What will happen to my chipped diamond?

[Greentree]

Hi Leonid and Buttercup. Thanks for your remarks. I have two questions not involving the HCA so I'll start a new thread.

Sometime over the past several years the 1 carat diamond I mentioned in the previous thread was chipped. It all started when my wife asked me to clean her diamond because we were going to a wedding. I dutifully got out my little toothbrush and cleaning solution, set up my el cheapo 60hz "ultrasonic" cleaner and set to work. When I finished I decided to inspect my work. I didn't have a loupe so I rummaged around in a closet and came up with a telescope eyepiece. If you looked through it backwards, it worked just fine! As I inspected the girdle, I was shocked to see what looked like a chip. I rinsed the ring thoroughly hoping it was a skin flake or a dust particle. No such luck. It was chipped. I made an appointment with an Independent Appraiser. Luckily, the damage was covered by insurance and I was able to get settlement offer covering the cost of a replacement diamond. I have two questions.

The damage looked like a vertical gash. The widest part was in the girdle and tapered up a little ways into the crown and down a little ways into the pavilion. The appraiser downgraded its clarity from vvs1 to si2-chipped. What do you suppose will happen to the chipped stone? Will this stone be re-cut, sold as-is, or meet some other fate?

I still have the GIA certificate for the stone. Do I keep it as a momento or destroy it. Should I notify GIA that this cert is no longer valid?

 

[pricescope]

GT, I'm sorry to hear about your mishap. How deep is the chip? Do you think it can be repolished?

 

[Greentree]

I don't have enough experience to know if it can be repolished. Here's why I decided take it to an appraiser and subsequently turn in an insurance claim:

I visualized the cutter turning down the girdle until the damage was gone. I estimated the gash to be at most 500 um deep. This would result in a reduction in diameter of about 1 mm at most. Now the girdle would be absurdly wide and would invade the facets. Clearly the crown facets, pavilion facets and table would have to be recut. If the cutter decided to go for an ideal cut, I estimated the resulting gem would be about 70 to 80 points. Interesting observation: the gem was a vvs1 and according to the GIA cert had a single pinpoint located adjacent to one of the pavilion facets. If the cutter could arrange to lose that pinpoint in the recutting process, it's possible he could end up with an IF or even an FL gem. It still would have the color of I, however. Also, even if everything worked out alright and the gem didn't shatter, etc., the resulting gem would still have only about half of its original value.

Your're dealing with a beginner here. These estimates could be off by a country mile. Since the appraiser downgraded it to si2-chipped, that seems to imply it was still eye clean. It's true you needed the loupe to see the entire extent of the damage. Under the loupe it looked like the Grand Canyon to me.

Is what I have described even close to what happens in real life?

 

[Greentree]

Oh, by the way, just exactly what is meant by 'repolishing'? Does this mean they either brut or polish the girdle a little bit to get rid of the chip? It seems that would result in a slightly wider girdle. The girdle faceting would be trashed and would have to be redone, but perhaps it would work. I really think this chip was too deep for that to be feasible, but I could be wrong.

 

[pricescope]

depending on how deep is the chip and how dangerous is it for further cracking diamond can be repolished or recut. Diamond will lose some carat weight but it might be better because of the clarity and cut.

You have to show it to a diamond cutter for exact estimation.

 

[BEDAZZLED]

Can the ultrasonic cleaners that are used @ home really chip a diamond?

I use one to clean my rings.

Should I stop?????????????

 

[Greentree]

Oh, I don't think my using the cheap "ultrasonic" cleaner had anything to do with chipping the diamond. I just don't think that kind of cleaner is any good. I put "ultrasonic" in quotes because it really isn't ultrasonic.

The cheap cleaner I am referring to is the little double bowl gizmo that vibrates at 60hz which is the frequency of ordinary household current. A true ultrasonic cleaner vibrates the water at a much higher frequency that you can't hear. It is this model that truly cleans the hard-to-dislodge grime from all the nooks and crannies. But they are expensive and most wouldn't care to pay for one. It's better to just take the item to a good jeweler and let them clean it.

Common sense tells us not to stack jewelry items together and let them vibrate against each other. The little plastic basket sort of encourages that.

 

[Greentree]

Just did a Google search and found a true ultrasonic cleaner that is affordable:

http://www.hammacher.com/publish/61323.asp?promo=homeoffice