The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after setting

[ewright]

Hi all,

First, I want to reiterate my thanks to the entire pricescope community for all of your help in the process of finding the right engagement ring. It has been a lengthy process with lots of ups and downs. With the help of the community, I chose a loose diamond from Solomon Brothers, who seem to be well regarded on this forum:




I was thrilled to when I received the diamond to see it literally light up on my counter, as if it had an internal light source of its own.It was so beautiful! I felt 100% confident that with the advice of many on this forum, I had made a fantastic choice:



I researched many, many settings and after lots of deliberation I chose the Ritani halo cushion setting for a round stone. I was so excited to get my diamond mounted, and when I picked it up from the jeweler yesterday I was just so disappointed. It didn't seem to look right, the best way I can describe it is that my previously beautiful loose stone just looked dark and dull in the setting. See picture taken at my local jeweler below:



In comparison to the smaller diamonds in the halo, my previously radiant main diamond looks significantly darker and doesn't seem to sparkle anymore. Here is another picture to demonstrate the fact that the center stone looks dull:



Did I make some sort of mistake in choosing a diamond, or a setting, or both? The loose diamond itself looks stunning, and the Ritani setting seems to be well regarded on this forum. Was the diamond mounted incorrectly somehow? I even tried polishing the diamond just to make sure there wasn't a big smudge preventing light from filtering through, but no luck.



Any input or advice that the Pricescope experts can offer would be tremendously appreciated, as I am at a loss for what to do. After doing all of my homework and putting in so much time and effort, it's disappointing to have my ring fall so short of my expectations.

 

[LLJsmom]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Did you check to see if it's the same stone?

 

[Gypsy]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Just under the jewelers lights? Or everywhere? A lot of jewelry store lighting can do strange things for how a stone appears.

 

[arkieb1]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Did you check to see if it's the same stone?

+ 1 that was my first thought as well, my second thought was if it is the same stone and you hate that then it needs to be in an open prong setting set up a little to let more light into it like a split prong setting in 4 corners or maybe a 6 prong setting that allows more light into the sides of the stone....

It also could need a good clean that does wonders with fire and sparkle sometimes too.

 

[Karl_K]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

have it professionally cleaned before making any conclusions.

 

[ewright]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Hi all,

Thank you for your replies. In response to your suggestions:

1. I am going to go to another jeweler today to make sure that the diamond mounted in the setting is the same one which I purchased and for which I have the GIA certificate.

2. Gypsy: this is an excellent question, because after testing it the diamond looks VERY different depending on lighting. I have a dramatic illustration of this effect. The pictures below are taken in my kitchen, in indirect and direct light. In indirect light, the diamond looks pretty good. But the moment you place it in direct light, it just goes totally dark.

Indirect light: not bad



Direct light: lights out



Please note that besides cropping the images above, I have not edited them in any way. These images were taken no more than ten seconds apart, in my kitchen, under direct incandescent lighting and then just outside of the beam of the incandescent light.

3. I had it cleaned right after mounting. No impact on the light return.

Has any experienced or heard of such an effect? I never came across a scenario like this in all of my reading or research where diamond turns dark in direct lighting. Ironically enough this diamond looks better in the shade than it does in the jewelry store or when the sun is out.

 

[VRBeauty]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Good call,Gypsy!

The lighting makes a huge difference - I can see why you'd have been totally dismayed in the jewelry shop.

This question actually comes up pretty often, but usually the culprit is direct sunlight:

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/why-does-a-diamond-go-dark-in-direct-sunlight.132751/
See Gary H's response here: https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-fire-thread.77649/page-3
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/why-does-my-diamond-do-this-dark-in-sunlight.37481/

 

[drk14]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

ewright,
I'm sorry that your "saga" has not yet reached its happy end.

My impressions of your stone is that it a significant portion if its light return comes from light rays that enter obliquely through the crown, or even sideways through the girdle. Based on the pictures alone, I would have expected to see a lot more green in the ASET. However, your ASET does show green under the table, and it looks to me that the ASET is showing a mix of green and red under the star facets.

As a result, it will perform better under indirect lighting. It would probably look pretty spectacular in restaurant lighting. A stone with a lower HCA will probably do better under a wider variety of lighting conditions.

In your "direct light" picture, however, the culprit is not the "direct light", but rather the dark shadow under the opened lid of the ring box. All of that darkness is entering the diamond and being reflected back to you. Try the same experiment with the ring out of the box.

As far as cleaning goes, keeping the pavilion free of any grease is key for maximizing sparkliness, but in my opinion, this is not the main cause of the performance issues you have noticed.

If you post photos showing a side- and/or profile view of the setting, it might be possible to assess to what degree the setting is contributing to light blockage issues.

FYI, ASET and IS images can be helpful in selecting diamonds on the internet, but there is some difficulty in taking such reflector images correctly and consistently, so they are not always completely accurate. Your eye is ultimately the best guide.

Good luck!

 

[msop04]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

It's just the lighting. My last ering was in a halo and did the exact same thing. The small halo stones will always look more sparkly and brighter than the much larger center. They have smaller facets and will twinkle while the center will have larger flashes.

 

[rubybeth]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

All my diamonds look better in diffused lighting. Church and the orchestra's concert hall are where my stones look the best. I also admit that I never turn on my overhead fluorescent lights in my office.

 

[gr8leo87]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Whats the crown angle and pavillion and crown height on this stone?

Some stones within the ideal proportions may do that under direct sun light / spot light. But they should be ideally fiery at the same time.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[Gypsy]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

MSOP is correct. The biggest issue is contrast with the halo stones. Those look amazing in just about all light (I know from my own halo) and the center stone looks dark in contrast. You may be happier with a stone like an AVC.

 

[ewright]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

Hi all,

Thank you for all of your advice and input, it has been extremely valuable. I went back to the jeweler today and he was kind enough to show me a number of different stones in the store and outside in direct sunlight. The bottom line is that larger stones tend to have a similar effect to varying degrees in direct sunlight. All of the stones I looked at were hearts and arrows stones, and for whatever reason they tend to drop out in direct light. The effect is particularly noticeable when the main stone is surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds which do not drop out to the same degree, and I think it is the contrast between the two that is most apparent (as some of you pointed out in your replies).

When I take it out of the jewelry store, out of the presentation box, in anything but direct light, the diamond is beautiful.



I am much relieved to find that there is nothing wrong with the diamond I bought (or the setting). I do not know how I could have possibly navigated this process without all of the information here on Pricescope and the advice of members of this forum. So again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

[LLJsmom]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

When you find a stone that lights up in every light, let me know. I still haven't found one.

 

[Gypsy]

Re: The saga continues:beautiful diamond went dark after set

It's a lot of time and money. I understand the anxiety.