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Scratched girdle

diamondlove123

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I am seeking professional advice. Is
Small scratches on the girdle seriously devalues the diamond? Can it be fixed down the road if need be? What would the cost entail in terms of range?
Can you advice? I am sick to my stomach because of this discovery and I may not need to worry about this, can you advise me?
 

kenny

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I'm not a professional, but you can mail me a check. ;))

Are you sure you don't just have a 'bruted' girdle?
Bruted is one of the choices they make when polishing diamonds.
It's the result of the diamond and another diamond being positioned to rub while being rotated.
A bruted girdle looks frosty; I can see how some people may interpret that as being 'scratched'.



... or maybe your diamond just has a natural on the girdle.
A natural is left-over skin from the original outer surface of the rough diamond.
Sometimes they don't polish off a natural to maximize the diameter (or other dimension) of a diamond.
Here is a faceted girdle with a natural.



Another possibility is a chipped girdle.
This is a very thin bruted girdle with some chips.

screen_shot_2016-09-13_at_2.png

screen_shot_2016-09-13_at_0.png

screen_shot_2016-09-13_at_1.png
 

Texas Leaguer

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It could also be something called "bearding" where a little too much pressure is applied during the bruting process inducing a series of tiny feathers around the girdle.

We would need more info about precisely what you are looking at in order to advise you. If you could post details about the stone or grading report number along with a picture or two, you will get much more help here. Depending on the overall characteristics of the diamond, what you are concerned about may or may not be something particularly detrimental.
 

kenny

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Thanks Bryan.

A pic of bearding, which reaches from the girdle up onto facets.

screen_shot_2016-09-13_at_3.png
 

Texas Leaguer

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You are handy with photos Kenny :appl:
 

denverappraiser

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There are plenty of professionals you could hire to look at it and give an opinion and it's probably not a terribly difficult question. You've find a list under the 'resources' tab at the top of the page. That said, who told you the girdle is scratched in the first place? It's not that it's impossible, but this would be pretty hard to do in anything like 'normal' wear, and I wouldn't expect it to be visible without magnification in any case. Can you tell us the rest of the story?
 

kenny

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Texas Leaguer|1473804518|4076051 said:
You are handy with photos Kenny :appl:

They're worth a thousand words, you know. :bigsmile:
 

diamondlove123

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All, thank you for the helpful comments. This stone was recently bought and I had it set twice since the first time, it was a little to high so they had to lower the stone. I have not worn it for more than 3 weeks.
Regarding the stone, it is not a brutes girdle, rather it is faceted and it is not a natural since the GiA report only has a tiny inclusion (vs2) and no natural was on the plot.
Could the setting process scratch a girdle? That is my fear. It is hard to take a picture since I can see it with 20x loop, 10x is difficult. I am a perfectionist and love gems and the other day, under the 20x loop, I discovered this and felt so sick to my stomach.
It is not bearded either, as I did not see this when I bought the stone prior to setting.
Question for you, if I had to polish it down the road, is it a huge cost? Who would I need to go to? I don't think the scratch impacts the performance but it is upsetting for me since I just got the stone only a few weeks ago.
One of the scratch is right next to one of the prongs.
I can see the crutch since the facet surface has marks on them, not like the other facets on the girdle that are still pristine.
Do people just ignore this since it does not impact performance? What would your advise be?
 

diamondlove123

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Kenny, how do you take such clear pictures? I only have an iPhone and the loops.
I would love to show what I am seeing to you to get better advice.
 

Texas Leaguer

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diamondlove123|1473860734|4076356 said:
All, thank you for the helpful comments. This stone was recently bought and I had it set twice since the first time, it was a little to high so they had to lower the stone. I have not worn it for more than 3 weeks.
Regarding the stone, it is not a brutes girdle, rather it is faceted and it is not a natural since the GiA report only has a tiny inclusion (vs2) and no natural was on the plot.
Could the setting process scratch a girdle? That is my fear. It is hard to take a picture since I can see it with 20x loop, 10x is difficult. I am a perfectionist and love gems and the other day, under the 20x loop, I discovered this and felt so sick to my stomach.
It is not bearded either, as I did not see this when I bought the stone prior to setting.
Question for you, if I had to polish it down the road, is it a huge cost? Who would I need to go to? I don't think the scratch impacts the performance but it is upsetting for me since I just got the stone only a few weeks ago.
One of the scratch is right next to one of the prongs.
I can see the crutch since the facet surface has marks on them, not like the other facets on the girdle that are still pristine.
Do people just ignore this since it does not impact performance? What would your advise be?
Can you post the lab report or the report number? Are you certain the feature was not there before setting? Did you have a discussion with the jeweler about your concerns, and if so what did he say?

In general, it is not advisable to spend the money to re-polish a minor detail if it does not affect performance or durability.
 

diamondlove123

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Here is the GIA report. I have not talked to jeweler so I wanted to check this forum first before making a case. I just want to ensure I am not being unreasonable.

