Unpleasant experience at Tiffany

[zeiss]

Hi all,

I was browsing at a Tiffany store this evening with my wife. Her AGS0 round brilliant diamond turned almost COMPLETELY DARK inside their showroom ( it''s still sparky tho ) while their Tiffany diamond are all white and sparky in/outside the showcase.

I have put our stone under almost all possible lighting environments including directly under bright sunlight and halogen spot light and we have never seen the diamond turn completely dark.

Do I have a bad diamond?? or it''s the magical lighting inside the store?

Please kindly shed me some light.

Zeiss

 

[arjunajane]

Hrrmm..I have heard of ideal cuts going dark in direct sunlight, but not so much in store lighting. I know mine does (go dark) but is very firey while in direct sun.
I guess that you could attribute it to the fact that Tiff''s would have their lighting geared specifically toward showing off their diamonds - which are not cut to AGS0 type numbers from what I understand.

Honestly, I wouldn''t worry too much about it - you seem to be saying usually it looks good?

Hopefully some more expert posters will be along shortly to elaborate.

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 2/21/2009 3:26:26 AM
Author:zeiss
Hi all,

I was browsing at a Tiffany store this evening with my wife. Her AGS0 round brilliant diamond turned almost COMPLETELY DARK inside their showroom ( it's still sparky tho ) while their Tiffany diamond are all white and sparky in/outside the showcase.

I have put our stone under almost all possible lighting environments including directly under bright sunlight and halogen spot light and we have never seen the diamond turn completely dark.

Do I have a bad diamond?? or it's the magical lighting inside the store?

Please kindly shed me some light.

Zeiss

I don't think you have anything to worry about, ideal cut diamonds do show this effect in some lighting. I believe you can rest assured you have a well cut diamond and it is probably the effect from the store lighting. I have noticed this sometimes myself, the diamonds inside the case are bright and blingy whereas diamonds that are being worn on the hand look different.

 

[Sharon101]

As a comparison then....how would the experts describe the T. cut? In what aspect does it differ to the ideal cut (as shown by it not going dark in (some types of )direct light as does the ideal cut?

 

[Rockdiamond]

I don''t think you have anything to worry about zeiss.
I think it''s important to point out that no diamond will sparkle in every single lighting environment.

 

[strmrdr]

optical illusion the tiff diamond will do it also just in slightly different lighting...
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/do-well-cut-stones-go-dark.79488/

 

[neatfreak]

Tiffany''s has some odd lighting IMO. Rest assured your diamond is very very nice!

 

[October2008bride]

Date: 2/21/2009 12:26:39 PM
Author: neatfreak
Tiffany''s has some odd lighting IMO. Rest assured your diamond is very very nice!

Ditto. My diamond actually looks its worst IMO in Tiffany. Actually in most jewellery stores...

Good thing I don''t live/work in jewellery store

because the everywhere else it looks amazing haha.

 

[Diamond*Dana]

I would not worry about it. Home Depot has the best lighting, though

 

[MonkeyPie]

Date: 2/21/2009 12:42:53 PM
Author: Diamond*Dana
I would not worry about it. Home Depot has the best lighting, though

LOL you noticed that too, huh?

My diamond actually looked its best in jewelry stores - they tend to have low lighting everywhere but under the lip of the cases, and low light made my diamond go BAM.

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Some Tiffany stones are certainly ideal cut, so they are NOT making the lighting more favorable to non-ideal cut stones. I''m sure it had more to do with the angle of the light source to the cases, etc.

 

[zeiss]

The T. store that we were at is a relatively new T. store which according to the sales consultant, stock newer/better cut stones. They all look stunning to our eyes.

I have put our stone under a lot of possible lighting situations, including STRONG halogen spot light, which I THINK is similar to most jewelry store lighting, and our stone looks firey and sparkle without turning completely dark ( the stone appears to be darker than observing under this light condition but it doesn''t concern us )

She has also tried on a few T. ring on her hand right at the showcase, and of course they all look stunning. As a side note, we are not able to tell the differences between a D and a I, which we can usually tell.

Unless they have odd lighting setup at SPECIFIC locations inside the store, I really don''t understand why our diamond would turn almost completely dark.

Would I be able to reproduce their lighting setup at home??

Zeiss

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 2/21/2009 3:55:11 PM
Author: zeiss

Would I be able to reproduce their lighting setup at home??


