What would cause melee diamonds to break?

[duckieluvzu]

Just wondering if anyone has experience with a delicate melee settings and if you''ve ever had one of the diamonds break before? Do you know or remember what would cause it to break? And let''s leave the blender out of this.

 

[beezygal]

actually.. break? or fall off?

 

[duckieluvzu]

Yep, apparently the diamond itself cracked from the underside.

 

[oldminer]

Many diamonds in the bottom of eternity rings break due to the constant hammering they take when you grip hard objects or tap to the rythym on a hard shift knob or steering wheel. Sometimes the way a small stone is set creates a pressure point and the stone snaps. Using hand tools can cause breakage if the diamond comes in contact with some hard metal component.
Even the stress creatged in sizing a ring might break a small diamond.

Diamonds are very "hard" meaning they will not get a scratch on their polished surfaces except from another diamond, but they are "brittle" which means they can fracture, chip or cleave easier than some other materials.

 

[LGK]

When I got the setting for my 1.22 OEC, I dropped it in the sink the second day I had it. It landed right on one of the melee and shattered it. (Lucikly the seller had thoughtfully included a couple of extra single cuts since she thought one of the melee was too included and wanted me to be able to change it out, so I was able to replace it immediately with a similar antique stone.) But yeah- a blow at the exact wrong angle will break a diamond, a small or a large one. Diamonds can break if you''re not careful with them. In this case dropping a setting, probably only a foot, into a porcelain sink was enough.

 

[denverappraiser]

There’s an article in the journal section here about this that might be helpful.


Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[spicytuna]

That happened to me once. I didn''t notice a crack...the one diamond just seemed "yellow" compared to the others and when under magnification it was clearly cracked. The jeweler said that I must have hit my hand up against something at just the right angle to damage it. Luckily the main diamond was spared!