Tiffany round chipped, what are options? no insurance

[Tension7]

hello all, friend has a 1.18c, d, vvs2 round brilliant from tiffanys, 10 yrs old, brought in for cleaning, has 2 chips on girdle, one is visible to naked eye.they said it is from the band. she is thinking about bezel/tension setting it in the etoile for 1500.00. does anyone know if the etoile is bezel or tension? not insured. any ideas, is it worth resetting, or will it fracture? new stone would cost 25G or so. thank you who said a diamond is forever anyways?

 

[JulieN]

etoile is half bezel.

Two chips seems to be quite a lot for 10 years, unless she is harder on it than the average wearer. Perhaps it has a very thin girdle? I think it would be good to get an independent appraisal to see if this stone is likely to be further damaged, and also about a repolish job.

 

[Beacon]

Can you explain it a little more? Did it get chipped when being cleaned? When you said it got chipped because of the "band" what does that mean? Her wedding band next to the diamond? Or the prongs associated with the stone''s setting? It just wasn''t clear to me why this stone has these chips.

 

[Tension7]

yes the girdle is stated as very thin, chips from prongs on diamond band that sat behind her solitaire. will polishing help?

 

[JulieN]

I would be

at Tiffany.

I do not think the Etoile would work, as it seems a little less than half of the girdle is exposed (from what I can see of the pictures.)

 

[RockDoc]

There are many reasons that diamonds can chip. Lots of reasons.

If the stone wasn''t insured, then the consumer, took the risk of "self insuring" and possibly lost.

However if they had it for 10 years before it then they did save paying 10 years of premiums. If they had insurance estimating the premium at 3% ( high - except in high crime areas ) they saved 30% of the stone''s value. Would have been better to have had it insured.


Being mad at Tiffany''s may not be justified. The public thinks you really have to hit a diamond hard to chip or break it.

It actually doesn''t take too much to chip a stone. It has more to do with at what angle the impact happened and what location relevant to its crystal structure ( cleavage direction) and if it was distorted.

Additionally, an issue for this might be because some diamonds are more brittle than others. Diamonds found in Brazil are more brittle than diamonds from other origins.

Diamonds that are sawn with lasers often can be more brittle than others.

There are a multitude of other possible causes for chips as well.


ONE VERY COMMON OCCURANCE is that some jewelers mistake naturals for chips. Also diamonds can get slight bruises in wear, and many times mis-identified as a chip. If in fact it is a bruise, it is probably a pretty minor thing to get "fixed".
FIRST - IT SHOULD BE EXAMINED BY A QUALIFIED GEMOLOGIST OR MAYBE A DIAMOND CUTTER OR BOTH TO DETERMINE WHAT THE "CHIP" REALLY IS, WHY IT HAPPENED AND HOW CAN IT BE FIXED or IF it can be fixed.

Just yesterday there was a diamond here for testing, that had a very slight feather at the edge. Under 10-60 power it showed what appeared to be a very tiny natural in the center of this very small feather. To be sure of what this was, the diamond had to be examined at 120X and what originally I thought mght have been a natural was actually a super tiny chip.

Chips can occur before the diamond is cut and if they are small, the diamond cutter might not have polised them out.

While it''s more probable they happened after the stone was purchased, it is POSSIBLE that they were pre-exisiting, and if a lab grading report was supplied when it was purchased, might contain the answer to the question.

If there wasn''t a lab report, then an examination MAY provide an answer but, not always. There has to be something conclusive to base the opinion of causation on.

But the above is just thought.

The real situation here is "What is the Cure?"

Most likely small chips can be polished out and areas of where the girdle is thin could be repolished so they are thicker. It sort of depends on the chip itself as to how much has to be cut off. If the chip is "deep" the stone may need a full recut, if not, it MIGHT be able to be repaired with minimal weight loss.


Hope this helps,

Rockdoc

 

[Tension7]

thanks rockdoc, the tiffany lab has the stone, hope chips can be polished out.

 

[gemmy1]

Date: 8/15/2006 9:26:39 PM
Author:mariemarquis
hello all, friend has a 1.18c, d, vvs2 round brilliant from tiffanys, 10 yrs old, brought in for cleaning, has 2 chips on girdle, one is visible to naked eye.they said it is from the band. she is thinking about bezel/tension setting it in the etoile for 1500.00. does anyone know if the etoile is bezel or tension? not insured. any ideas, is it worth resetting, or will it fracture? new stone would cost 25G or so. thank you who said a diamond is forever anyways?

Diamonds are the hardest known natural substance, but not impervious to damage. As was suggested, the very thin girdle may have contributed to the vulnerability of this stone.
Because it is a high end stone and because it is has substantial weight to work with above the 1ct mark, it probably is worth re-cutting. The cost is not insignificant, but you should be able to improve the durability going forward as well as improving the performance of the stone. Depending on the current make, re-cutting may improve it significantly.
You need to get a good recut consultation from a qualified professional in order to make the best decision.

 

[Tension7]

thanks gemmy and rockdoc. does polishing or recutting change it from ideal cut, sinced proportions change. also do the chips lower the clarity grade? anyone know how much a recut costs?

 

[RockDoc]

Date: 8/16/2006 11:14:21 AM
Author: mariemarquis
thanks gemmy and rockdoc. does polishing or recutting change it from ideal cut, sinced proportions change. also do the chips lower the clarity grade? anyone know how much a recut costs?

We can''t see the stone, so no one can answer the above. Just relax, don''t stress out about it ( or your friend) and just be patient til you hear what Tiffany has to say about it.

As far as grading change effect.... probably...how much depends on how serious the chip is.

Rockdoc

 

[gemmy1]

Date: 8/16/2006 11:14:21 AM
Author: mariemarquis
thanks gemmy and rockdoc. does polishing or recutting change it from ideal cut, sinced proportions change. also do the chips lower the clarity grade? anyone know how much a recut costs?

Your options will likely be multiple. You may elect to have minor re-polishing done to preserve weight and minimize cost, or you may want (or need) a more thorough re-cut. If the one chip is noticeable to the naked eye, it might be pretty deep and require more than simple repolishing of a facet or two.

With a re-cut you could correct the source problem (very thin girdle), while removing the chips. Whether to maintain current proportions would be dependent on many factors and your goals. That is where you need expert consultation to assess the cost/benefit of various approaches.

A re-cut will cost several hundred dollars. Minor polishing will be less, but cutters still charge for set up and handling, even if actual wheel time is minimal. You should be prepared for a couple hundred dollars minimum.