Zeiss

lots of these:
http://www.opentip.com/Home-Garden/Led-Light-Bulb-p-878200.html

 

[Rockit]

The Home Depot comment cracks me up! Every time I go in there I catch myself looking at my hand resting on the shopping cart handle. Now, if we could just do something about that blasted loudspeaker...

 

[phoenixgirl]

Has her ring been cleaned recently? It might be that a layer of oil etc. has developed. Might be time for a cleaning! An AGS0 should sparkle as much as Tiffany''s stones.

 

[honey22]

True ideal cuts display this phenomenum! How cool isn''t it!!! They will go dark and fiery and look amazing. I love going into the elevator at work as it turns into a little fireball and keeps me entertained the few floors I need to go.

Don''t stress about it, it''s common and a sign of your very well cut stone. Enjoy the lightshow

 

[Ellen]

I have had my super cut stone for almost 3 years now, and I STILL see new "looks" under new lighting conditions. So don't worry about it, just enjoy the ride!

 

[jet2ks]

Date: 2/21/2009 3:55:11 PM
Author: zeiss
Unless they have odd lighting setup at SPECIFIC locations inside the store, I really don''t understand why our diamond would turn almost completely dark.


Would I be able to reproduce their lighting setup at home??


Zeiss

I am not a diamond expert, but deal much with lighting, so will try and shed a little light on the subject (OK, bad pun)

Some general lighting principles would explain much of this (and the Home Depot Effect

). HD probably lights their stores with bulbs in the 3500K color temperature range. This color of bulbs accentuates red and orange tones, so will make their corporate color stand out. Just a guess, but this probably also enhances the fire of a diamond, since you have more red color going into the stones, so more is broken down and reflected out. If you get up above 4100K color temperature, reds are muted and blue tones enhanced. A lot of office environments use this type of lighting, as it produces what most people would describe as a "clean, white light". If you get very high on the scale--5600K and above, you are in "daylight" range, which can be harsh to the eyes if not diffused.

Again a guess, but in a jewelry showroom, you have a lot of high intensity light inside cases to make the store''s stones "pop", so the majority of the light hitting the stone on your hand is coming from the bottom in the form of reflected light. An ideal cut diamond is designed to break down and reflect light from above. What you end up with is viewing the stone with less incoming downward light against a brighter background, so it appears darker than its surroundings, especially if it is mounted and/or being worn, which will block most of the available light source from the cases. If you want to replicate this effect at home, try using multiple very bright bulbs reflecting off of carpet or a counter covered with cloth with low wattage bulbs in any overhead fixtures (use directional fixtures, such as desk or reading lamps)and your stone held above the lamps. I would suggest 3500K bulbs (most incandescent bulbs are in the 2000-2700 range, so you would have to use halogen or maybe fluorescent).

If the dominant light source is above an ideal cut stone, you will never get it to turn dark, because it will reflect most of that light back out the top, no matter what type of lighting you use.

Kind of long winded, hope no one went

.

 

[NeverEndingUpgrade]

I had my Jubilee set into my old wedding band before deciding to get it put into a totally new set. The jewelry designer that I had do the work had really weird spotlighting in his showroom and my Jubilee went totally dark too just like yours did. It must have been a lighting effect because the Jubilee is an ideal cut and is really sparkly. I ended up not really liking that jewelry designer and I took the lighting to be a sign not to use him. Ha-ha!

I''m laughing at the comment about Home Depot having good lighting. The other place that has great lighting is my church''s sanctuary. I have to make sure I keep my eyes closed during prayer otherwise I just sit there and study my ring and not pay attention to the prayer, or the sermon for that matter!

 

[marcy]

Mine does that too in direct sunlight and in some jewelry stores. I noticed it looked pretty bad in Tiffany''s. I am sure your diamond is lovely.

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 2/21/2009 3:26:26 AM
Author:zeiss
Hi all,

I was browsing at a Tiffany store this evening with my wife. Her AGS0 round brilliant diamond turned almost COMPLETELY DARK inside their showroom ( it''s still sparky tho ) while their Tiffany diamond are all white and sparky in/outside the showcase.

I have put our stone under almost all possible lighting environments including directly under bright sunlight and halogen spot light and we have never seen the diamond turn completely dark.

Do I have a bad diamond?? or it''s the magical lighting inside the store?

