The "No Flour" Ghost -or- Take advantage of Flour

[david b]

I know I am swimming against the current here, why you said "No Flour" 99% of the stories against Flour are Hearsay without anyone knowing exactly why.

It all started with the Labs that looked for another criteria for a diamond, add another pin to the diamond’s ID,

Than people start saying; why GIA marks on each diamond the flour, it must be a negative character.

And from there to "No Flour" the road was short.


Fluorescence is not negative, it is just another characteristic in the diamond's details list that helps identifying the diamond. Certification started as a diamond's ID not an appraisal paper.


GIA is trying to kill this ghost and put a small leaflet in each of his small certificates explaining that Flour has no impact on the diamond's appearance.

Only in rare cases where the Flour is very strong or more there might appears haziness in the diamond.


So here you have another tool for finding a diamond that is cheaper (with no reason) just because it has some Flour, My customers are very happy with this window to cheaper diamonds.

There was a time that Mr. Rapaport published a list that shows a price hike in the IJKL color diamonds with Medium Flour.


Below is the GIA Tutorial from

http://4cs.gia.edu/en-us/blog/understanding-diamond-fluorescence/
"What impact does fluorescence have on the appearance of a diamond?


GIA studies show that for the overwhelming majority of diamonds, the strength of fluorescence has no widely noticeable effect on appearance. In the GIA Fluorescence Study, it was found that the average person could not make a distinction between a diamond with fluorescence and a diamond without.


In many instances, observers prefer the appearance of diamonds that have medium to strong fluorescence. In rare cases, some diamonds with extremely strong fluorescence may appear hazy or oily; fewer than 0.2% of the fluorescent diamonds submitted to GIA exhibit this effect


Does fluorescence compromise the structural integrity of the diamond?


No.
A diamond that fluoresces has the same integrity as one with no reaction to UV. Submicroscopic substitutions and/or shifts in the diamond structure can cause fluorescence or can prevent it. Nothing in either instance inherently weakens or is bad for the diamond."

If You take an H with a Medium Flour you got yourself a winner!

David

 

[Arcadian]

So I laughed a bit because its "Flour" and not "Fluro" and I couldn't figure out why in the world anyone would write about flour on a diamond website?

 

[david b]

 

[srke]

In many instances, observers prefer the appearance of diamonds that have medium to strong fluorescence

I agree with this. I have a diamond with medium fluor and although I don't have enough exposure to diamond to actually tell if it is impacting on the transparency (sometimes I think it may look a bit hazy in bright bright sunlight) I still think it looks really awesome when it goes all blue. (in also not staring at my ring in direct sun enough for it to bug me)

 

[Karl_K]

Your preaching to the choir there are a lot of Fluorescent diamond fans here both in the trade and consumers.
Some light reading: https://www.pricescope.com/communit...f-blue-fluorescent-diamonds-revisited.219341/

We kinda swim in our own pool here were everything is questioned including trade traditions and myths.

 

[Belic]

What I don't really get is that if let's say that a stone has strong blue fluorescence which makes the stone look whiter in certain lightning. Will GIA give it a better colour rating due to this?

If I'm buying a J coloured diamond with strong fluorescence, it might actually be a K that benefits from the fluorescence and makes it a J? Or is it a J coloured diamond that might look as a I due the fluorescence?

 

[OoohShiny]

What I don't really get is that if let's say that a stone has strong blue fluorescence which makes the stone look whiter in certain lightning. Will GIA give it a better colour rating due to this?

If I'm buying a J coloured diamond with strong fluorescence, it might actually be a K that benefits from the fluorescence and makes it a J? Or is it a J coloured diamond that might look as a I due the fluorescence?

There has been at least one long thread on this, IIRC

Stones are (should be) graded in the absence of UV light, in order that the grade it receives is a 'worst case scenario' grade. If it looks better than that in UV-rich light, it's then a bonus.

Some of the pros have been 'discussing' the accuracy of the lighting used during grading, though, in that the lighting tubes being used may not be consistent and may change over time (IIRC??).

All we as consumers can do is have faith that the grading labs are generally being consistent, and that until we move from grading by human eye, grading will be subjective and open to variations!

 

[bmfang]

I think most consumers are still guided by what their local B&M retailer sales rep tells them. And that generally comes down to “any stone with fluorescence is a bad investment/purchase”.

Unfortunately for them, most of the sales reps are severely undertrained and only out to make a buck out of them. So even if GIA is now putting a disclaimer of sorts on their grading reports, for most consumers if they ask the sales rep what that means, they will be given the bum steer to a crappier stone (even if it does have the coveted GIA XXX on the report) that has no fluorescence.

A fair number of us here on PS are fluorescence fans. Particularly if they are a consumer who has bought a stone with fluorescence (I’m one of those consumers) which doesn’t have any haziness present in any lighting condition.