_1434.png
 

Texas Leaguer

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diamondlove123|1473864531|4076396 said:
Here is the GIA report. I have not talked to jeweler so I wanted to check this forum first before making a case. I just want to ensure I am not being unreasonable.
The report image is too small to read. If you just post the report number we can look it up on the GIA site.
 

Texas Leaguer

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diamondlove123|1473866157|4076414 said:
2228950058

Thanks. Well I don't see anything on the perimeter of the plot that could be mistaken for a scratch.

Here's a remote possility to look carefully for:
Frequently small fibers from the jewelry polishing wheel get trapped under prongs. They can sometimes look like feathers or scratches. Verify under magnification that what you are seeing is actually in the stone.
 

denverappraiser

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diamondlove123|1473860734|4076356 said:
All, thank you for the helpful comments. This stone was recently bought and I had it set twice since the first time, it was a little to high so they had to lower the stone. I have not worn it for more than 3 weeks.
Regarding the stone, it is not a brutes girdle, rather it is faceted and it is not a natural since the GiA report only has a tiny inclusion (vs2) and no natural was on the plot.
Could the setting process scratch a girdle? That is my fear. It is hard to take a picture since I can see it with 20x loop, 10x is difficult. I am a perfectionist and love gems and the other day, under the 20x loop, I discovered this and felt so sick to my stomach.
It is not bearded either, as I did not see this when I bought the stone prior to setting.
Question for you, if I had to polish it down the road, is it a huge cost? Who would I need to go to? I don't think the scratch impacts the performance but it is upsetting for me since I just got the stone only a few weeks ago.
One of the scratch is right next to one of the prongs.
I can see the crutch since the facet surface has marks on them, not like the other facets on the girdle that are still pristine.
Do people just ignore this since it does not impact performance? What would your advise be?
Why are you thinking your girdle is 'scratched'? You have a dossier type document, which doesn't include a plotting diagram but, frankly, marks on the girdle wouldn't usually be plotted anyway. That said, GIA may be able to tell you more details about things that aren't mentioned on the report. Call them and ask.

No, there's nothing about the setting process or you wearing it that will scratch a girdle of a diamond (other stones maybe, diamonds no).

Given it's a new purchase, my first step would be to talk to your seller about it. This sounds like their problem to me.
 

Texas Leaguer

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Neil,
The report I pull up is a full cert for a 3.43 J VS2 with crystal under table.
GIA REPORT NUMBER
2228950058
 

denverappraiser

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Texas Leaguer|1473869124|4076436 said:
Neil,
The report I pull up is a full cert for a 3.43 J VS2 with crystal under table.
GIA REPORT NUMBER
2228950058
Interesting. I got a dossier on a 0.68 when I searched it. I must have messed up something in the hunt because now I see the 3.43.

My advice is still the same.

1) Talk to the seller about it.
2) If you don't trust the seller or don't believe what they tell you, hire a pro you do trust, and who can look at the stone, and talk to them.

3) I don't expect much but call GIA and ask them if they know anything more than what's on the report.
 

diamondlove123

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Thank you all for such great and supportive comments. I just would like to confirm with the experts on this forum that there is nothing in the setting of the stone process that would scratch the girdle? Can you confirm my understanding as this is what I understood from an earlier post/response.
 

Texas Leaguer

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diamondlove123|1473872260|4076456 said:
Thank you all for such great and supportive comments. I just would like to confirm with the experts on this forum that there is nothing in the setting of the stone process that would scratch the girdle? Can you confirm my understanding as this is what I understood from an earlier post/response.
Not normally. But anything is possible. Like Neil says, it makes sense to get an independent expert to inspect the stone if you have concerns. I would first discuss with the jeweler who set the diamond and see what he has to say.
 

diamondseeker2006

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Are you 100% sure the scratches weren't there in the first place? Honestly, I think it is almost best to use nothing greater than 10x, because if this can hardly be seen with 20x, it has to be very insignificant, I would think. But yes, it can be repolished and would not cost much (plus shipping, possibly).
 

denverappraiser

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diamondlove123|1473872260|4076456 said:
Thank you all for such great and supportive comments. I just would like to confirm with the experts on this forum that there is nothing in the setting of the stone process that would scratch the girdle? Can you confirm my understanding as this is what I understood from an earlier post/response.
If you want professional advice, hire a professional and let them actually look at what you're talking about.

That said, a setters tools are made of steel. The mounting is made of gold or platinum. NONE of these things will scratch a diamond. That takes another diamond. Is it possible that the setter or someone in the shop has other diamonds around that they could have scratched it with? I suppose, but it seems terribly unlikely. Diamonds are more brittle than people generally think and a setter or someone can chip them, but SCRATCH it? Highly unlikely. If what you're seeing is indeed a scratch, it's far more likely that it came from the cutter, not the setter.
 
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