Please kindly shed me some light. good pun

Zeiss

Was your ring clean?
Did she put hers and a tiffany ring side by side? - tiffany have lights inside the cases behind a steel baffle.
What proportions are your stone?

 

[zeiss]

Garry,

Yes, our ring was clean, very clean indeed.

We did examine a few of their rings outside of the cases and they all return tons of white light and our ring looked COMPLETELY DARK face up.

Here you go the proportion of our ring,

crown angle 34.2
pavilion angle 40.8
depth 61.7
table 55.7%
star 54
lgf 75
crown height 15%
pavilion height 43%
girdle 1.7% to 4.1%

Zeiss

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 2/22/2009 1:37:43 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
Was your ring clean? OK
Did she put hers and a tiffany ring side by side? Did you look at her ring in exactly the same places side by side? If not then try to get back and do that as sometimes they position lights very very strategicly.
What proportions are your stone? OK - sounds nice

 

[jet2ks]

Garry, (or anyone else who knows)

I seem to remember reading that most jewelry stores use halogen lighting in their showcases, is this correct?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

Date: 2/22/2009 6:13:23 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

Date: 2/22/2009 1:37:43 AM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)
Was your ring clean? OK
Did she put hers and a tiffany ring side by side? Did you look at her ring in exactly the same places side by side? If not then try to get back and do that as sometimes they position lights very very strategicly.
What proportions are your stone? OK - sounds nice

Tiffany use fluoro strips inside showcases but now might be using LED''s in new stores as wel or instead.
They used some fancy stasge type halogen spots on high ceilings as I recall, but new stores may be different.

 

[strmrdr]

Date: 2/22/2009 9:33:39 AM
Author: jet2ks
Garry, (or anyone else who knows)


I seem to remember reading that most jewelry stores use halogen lighting in their showcases, is this correct?

leds have taken over from halogens these days inside showcases and in ceiling lighting it is often a mix of the 2.

 

[zeiss]

Date: 2/22/2009 3:03:49 PM
Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

Date: 2/22/2009 6:13:23 AM

Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

Date: 2/22/2009 1:37:43 AM

Author: Garry H (Cut Nut)

Was your ring clean? OK

Did she put hers and a tiffany ring side by side? Did you look at her ring in exactly the same places side by side? If not then try to get back and do that as sometimes they position lights very very strategicly.

What proportions are your stone? OK - sounds nice

Tiffany use fluoro strips inside showcases but now might be using LED's in new stores as wel or instead.

They used some fancy stasge type halogen spots on high ceilings as I recall, but new stores may be different.

Thank you all for your responses.

It's not easy to have the sales person remove some of the engagement rings from their cases when my wife already has one on her finger..

but we will try again next time....

I will have to plan another trip to the T. store later after my wife is back in town, until then, hopefully the sales person that was helping us will clean forgotten about us ( I DON'T THINK SO... ) We were walking around the store very strategically already, wandering around the island where they have all of their engagement rings. We will try to be more PRECISE next time. I do not know what kind of lighting they use in that particular store, I will try to pay more attention next time. I believe their ceiling are painted black tho, this is what our stone was reflecting??

We were talking to an appraiser this morning. When he looked at the ring, his first respond was "ideal cut, good.. good.. good" with his unaided eyes.

We asked him why our stone appears dark under strong lighting condition, he said our stone has strong fluorescence. During the session, he had only compare our ring with other reference stones on a white paper tray. Can someone really tell a stone with strong fluorescence without the aid of other instrument? Our stone is graded "Fluorescence: Negligible" by AGS.

Is there any way we can tell whether our stone exhibit strong fluorescence at home??

Sincerely, Zeiss

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

hold your stone very close to a halogen edesk lamp and you should be able to see a pertolly blueish effect

 

[stone-cold11]

Or buy a black light, those use to check dollar notes.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Me and my BF were there this weekend. The Tiffanys we went to had 2 rooms. The first one had all the colored stones. I had my sapphire ring on, which was blue and sparkled like mad. Than we went into the "diamond salon." My BF said, "hey the lighting changed." I looked at my sapphire, it was dark and dead. I went between the 2 rooms. In the first room there were large lights in the wall that gave the room an even amount of light. In the diamond room there were small groups of tiny spot lights just over the diamonds. The rest of the room had no lights.

In the end, don''t worry about how your diamond looks in Tiffany''s. How often is it really in there. What matters is how it looks everywhere elce.