know how true to color your violet diamond was in comparison to the image from Leibish. Your violet diamond seems so lively and, well, VIOLET! Is it because it is greyish violet instead of grey violet? What is the difference?

I appreciate your reply!

 

[kenny]

Yes it is true to Leibish's pic.
Grayish Violet has more Violet than Gray Violet per GIA.

Here is GIA's order from least Violet to most Violet:

Gray
Violetish Gray
Violet Gray
Gray Violet
Grayish Violet
Violet

Mine is Grayish Violet.

As I have mentioned FCD change colors a great deal in real life depending on lighting and environment - particularly my Grayish Violet Pear.
Sometimes it looks pure violet, sometimes pure gray and sometimes almost black.
Like many other FCDs it makes the whole concept of "accurate pics" a joke.
An "accurate" pic would also have to change hue saturation depending on the lighting and environment you view it in - Seriously!

After around 20 purchases (and my own experience photographing my FCDs) I have nothing but respect for Lebish's photography ethics.
Yes their pics are an "accurate", shall I say, average, of all the many different appearances they will take on in real life.
And no one pic can ever represent how an FCD can look in all lighting and all environments.

I am not evading your question.
I am elaborating on it and informing it.

BTW, I think I got me one extraordinary Violet diamond.
I think it is one of the ones Leibish emailed me about before they listed it.
They'll do that for you if you tell them what you are looking for.

 

[sphenequeen]

Thank you for that in depth reply - I totally understand what you are saying when you tell me that there is no way to get a wholly accurate snapshot of a stone that has so many different personalities. I can definitely appreciate the photo skills that Leibish has - white diamonds are difficult to photograph. The reason I was inquiring (beyond wanting a VFDC) is that your photos have this way of showing off the depth that FCDs have in a way that is truly remarkable and I am hoping that what you show in your pics is more like what the stone looks like IRL.

And I agree... you've got one amazing Violet stone. I hope another one like that comes up for sale.

 

[kenny]

. . . I am hoping that what you show in your pics is more like what the stone looks like IRL.

It is what it looked like in the lighting and environment it was in when the camera took the pic.

Change anything and it looks different - in person AND in a pic.
I could post 1000 pics of 1000 different environments and lighting situations- ALL the pics would look different and all would be "accurate".

I really feel sorry for FCD vendors.
They are like mirror vendors in that to get the mirror to look like the vendor pic you'd have to precicely reproduce the envirnoment and lighting used when the pic was taken.
They just can't win.
But they try.

 

[TristanC]

Based on my sample size of 1 Pink, I need to agree with Kenny. You bring the stone somewhere else, it looks darker, then suddenly more washed out. You photograph it washed out, it looks richer. Sometimes, the reverse is also true.

It is impossible to show how the stone looks always, because it doesn't. I believe if you want a constant tone, you would need a GOOD vivid stone. then in almost all light environments, it will show up as vivid.

At least, that is how the Deep pink that looked like a dark vivid to my eyes seemed.